Make Your Own Custom System Rescue CD / DVD

Infopackets Reader Don B. writes:

" Dear Infopackets Team,

I have never made a disk image before. My question is: if I make a complete image backup of my C drive (25Gigabytes large), can I then erase my drive and proceed to restore my image backup? Or is disk imaging good only for restoring broken files, but not for doing a complete system restore on a clean drive? I guess I'm a bit confused.

What I would like to do is wipe out my hard drive completely, then install Windows XP fresh and all the updates and security software, plus a few program essentials (like MS Office). After doing all of this, then I would make a disk image backup of my hard drive.

So I guess what I'm asking is: if my system suddenly freaks out (sometime in the future), can I pop in my image backup on DVD and completely restore my system back to the condition it was when I made the backup -- and most importantly, so I don't have to reload all my programs and download all the updates?

Also, I have also read your comments about splitting the hard drive into two partitions: a C and D drive, where C is for Windows XP only and the D is for my personal user data and programs, etc. What program do you recommend for partitioning (splitting) the hard drive? "

Doug's response:

RE: " ... if my system suddenly freaks out (sometime in the future), can I pop in my image backup on DVD and completely restore my system back to the condition it was when I made the backup? "

In a single word, Yes!

I do this very thing at a school that I supply technical support to on a volunteer basis. When kids get 'busy' on a computer, all sorts of things show up on hard drives that the school district 'frowns' upon. I take the image CD and 'snap' I can have a fully re-imaged hard drive in as little as 6 minutes.

One thing to be sure of before you build your image CD. Make the system drive is *exactly* the way you want it, first! Make sure all updates are installed and any additional software you use/need are correctly installed and configured before you build the image.

To download Acronis True Image (Disk Imaging software), refer to this article:

Acronis True Image Review

Dennis' response:

RE: " What program do you recommend for partitioning (splitting) the hard drive? "

To do this, you would need a partition managing program to split the drive. If you plan on wiping out your entire hard drive and doing a fresh install of Windows, you can partition the drive during the Windows installation. Note that if you own Windows 95, 98, or ME, you will need to use FDISK prior (I have an eBook and Video that explains how to do this).

Note that in either case, you will lose *all data* on the drive when it is partitioned (and formatted).

If you want to split your hard drive without losing the data (so that you can store your personal files on the D drive), you will need a partition management program such as Acronis Partition Expert, which comes part of Acronis Disk Director Suite.

Acronis Disk Director Suite 10 Review

Moving Existing Programs from One Drive to the Next

Whenever the topic of partitioning comes up, I get asked if it's possible to move an installed program from one hard drive letter (C drive) to the next (D drive) without having to reinstall the program.

The answer is: Yes, it's possible, but you need a special program to do this. Refer to these articles for more information:

Move installed program to another hard drive letter (same system)?

Move installed program to another hard drive letter (same system)?, Part 2