how do i configure a full disk backup?

hi ,

i want to buy an external drive to act as a media depository and backup for my two hdd's.
i assume i backup my hdd's by using image files of the whole disk. backing up my 2nd(media) hdd will be no problem. but how do i backup my system/program disk to make it a bootable image? is there a free program that will allow me to boot off the image file in my external drive and install everything on a new disk just in case of catastrophic failure? my present backup program, marcium reflect cant seem to do this.

 

Short answer yes. If the hard drive fails (for instance), With Paragon Backup & Recovery™ 2011 (Advanced) Free I would pop in a new hard drive, boot from a recovery CD that Paragon prompts you to make and restore the image to the new hard drive.

 

Thanks for your answer. I think reflect has the same system but it's only available on the paid version. I will check out paragon.

And one more thing, would it be possible to use an external drive as the boot device instead of a cd? My external dvd player's casing is busted and I'm thinking of not really getting a replacement.

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Glad you asked man. Yes there is an option to create a CD or flash drive (less than 80 Mb), which boots to a limited linux version that allows you to copy the image from external to the local hard drive. Also I am no expert, but the program has wizards built in to do all routine tasks.
http://www.paragon-software.com/home/br-free/

Did you get the BSOD issue resolved? Yes I was referring to the Sager forum post
There is a good review here:
http://dottech.org/freeware-reviews/11487/

could you use the same process to make the external hdd bootable?

The documentation on their site does not mention that option, even with their paid version(s) but that would be nice.
Is your idea that if the internal hard drive fails, simply boot from the external drive with the image on it?

 

could you use the same process to make the external hdd bootable?

bsod? the one i posted in the sager forums? it hasnt happened again so it could be a fluke. but i just want to be extra careful.

 

Another software choice would be Crashplan. The free version works great for a disk -> disk backup. You also have the option to send a copy of your data to their cloud storage or even a friends house.

 

I do not think that is possible with Paragon, the boot disk is Linux, and the OS is windows.

 

I've not had the bsod again. But it's never bad to be safe.

Most recovery programs will allow you to make a recovery CD that will allow your computer to boot into dos or linux and allow the recovery program to run.
My problem is my external dvd is not working and I'd rather have the recovery boot off the external drive, short of installing a full version of windows on it.

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But it just needs to boot in linux to run the recovery program right?

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trvelbug, That is correct. you do not need an optical drive. I just had to recover my Vista installation on my dell D610, Booted from USb Stick, and reimaged from an external USB hard drive.

 

yeah all the while i was trying to figure out how to make a bootable external hdd, when making a bootable usb stick is so much simpler and its something ive done before for flashing bioses and whatnot.
thanks for reminding me