Indispensable Software for Windows Users

This information was originally published in July 2007 in my web log @ my wits' end. If you wish to comment on it, please visit this link.

Save yourself some agony - image it!

As well as helping family, friends, neighbours, and volunteer organizations, I spend 2 or 3 hours a day dealing with dozens of emails from people with computer and Windows problems. Too often those problems are only solvable by reinstalling Windows. That means at least a day down the drain - if you have all your installation discs.

disaster Many people don't know how to reinstall Windows or are terrified at the prospect, so they must pay someone to do it for them. Or find some mug like me to do it for nothing.

I never, ever have such problems. Well, not since I discovered imaging. I have images of both of my Windows installations and my Ubuntu Linux setup. If disaster strikes, I start my imaging program (Acronis True Image 11) click on the appropriate buttons and 20 minutes later my computer is restored to the nice clean state it was in before Windows had a hissy fit or got devoured by a rootkit.

Symantec's Ghost does the same job as True Image, but the Acronis product gets the best reviews.

Symantec seem to have been off the boil for a couple of years. I happily used their Norton Utilities for years and Ghost was written by a fellow Kiwi who became a zillionaire selling it to Norton only to have them lose the plot.

Symantec's security software became bloated after the 2003 version but I'm pleased to report that the latest version is back on track.

Windows 7 has Backup and Restore and Windows Vista has Vista Backup which work in a similar way, but the full version isn't available in the Home Premium versions. Why not? They want you to pay for a Windows upgrade – that's why not. Anyway, the Acronis program is more flexible: incremental images, imaging across a network and many other useful features: extra compression, image integrity checking, etc.

How does imaging work?

OK, you open the program and select backup and various options. The imaging software then makes a compressed copy of the complete partition or drive of your choice.

The image is written to a DVD, CDs, another partition or internal drive, or to an external USB drive, or to another computer on your network.

How do I fix things when it all turns pear-shaped?

You just run the program again, select restore, browse to the saved image, the PC shuts down, reboots and overwrites your mangled installation with the pristine backup.

But wait! There's more...

The best imaging software allows you to create a boot CD containing a full version of the program. If your computer is so badly corrupted that you can't run the program from Windows, or even if Windows won't start, you boot from the CD and restore sanity from there.

I have several images at different stages of my installation. You can see my strategy for doing this with Windows XP here on MistyWindow.com. The same principles apply with Vista, Windows 7 or any other operating system.

Any ifs and buts?

Yes, if you're imaging (backing up) drive X, the image can't be saved to drive X. It can't be backed up to itself. So an image of drive or partition C must be saved to (for instance) drive or partition D.

You can save an image of one partition to another partition on the same drive but that's not advisable. One important reason for having an image is so that you can recover from a crashed hard drive. That's not going to work if the image is on the same dead drive.

What's a partition?

A single hard drive - drive C for instance - can be divided into two or more virtual drives.

Each of those drives is called a partition and is seen by Windows as a separate hard drive.

Acronis Disk Director is a very good tool for creating and resizing partitions. Get it when you buy Acronis True Image. US$49 well spent.

An image of a basic installation of XP and MS Office will fit on one DVD, but when you start adding a lot more stuff to XP or if you're using Vista or Windows 7 you need several DVDs or, better yet, one or more of the following:

A separate partition on your hard drive.
Better, a second (or third) hard drive installed in your computer.
An external USB hard drive. More about these choices near the bottom of this page.
If you're a pessimist like me, both 2 and 3!

I'm more than a little paranoid. I don't like losing stuff. So I have 2 internal and 2 external drives.

An extra internal drive or partition also allows you to separate your data: (Documents, Pictures, email, outlook.pst files and the like) from your Operating System and your Programs. So you can restore an image of your Windows installation and programs while keeping your current data files intact.

I have a blog post here which tells you how to move My Documents and other User folders to another location.

Any other plusses?

Yep. If I want to install new software I'll create an image of my current installation first. If the new program is a dog or causes compatibility problems, I just restore my latest image and all traces of the intruder are gone.

What Else?

It's great, buy it - today!

But if you don't, and you have Windows Vista — use Vista Backup.

:o)

BootIt NG

BootIt NG is a cheaper program and it includes disc and partition management as well as imaging, it's every bit as good as Acronis, even more powerful, but it's also much "geekier". i.e. It's less user friendly and less intuitive.

If you don't mind a steep learning curve get BootItNG here. If you're not an experienced and confident Windows user, stick with True Image or Ghost.

You can get free trials of True Image, Ghost, and BootIt NG from their respective vendors' websites.

"But I'm a real Scrooge" I hear you cry!

I feel your pain. I'm retired so I'm on a budget too. If you're really mean there's an alternative.

Acronis True Image is a hobby horse of mine. For US$49 it provides peace of mind worth thousands. If you're in business it could potentially save you millions. But if you're really on a tight budget and you're determined not to spend any money (or you're just plain mean) there's a free imaging tool.

It's not in the same league as True Image, BootItNG or Ghost, but it's better than nothing.

Miray Software's HDClone has a free version. Get it here. I haven't used it, it doesn't have the capabilities of Acronis' product, the free edition is very slow, but it's better by a country mile than nothing.