BACKUP and RESTORE

[halfthumb]

My hard drive may have to be replaced. My question is what is the best way to Backup and Restore to an external hard drive.

When Backup and Restore is done and a new hard drive has been installed will my Applications be restored? For instance Excel2007. My Excel 2007 installation disk has expired and I would have to repurchase the software.

Is Windows Backup and Restore or some Freeware the way to go.

Paul B

 

[xenou]

A system image backup is what you want. I've never done this so no experience that I can speak to, but it should work. If it doesn't you can just put the old disk back in and try something else!

Bu installation disks don't expire. If it's just Excel that's a problem double check this - you should certainly be able to re-install Excel, and if there's a problem you can contact MS to (probably) straighten it out. Of course, if you buy a new disk and don't have a complete system backup, you will not only have to re-install Excel but everything, including windows itself.

 

[SydneyGeek]

When you install the new drive you have the option to clone the drive -- effectively copying everything across to the new drive. Just make sure that the partition on the new drive is at least as big as the old, and set the new partition as a primary partition so it's bootable. I can't remember whether this is a feature of the system, but it definitely is a feature of backup software like Acronis.

Denis