Making an image of your HD

Buddy told me I should do an image of my HD if I ever wanted to reinstall everything it would be faster and more convenient.
Question is this, part of me thinks sure why not, other part thinks, wouldn't it be better to actually format the hard drive, then install the programs, less chance of a glitch or is it really the same thing?
I dunno, never dealt with "images" other than backing-up my movies or games.

 

Hi,
Here are the advantages to having an image of your HD.

1. You don't have to find all of the installation disks you used when you first set up the computer. Mine get lost or moved around sometimes.

2. You don't have to enter in the serial numbers for the OS or any other program, remember user names, passwords, account numbers, log-ins etc.

3. You don't have to tweak the system colors, display settings, or windowmetrics, download OS patches all over again etc.

All said and done, you save yourself an incredible amount of time and effort to restore a system to it's previous state.

If your system is free of viruses and malware then you would benefit from making an image of the drive. Personally I use Norton Ghost 2003 on my Windoze XP Pro system with no problem. My system is backed up on 3 DVD's.