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Re: Best Restore Method
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Greegor
Nov 23, 2012, 1:47:08 AM11/23/12
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On Nov 21, 3:25 am, OldGuy <nos...@nospam.com> wrote:
> As far as I know, I do not have anything on my laptop that will do what
> I want.
What several people have been suggesting is that
you make an image copy, which various programs
will do. Instead of an invisible or hidden partition
you can use a readily visible partition.
My standard lately is to partition every drive
with 15 GB at each end, marked First and Last,
with the rest of the drive partitioned and marked
DATA.
I install Windows onto the First partition, install
SP3 and all of the updates from the Microsoft update site,
and support items like Adobe reader, Flash, Shockwave Players,
Java, etc. I like a little tiny red fast shutdown button
in my quicklaunch...
Once you get a MODEL system just the way you like it,
you clone it to the Last partition for safe keeping.
I use the free version of XXCLONE which even lets
me multiboot to boot from the last partition.
(It switches which one is C: but the First/Last label
helps keep a user from getting confused.)
Ideally you would also make a CLONE of your
system partition to another drive or several drives
as well. Perhaps even a USB external hard disk
or a 32 GB USB Flash drive...
To put it simply, IMAGE copiers or Partition CLONING
would give you the sort of quick fix you described, IF
you prepare things right.
On my 3.4 GHz desktops XXCLONE takes
about 20 minutes to clone an 8 GB Windows
system partition.
You can't clone TO the system you booted on
so that's why booting on the Last partition is
the first step for cloning the Last partition to
the First partition.
On a 200 GB HD I'd be tempted to rig it with
two backup bootable partitions in addition
to the first one, but that could add more confusion
than it's worth. A clone to another drive would
of course be preferable.
Somewhere I saw that some business people
who fly a lot regularly CLONE their drive right
before each trip, in case an X-Ray machine
wipes it or it gets damaged by dropping.
They leave a clone drive image in a locked
desk drawer or in an IT holding area before
each trip.
I hope that helps.
> As far as I know, I do not have anything on my laptop that will do what
> I want.
What several people have been suggesting is that
you make an image copy, which various programs
will do. Instead of an invisible or hidden partition
you can use a readily visible partition.
My standard lately is to partition every drive
with 15 GB at each end, marked First and Last,
with the rest of the drive partitioned and marked
DATA.
I install Windows onto the First partition, install
SP3 and all of the updates from the Microsoft update site,
and support items like Adobe reader, Flash, Shockwave Players,
Java, etc. I like a little tiny red fast shutdown button
in my quicklaunch...
Once you get a MODEL system just the way you like it,
you clone it to the Last partition for safe keeping.
I use the free version of XXCLONE which even lets
me multiboot to boot from the last partition.
(It switches which one is C: but the First/Last label
helps keep a user from getting confused.)
Ideally you would also make a CLONE of your
system partition to another drive or several drives
as well. Perhaps even a USB external hard disk
or a 32 GB USB Flash drive...
To put it simply, IMAGE copiers or Partition CLONING
would give you the sort of quick fix you described, IF
you prepare things right.
On my 3.4 GHz desktops XXCLONE takes
about 20 minutes to clone an 8 GB Windows
system partition.
You can't clone TO the system you booted on
so that's why booting on the Last partition is
the first step for cloning the Last partition to
the First partition.
On a 200 GB HD I'd be tempted to rig it with
two backup bootable partitions in addition
to the first one, but that could add more confusion
than it's worth. A clone to another drive would
of course be preferable.
Somewhere I saw that some business people
who fly a lot regularly CLONE their drive right
before each trip, in case an X-Ray machine
wipes it or it gets damaged by dropping.
They leave a clone drive image in a locked
desk drawer or in an IT holding area before
each trip.
I hope that helps.
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