HD Imaging questions

1.) if i image a hard drive what software is the best for doing this?
2.) if i make a image of the hard drive and i need to reinstall my os from scratch will it auto load back into xp once i coppy one hd to the other?
3.) do the hard drives have to be the same?

i just want to do this because i get tired of installing xp every 6 months like i always do. this way i can have all my spyware, antivirus, and apps already installed with out having to install everything all over again.

any tips and pointers are also something you might want to throw out to me as i have never done this before

 

norton ghost 2003, is what I recommend. The way I do It is I have a second hardrive that I store my image on, and a ghost floppy that I use to boot up my pc if I have to reinstall my image in emergency (never have had to do that-you can also do this in windows).
All you have to do, is use ghost and make your image (it's easy) store it-normal compression compresses it to <2/3 it's normal size, save it some how, some people save their images on multiple DVD's or CDR's, but a separate hardrive is much easier and convienient.
once you save your image, if something happens, you get a virus or you just want to goback in time to when you made your image, all you have to do is run norton ghost 2003 in windows,select your image file you want to restore, and where you want to retore it to, then windows will reboot, and then it will do it. In an emergency (windows won't load) you can use a ghost floppy (made by ghost 2003) to boot your machine and start ghost from it and do the same thing. Ghost 2003 is really a easy program to use, and a real time saver, and has excellent help files.

good luck.

 

i have a SFF pc no floppy connections ( MSI 180 barebone system )
so if i cant boot to floppy can i make a bootable cd or dvd with ghost?

 

Acronis True Image 8, is Good Too:
http://www.majorgeeks.com/download2236.html

Here is review, notes stuff about Ghost too:
http://www.pcworld.com/reviews/article/0,aid,117961,00.asp