BleepingComputer.com: a GHOST of a chance

hey,
i was just thinking , there is a much easier way to reinstall windows than having to put it on manually and then all your programs and updates etc. WHat i was thinking of doing was doing a fresh install of windows, downloading all the updates and programes that i put on straight away including drivers etc. Then creating a ghost image, compresing it and then puting it onto DVD. or atleast putting it in a storage location on one of my networked pc's. Then if i ever get a sirious error , instead of spending hours reinstalling everything it takes 10-15 minutes to just ghost the image back on ...
just a thought for those who find themselves resintalling mabye once a month :S

Just as every computer is different, so are the users. Some may have external HDs, and others may be running the computer as "stock".

One of my peers even has a dedicated external hd just for backups of different updates of XP.

My point is your suggestion does make it easier. Some may not have the extra hardware though. Someone told me of a way to partition an exsisting hd and have it hidden, along with automatically appling all the updates that XP does.

Something to do with RAID 0/1 striping on the same hd. I was always under the impression that you could not stripe 2 partitions on the same hd.

Thanks for sharing.

I create an image of my OS partition at least weekly onto DVD media.

I also image my data partition to DVD media regularly.

It takes me about 20 minutes to restore my OS or data partition from DVD media.

To use such a strategy, give some thought creating separate dedicated partions such as OS, Apps, Games, Data, Backup, etc.

I use Terabyte 'Image for DOS', which is DOS-based and runs from boot-floppy or boot-CD.

Hope this helps!

Good advise Movian, I do the same. Might I add to your suggestion by saying before loading any drivers or patches, get an image of the clean install. Now install all the drivers and patches and get a second image. Now if you change some hardware (upgrade) and you have problems you can use the first clean install image to save you some time.

I dont quite know the extent of the details, but i know in the computer lab at school, our tec guy, uses a ghost hdd to rebuild a computer if any problem occours

JEservices, on Jan 2 2005, 10:34 AM, said:

I am in the middle of trying to get my SATA drive hooked up on my P4C800ED. I think what you are refering to is a "security" raid. I have the option of making a "security" raid which will backup all the info in my C: drive. From what I've read so far, you can put them on the same HD.

David

overall having a ghost image is just a damn usefull thing to have for whatever reason.
either resintalling windows due to malware virus or corupt windows files. I looked into the Ghosting program that was suggest by gud4u
but because i am on xp i would rather use a non DOS based app if there are any available so any more recomendatiosn would be apriciated