After the crash - installed new drive - restored my full backup from BUMP 2006 - and Windows XP Pro Choked.

So now as I spend literally days reinstalling all my applications it is crystal clear that I need a better solution next time. What software should I be considering so that if I ever crash like this again I could just restore it back to a new drive and be good to go?

i don't if it best but these 3 are good. Get an external or an additional drive, don't keep backups on the same drive as the originals

Acronis True Image
Ghost
Paragon Backup

Cudni

There is no one solution for all scenarios. Imaging software such as those mentioned are great if your hard drive fails. But if you motherboard fails, it is sometimes impossible to get an exact replacement - you may get the same make and model, but chances are the revision number is different and that often means a critical hardware device (or devices) on the motherboard has been changed/updated - meaning the drivers on the image no longer work. This can create significant hassles, including Windows thinking you are attempting to run this installation on a different PC.

File backup programs are great too and if like me, all the data on my computer is worth much more than the hardware or the programs used to access them. So you need to determine what is the priority, the programs, or the data. I would not like to spend 2 days rebuilding my computer, but the loss would be much greater if I lost all my critical data files.

I keep all my data (email, bookmarks/favorites, data files, music, downloads, backup files including registry backups - basically any file I create) some where under My Documents. Then I regularly copy the entire My Documents folder to another networked computer in the basement.

I also use a RAID 1 (mirror) setup. This requires 2 identical drives, plus 1 spare drive. The mirrored array automatically creates an exact image of drive 1 on drive 2 in real time. Compared to a single drive setup, I take a very slight hit in drive performance on writes because of the verification process, but I get a slight performance boost on reads (the most common drive task) as needed data is pulled off both drives. If one drive fails, the other drive takes over as a single drive (non-RAID) and except for the monitoring program yelling at me, I notice no difference and most importantly, no data loss. I simply pull the bad drive, insert my spare, they automatically sync up, and I am good to go again.

What I do every month is swap one of the drives out of the array with the spare, then take the drive (with a current image) I just pulled and store it off-site at my bank. This protects me in the event Mother Nature takes out my house (fire, flood, tornado, direct lightning strike, etc.), or a badguy breaks in, some how gets past my dog, and steals my computer.

Creating a slipstream disk regularly can and streamline your restoration process if you have to rebuild. A slipstream disk basically combines your copy of your Windows installation disk with the latest patches (including SP2 and other hotfixes) into one new installation CD. See The ElderGeek - Slipstreamed Windows and/or Paul Thurrott's - Slipstreaming Windows.

_________________
Bill, AFE7Ret
Freedom is NOT Free!

You would think there would be an easier way!

It just pisses me off when you try to cover yourself - make a full backup and then when the crash happens it is still such a pain in the butt to get it back to where it was!

It may be a good idea to try restoring an image to see if it works. It's the only way to know for sure, but it's not for the faint of heart. I'm new to imaging myself. I'm using DiscWizard which is basically ATI, but it's free for those who have a Seagate HDD. Maxtor also has a free version called Maxblast. http://www.seagate.com/www/en-us/support/downloads/

After installing DiscWizard, I made the bootable cd to image/recover from. I've recovered one of the 3 images I made. At least I know it works. I haven't used the program/gui yet for operations and have it's services/processes disabled. I'll probably uninstall it or more likely reinstall everything and just use the boot cd from now on. I prefer to do my images when the system isn't being used, but that option isn't for everyone.

Another program which I intend to try is Karen's Replicator which is good for backing up your data. I've been doing it manually to an external HDD. http://www.karenware.com/powertools/ptreplicator.asp

Anyone here have any experience with Norton Save and Restore? Sounds like it is Ghost with some dressing around it to make it easier for six pack Joe.

Is it reliable?