Now would be a good time to use macrium reflect to image C there are also commercial imaging software like ghost or true image,it'll save the hassle next time.
EDIT:Don't piss about with incremental or differential use one time imaging
The simple matter of this is windoze is rubbish.. every so often.. especially if it dies while running.. it will just self destruct.
I repair bad cap motherboards.. and 9 times out of 10 the windoze on the hdd is broken beyond repair.
Now I'm very crafty.. I don't even transfer files off to do a repair/new install.. I just use puppy and make a \backup directory and instead of wasting 4 hours copying files (and running out of space) I just move the lot into the \backup.. reinstall.. pick through the \backup and move back things like all the media and docs and settings etc to where they were before.. no files actually move.. they just get relocated in the directory tree....
btw.. these commercial payware imaging programs are a ripoff.. use TAR .. freeware and designed for the job.. or even easier.. just mirror the whole clean new install straight on to a dvd.. Done that a lot of times too.
Originally posted by scum101: The simple matter of this is windoze is rubbish.. every so often..
Well i never, i didn't think i'd see the day where you said Windows isn't always rubbish hehe :p
Originally posted by scum101: Now I'm very crafty.. I don't even transfer files off to do a repair/new install.. I just use puppy and make a \backup directory and instead of wasting 4 hours copying files (and running out of space) I just move the lot into the \backup.. reinstall.. pick through the \backup and move back things like all the media and docs and settings etc to where they were before.. no files actually move.. they just get relocated in the directory tree....
Hehe, good one; that's the kind of approach i'd take with a Solaris machine. I do like the 'reinstall over the top' method though, with XP anyways, haven't tried it with say Win7 yet, maybe i'll try it whenever i get rid of my two Win7 installs (as Win7 buys be nothing over my XP and linux installs).
Originally posted by scum101: btw.. these commercial payware imaging programs are a ripoff.. use TAR .. freeware and designed for the job.. or even easier.. just mirror the whole clean new install straight on to a dvd.. Done that a lot of times too.
No arguments from me, these days there's a freeware alternative to almost everything, and the freeware does often do a better job. As time goes on and i find sufficiently good freeware programs i replace the paid stuff as i go.
Thanks for a great idea to do a mirror backup of the HDD content after everything necessary is installed! That didn't even come into my mind. It would save from lots of work. Actually I didn't even know there are free programs that can do it. What would be the best (and rather easy to use) program for creating that mirror image?
All i know is it's free well parts of it are,don't know if it creates image files or whether it needs another hdd to clone too,if the free version doesn't create image files i wouldn't bother with it personally,can't comment if it's the best as i use true image & ghost
