Backing up my harddrive...

[eefanincan]

I'm no computer wizard by any stretch of the imagination, so I'm asking for your help on this one.

I would like to start doing regular back ups of my hard drive so that if my laptop ever fails, I'll have a fairly easy way (I hope!) of loading data onto another computer. This happened to me last year and it was really annoying because I had to go an re-purchase a couple of programs as well as re-enter everything I had in my iTunes, email, favourites, etc. etc.

Any suggestions on what might be the easiest way to do this kind of back up? I'm assuming I'd need to buy an external hard-drive---which I'm quite willing to do--- but not sure if there is one kind that is better than another (and I hate to ask when I go in the store, because I'm sure they see me coming and sell me something I don't really need). I wouldn't say that I have a ton of stuff to back up in so far as memory, only that what I've got is important me.

Currently using an HP Pavillion zv6000 laptop if that helps.

OS Name Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition
Version 5.1.2600 Service Pack 2 Build 2600
OS Manufacturer Microsoft Corporation
System Name HPLAPTOP
System Manufacturer Hewlett-Packard
System Model Pavilion ZV6100 (ET889UA#ABL)
System Type X86-based PC
Processor x86 Family 15 Model 47 Stepping 2 AuthenticAMD ~1794 Mhz
BIOS Version/Date Hewlett-Packard F.1B, 11/10/2005
SMBIOS Version 2.31
Windows Directory C:\WINDOWS
System Directory C:\WINDOWS\system32
Boot Device \Device\HarddiskVolume1
Locale United States
Hardware Abstraction Layer Version = "5.1.2600.2180 (xpsp_sp2_rtm.040803-2158)"
User Name HPLAPTOP\Charlene
Time Zone Eastern Standard Time
Total Physical Memory 1,024.00 MB
Available Physical Memory 497.84 MB
Total Virtual Memory 2.00 GB
Available Virtual Memory 1.96 GB
Page File Space 2.40 GB
Page File C:\pagefile.sys

[nekokate]

Look up a program called Norton Ghost - that might be the sort of thing you're after.

[Brown Sauce]

or

[major.tom]

One thing you might consider is partitioning your hard drive in such a way that the c:\ drive (with the Operating System) is separate from your data. I have a 320 GB hd in my machine; C:\ is about 20 gigs -- big enough to hold XP and my installed programs with room to spare. My Documents folder is on my D:\ drive. You can use TweakUI (a free microsoft program) to change the folder location of most standard folders (eg. Documents, Favorites, etc). And Outlook can be setup to use a mail file (.pst) outside of c:\documents and settings\.... As can Firefox. (start/run/firefox -profilemanager)

The main benefit is that should you ever need to re-format your C:\ drive and re-install windows, you don't have to worry about losing your data. You will have to re-install all of your programs and re-instate the settings, but you'd have to do that anyway.

Also, this prevents having to backup your installed programs, which are easier to restore (reinstall). So your backups will be smaller since they only include your irreplaceable data.

There are several programs out there that will let you alter the partitions of your hard drive without losing any information, such as PartitionMagic. If you have enough free space on your drive, you can shrink your current partition, create an extended partition and move data over.

[eefanincan]

Thanks guys--- you've given me lots to think about

[Ash]

Yes, as major said, please do the partition
As for removing the my doc folder- you don't need to install any other utility:
o create another folder for your documents in a directory (partition) other than C:\. Call it anything you like, say "I love ice cream"
o Click my documents' properties (by clicking right button of your mouse)
o you'll see an option called "target folder location". Now change the location to your newly created folder. And you're done

Something tangential (to keep your OS running quicker after a fresh installation):
o Unless it is absolutely necessary, don't install any software. Adobe's packages are generally quite memory hungry
o Increase the virtual memory from system properties
o Do NOT use Norton, McAfee antivirus- they make your system quite slow. Use Nod32 or kaspersky. I use Kasp with windows xp's default firewall. It serves me quite well.
o Don't do it unless you're absolutely sure:

Go to run.
type msconfig.
click on the startup tab. remove the start up things that you'll not need - for eg, windows msngr, any software update engine, etc. But make sure you do NOT disable the anti virus update manager... Seeing the full directory and name will give you a better idea of what can be removed from the start up list. Hopefully this will reduce the system start up time

o Go to my computer > (by pressing right mouse button go to) System Properties > Advanced > StartUp and Recovery > deselect Automatic Restart.
o You can also reduce the amount of time the pc displays the OS flag during startup.

Perhaps this is the best time of doing all sorts of monkey tests as you're planning to do fresh installation. For example, you can mess around with the registry entries. But before that make sure you've backed up your stuffs

Happy testings

[eefanincan]

Thanks Ash

[Brown Sauce]

good info Ash.

[Bob]

www.filehippo.com

I use avast for a decent and free anti virus, and Comodo is also pretty good for a freebie.

[Ash]

Slowly I'm moving towards freewares completely. I'm already using open office, megui, ffdshow for my main academic works and entertainment. Unlike sharewares, freewares do what they claim and more importantly they don't make your system slow/unstable. Once I get a proper break, i'll be moving to Linux as well.


Advice needed:

I noticed that when install from a source that is zipped and .exe'ed- 1st the installer extracts those files into a temp directory and then installs the file from there. But after a full installation my OS (windows xp), must to my annoyance, do not remove those temp files- eg Nero. Is there anyway i can remove them automatically. I'd prefer it to be done by windows itself. I don't want to remove them manually as it can screw up my installation or OS - Or (to lesser extent via) any 3rd party software. But please do let me know if you've got any idea- preferably freeware

Thanks