So what should I backup?

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Stupid question of the day because I'm confused. If the entire C: drive is backed up (including operating system), wouldn't this also include drivers, registry, etc. that are unique to the machine being backed up? So if that machine died and you put your backup on a different machine or even a different hard drive on the same machine, would you introduce problems? How would Windows Genuine Advantage react when the machine specific security hashes don't match up? Or am I missing something really basic? (Which happens more and more frequently as I get older!)

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Not a stupid question at all, and you raise a good issue.

If you simply repair or replace a broken hard drive, then restoring a full
backup to your machine typically works. But as you point out, if you move to a
completely different machine, then things get confused.

If the machine is "similar" enough (whatever that might mean), then there's a
possibility that the restore would actually work. You *might* need to
re-activate (which should fix the WGA issue you raise). Worse case you would
need to reactivate over the phone, which I've heard actually goes pretty
smoothly.

More typically, though, if the problem is that catastrophic that the entire
machine gets swapped out, what most folks do is go the reinstallation route,
reinstalling Windows and applications to the new machine. The backup is then
used to recover data and other files from the old system.

Leo

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You can restore the FULL backup to anywhere you like. It doesn't matter if it's the same drive on the same PC or a different drive on a different PC. What does matter is the chipset on the motherboard.
If you were to try restoring on a machine with a different chipset, you will get the blue screen of death on boot up. Same chipset, you get a full boot up and no problems. Any other driver that wasn't installed before would get recognized and changed on the spot.

If you were get a blue screen of death, simply pop in your Windows CD and do a repair install. You will keep your old registry and files so you lose nothing, but now, windows is configured on your new chipset from fresh.

That's it. Hope this helps.

Why did you not suggest an off site backup service, such as Mozy. 2 gb is free. I backup about 15 gb which by encoding is reduced to about 1.6 gb. It runs once a week and takes about 30 minutes. I realize I'm only backing my data and not the operating system, so in case of trouble it will be trouble. I probably should backup the whole thing and pay the freight.

I also use Acronis TrueImage to create and image of my entire C: drive twice a month. So if I have a failure I can quickly return back to the way things where, in about 1-Hour. I have done the format/reinstall everything nightmare before, which in between working, took a week to get everything installed, updated, and reset back to the way I like things. Acronis TrueImage is the best way to go.
Also, whenever I create or change an important file I immediately back it up to a USB pen drive.
And once a month I copy my MyDocuments folder, where I keep all my files, to 2-CD's and keep that at another location. So if my computer died I can just copy the MyDocuments folder onto the new computer and not loose anything.

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David: Offsite backup services like Mozy and others are too new for me to feel
comfortable recommending. There are privacy and reliability concerns, as well
as some operational concerns (see
http://blogs.cnet.com/8301-13554_1-9752330-33.html for an argument against).

Personally, I don't want yet-another-application using up my limitted internet
bandwidth. I realize that they probably do a very good job of scheduling or
throttling uploads, but the bottom line is that those gigabytes all have to go
up your internet connection somehow, sometime. I can't see how that wouldn't
conflict at least occasionally with my own use of my internet connection.

So I'm not really arguing against - there's a lot to be said for the approach.
I'm just not ready to say yes to it.

Leo

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Two comments about Acronis True Image.

(1) It is NOT A TRUE image, at least not the last time I checked (and I checked multiple versions of the product). By this I mean that unlike a real image backup, it does not backup all hard disk sectors but instead only backs up sectors that Windows thinks have files on them. This means that if the file system gets screwed up, the backups are useless. I also think it skips things like the page/swap file and the hibernation file. While these two files can be safely skipped, once you start skipping anything, you open yourself up to making a mistake.

(2) True Image is a Windows application and I don't like the idea of backing up an OS from the inside while it's running. I much prefer to backup Windows from outside the OS with a disk image program that runs off a bootable CD.

what about norton ghost. i got a triak with my dell and had to one restore and it came up. can i delete it or is it good to keep on the computer in case of crash?

You did not mention the cost of Acronis True Image 10. Is it a one time purchase or a monthly fee as long as you use it?

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Acronis is a one time purchase.

Leo

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