Re: Backing up WinXP Pro to External Hard Drive

David wrote:
> I would like to back up my whole Win XP system to an external hard
> drive and would like some recommendations as to what software I should
> use?
>
> ..ie is the Backup that comes with XP Pro ok? How would I restore XP
> in the event of a failure? Does it do open files etc?
>
> ...is there a single bit of software I can buy that will just dump the
> whole HD to the external HD and then provide a simple way of restoring
> all of this data to a new HD (in the event of an HD failure) or to a
> whole new system (in the event of my laptop being stolen)
>
> Are there any XP funnies I should be aware of? Will it complain that
> Im restoring to a different type of disk? - presumably if its a whole
> new laptop then I will hit problems?
>
> Should I be doing anything else like creating a bootable disk or
> something?
>
> The XP Pro CD I have is "Only to be distributed with a new PC" - does
> this mean I couldnt restore it to another PC?

The various imaging programs are best for backing up, however, since you want
to do it to an external hard drive you want to get imaging software that runs
in a Window. The only one I've seen that does it is Acronis True Image.
www.acronis.com (It also makes a bootable CD for recovery and copies
necessary drivers for RAID, SCSI, and External Disks to that CD; none of the
other imaging product will do that.)

Your XP Pro is an OEM version and is /legally/ tied to the PC it was
originally installed onto. Microsoft keeps Activation records for 120 days
and would know if you tried to install it on a different PC during that time.
;-)

--
- relic -
Don't take life too seriously, You won't get out alive.

In article <hH5nc.4102$>,
relic <> wrote:
>David wrote:
>> I would like to back up my whole Win XP system to an external hard
>> drive and would like some recommendations as to what software I should
>> use?
>>
>> ..ie is the Backup that comes with XP Pro ok? How would I restore XP
>> in the event of a failure? Does it do open files etc?
>>
>> ...is there a single bit of software I can buy that will just dump the
>> whole HD to the external HD and then provide a simple way of restoring
>> all of this data to a new HD (in the event of an HD failure) or to a
>> whole new system (in the event of my laptop being stolen)
>>
>> Are there any XP funnies I should be aware of? Will it complain that
>> Im restoring to a different type of disk? - presumably if its a whole
>> new laptop then I will hit problems?
>>
>> Should I be doing anything else like creating a bootable disk or
>> something?
>>
>> The XP Pro CD I have is "Only to be distributed with a new PC" - does
>> this mean I couldnt restore it to another PC?
>
>The various imaging programs are best for backing up, however, since you want
>to do it to an external hard drive you want to get imaging software that runs
>in a Window. The only one I've seen that does it is Acronis True Image.
>www.acronis.com (It also makes a bootable CD for recovery and copies
>necessary drivers for RAID, SCSI, and External Disks to that CD; none of the
>other imaging product will do that.)
>
>Your XP Pro is an OEM version and is /legally/ tied to the PC it was
>originally installed onto. Microsoft keeps Activation records for 120 days
>and would know if you tried to install it on a different PC during that time.
>;-)

If you needed to recover data to another machine you'd have 30 days
before the activation kicked in, as I understand it. You might have
to avoid connecting that PC to the Internet while recovering.

--
Al Dykes
-----------
adykes at p a n i x . c o m

Al Dykes wrote:
> In article <hH5nc.4102$>,
> relic <> wrote:
>> David wrote:
>>> I would like to back up my whole Win XP system to an external hard
>>> drive and would like some recommendations as to what software I
>>> should use?
>>>
>>> ..ie is the Backup that comes with XP Pro ok? How would I restore XP
>>> in the event of a failure? Does it do open files etc?
>>>
>>> ...is there a single bit of software I can buy that will just dump
>>> the whole HD to the external HD and then provide a simple way of
>>> restoring all of this data to a new HD (in the event of an HD
>>> failure) or to a whole new system (in the event of my laptop being
>>> stolen)
>>>
>>> Are there any XP funnies I should be aware of? Will it complain that
>>> Im restoring to a different type of disk? - presumably if its a
>>> whole new laptop then I will hit problems?
>>>
>>> Should I be doing anything else like creating a bootable disk or
>>> something?
>>>
>>> The XP Pro CD I have is "Only to be distributed with a new PC" -
>>> does this mean I couldnt restore it to another PC?
>>
>> The various imaging programs are best for backing up, however, since
>> you want to do it to an external hard drive you want to get imaging
>> software that runs in a Window. The only one I've seen that does it
>> is Acronis True Image. www.acronis.com (It also makes a bootable CD
>> for recovery and copies necessary drivers for RAID, SCSI, and
>> External Disks to that CD; none of the other imaging product will do
>> that.)
>>
>> Your XP Pro is an OEM version and is /legally/ tied to the PC it was
>> originally installed onto. Microsoft keeps Activation records for
>> 120 days and would know if you tried to install it on a different PC
>> during that time. ;-)
>
> If you needed to recover data to another machine you'd have 30 days
> before the activation kicked in, as I understand it. You might have
> to avoid connecting that PC to the Internet while recovering.

Only if it wasn't activated when installed. The 30 day limit is on mandatory
activation.

--
- relic -
Don't take life too seriously, You won't get out alive.