COMPLETE Backup

[kid4christ]

I know that when you back up your hard drive, all it really does is backup your documents, photos, you know, the essential stuff. Is there such thing as a ENTIRE backup? I mean it backs up like games you've put on everything. Backing up a comp is great but I do have alot of games on here I would hate to install all over again. Thanks!

PS: Using windows 7

[glc]

Yes, you can use something like Acronis True Image to create an image of your entire hard drive. However, I don't know if it's compatible with Windows 7.

[cmichael258]

I don't know if it's compatible with Windows 7.

For what it's worth, I ran the Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor on XP Pro with Acronis Home 10.0 and it did not indicate that it would be a problem.

[kid4christ]

Okay that sounds good. How much does this cost and is there a free software program that does the same thing? How does this process work?

[kid4christ]

Hey! Actually I just learned that W7 has a feature where it will do a image copy already built in!

[rjfvillarosa]

kid4.
Be carefull what you select when using the W7 image tool.
I tried it a few months ago on my W7/XP twin harddrive test rig box and it made something ridiculous (about 50 or 60 gig) of only a 10 or 11gig installation, I was too busy at the time to figure out what was going on and just deleted the image. It took up about a third of the XP harddrive.

[kid4christ]

Well, that sounds a little weird for a 10 gig install. Mine said it was about 130 gigs. I have about that much saved on my HD anyway. I figured that was normal since it was backing up the WHOLE drive....

[rjfvillarosa]

Originally Posted by kid4christ I figured that was normal since it was backing up the WHOLE drive....

Backing up the 'Whole' drive including the free space is all I could think of except my W7 harddrive is bigger than my XP harddrive by about 100gigs.
One day I will go back and take a look, but with making images of my drives using Acronis being so easy, it's not exactly at the top of my list of priorities at the moment.

[kid4christ]

Oh, did mine do that too? I mean backup everything including free space? Im using about 137 gigs. The file with the image reads about 91.3 gigs. I guess it leaves out unnecessary files?

I also have one more question. How do you get rid of files that are unused after an install. I'm noticing files and such that were associated with program I uninstalled a long time ago. Will ccleaner do the trick?

Thanks again!

[kilgoretrout]

Most imaging programs use compression so the image file should be smaller than the amount of space used on the imaged partition. Imaging applications do not leave out files so you shouldn't worry about that.

[kid4christ]

Okay, sounds good (:

What about my second question about old files from uninstalled programs?

[rjfvillarosa]

Originally Posted by kid4christ Will ccleaner do the trick?

Doubtful. I usually go through and manually delete any no longer used files and folders.
One of the good things about doing backups and using System Restore, all the left overs are gotten rid of if you restore your OS installation from a saved image or carryout a system restore back to before the program you uninstalled was installed.

[kid4christ]

Okay, so basically when you backup using and image, it will (basically) save only the essential files? So maybe its not a bad idea once in a while to whipe your drive and restore maybe like once or twice a year?

[glc]

No, an image saves EVERYTHING.