hey all i have xp home ed. and how would i go about backing up my hard drive?Just to let you know i have Nero and an external dvd writer?
you could also try to use microsofts backup utility. with home edition you will have to install it yourself (off the windows XP disk). it can be found at: X:\VALUEADD\MSFT\NTBACKUP (where X is the CD-rom drive letter).
Actually if you back up your HD from within windows with the notion to be able to reinstall windows and all your files in the event of a hard drive failure, that is good. At least you are doing a back up. The downside is, to get to your back in the event of a HD failure would be. install the new hd , install windows , install all the mainboard drivers , install the back up program and maybe have to create a new catalog of what is on the tape , then do the recovery. There are two ways you can do this that is far easier 1. get ghost 2003, not an earlier or latter ver,,, get 2003. you can get it on ebay for about $10. You will also need a floppy drive, many new PC's do not have floppy drives, though they still have a floppy controller on the mainboard. Install ghost on the pc , create the bootable floppy , boot your computer with the floppy and back up the whole hd to a cd or dvd set, to reinstall just reverse the process... or clone your hd using ghost to another HD , and then put the hd away. The HD does not have to be the same capacity as your HD it just has to be larger than the data on the HD being backed up.
You can use Ghost 2oo2 and their is no need to install it on the PC. You just need too have it on a Floppy and make sure in bios that the first boot device is floopy/removable drive. It is best if both hard drives are different sizes (SO YOU DON'T MESSUP). Or you can use Acronis True Image 9.0. You use an external hard drive inan usb enclosure. It is the easiest way for laptop backups. They both take time -around 30-45mins. You can't beat the peace of mind it gives you and they work! My brothers, sister,brother-in-laws, and neices have put me and the backs to the test(better than fresh install and here people complain about the stuff they lost).
Acronis was simple as can be. I used it to backup a SMART failing hard drive, and it took only minutes. Up to you which way to go. They both end up with the same result. ~Rich
