Backup all data on the laptop

[kevin63]

What is the best way to backup all of the data on my laptop, I have an external hard drive with plenty of space, I may have the loan of Norton Ghost and wondered if this will do the job, or is there a free program to download. I am looking for something that if my laptop goes Pete Tonge, then I can get it all back to normal off the back up on the external hard drive, it may or may not be possible, I am not sure.
All suggestions welcome.

[sheetstabuer]

Use ghost but it will be a snapshot, you could of course write a batch file to copy *.* d: etc

[rlk500]

Ghost is only going to work if you recover the image back onto the same hardware. If you have XP there is a Transfer Wizard that allows you to select the key files you want, including settings etc. You can copy the whole lot to one file. (Start Menu, Programs, Accecories, System Tools, Transfer Wizard).

[munky]

Is there a way to back up XP? I've got Iomega Automatic Backup backing up most of the hard drive to external but my main worry now is if the laptop HDD fails, I'll lose the OS. It came with XP preloaded when I bought it new, but it didn't come with an XP CD. At least I can't find one and don't recall ever seeing one!
Or if it did happen, I could just use it as an excuse to buy a new PC with Vista!

[tigger1]

I would consider using ghost for the software side of things, but for data back-ups perhaps burning to (2 or 3, in sequence) DVDs might be a better option, as this is quick and easy to move about. DVD writer, £25-30 quid, caddy (so that you can use it externally) - £5. 25 DVD-RWs, £5. Being honest, your software will very rarely change, but your data will change regularly. (MP3, photos, word docs, presentations, porn collection etc etc)

Thing with most peoples backing-up is they never actually bother to check if its possible to physically restore the system using what they'v backed up,but everyone should have at least some sort of "disaster recovery" (DR) plan. At least with data on DVD you know that will be simple to copy back over to the lappy - even if it meant having to reinstall software from scratch.

PS I hate pre-installed copies of Windows. They're usually hidden on a partition on the HDD, but if the original copy was corrupt then you'll never get it working properly.

[road2ruin]

rlk500 said:

Ghost is only going to work if you recover the image back onto the same hardware. If you have XP there is a Transfer Wizard that allows you to select the key files you want, including settings etc. You can copy the whole lot to one file. (Start Menu, Programs, Accecories, System Tools, Transfer Wizard).

You can recover independent files from ghost too not just the whole thing.