Is keeping an image backup of my cleanly installed machine a good idea?

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Wow. A lot of works. Imagine that you have 3 different PCs at home.

IMHO, usually what the end user need is just to get the job done.

I have two desktops and three laptops currently.
I have been using Acronis for years now, essentially as you have described above, though not every six months.
Great treatment of the topic.

I use the backup approach recommended above by Leo, but there is one concern that I have with it which, fortunately, I have not had to face…yet. That concern has to do with anti-malware (or any other software) subscriptions which are renewed before you restore a backup image. For example, let’s say that I renewed an annual subscription to Norton Internet Security one month ago. Today, I restore my PC using an image created six months ago. I now have the outdated and expired subscription to Norton back on my PC; my relatively new one-month old subscription has been erased. Will I have any problem re-installing and using the one-month old Norton subscription? In other words, have I already “used up” my one paid-for installation of the software one-month ago, and therefore cannot now re-install and use that same software again?

Unfortunately I can't say for sure. I don't know about Norton, and in the general case it's going to vary from product to product. I would *assume* that with proper documentation of the renewal at a minimum the customer service would be able to help out. In addition, many renewals are just new product keys, so if you save those product keys elsewhere, then you may be able to simply re-enter them after restoring.

12-Oct-2009

You mentioned creating an image of the system but you didn't suggest any program or how to do it... Have you ever tried with DriveImageXML? Which do you recommend?
div class="leocomment">I personally use Acronis TrueImage, and have played a little with DriveImageXML, which also appears to be a reasonable tool for the job.

14-Oct-2009

I use an open source tool called "partimage" to create regular images of my OS partitions.

Partimage creates images using only the used space of a partition.

My routine is to create an image every couple of weeks assuming everything is running ok.
I keep the previous image as well as the new one.

I store them for safekeeping on an external HDD.

I also have them on various USB flash drives since restoring from a flash is extremely fast (about 2.4 GB/min).

Since I multiboot several linux distros this frequency of imaging makes sense to me because the linux distros get updated often.

As a matter of fact I will often make an image before doing a large update or if the update includes changes to X or involve updates to my video drivers.
Large updates can something break things.
A good reason for doing frequent updates.

Partimage handles NTFS quite well so I do backups of my Win 7 and XP installs at about the same time I routinely image my linux distros.

Partimage is itself linux based and is included
on the System rescue CD (SysrescCD) a bootable disk containing several valuable tools.
Partimage, IMHO is the most valuable tool on the disk.

It takes about 25 minutes to create an image of Win 7 or XP using the medium compression option.
My Win 7 and XP partitions (the used portions)
are fairly large, between 9.7 and 12 GB respectively.

With compression the resulting image files are
~4.86 GB for Win 7 and 6.79 GB for XP.

Because my linux partitions are much smaller
the resulting images are between 1.4 GB and 3.8 GB in size, again using the same compression scheme.

All told I can do all 6 OS's in a little over an hour and a half.

I have a spare HDD that is partitioned identically
to my main HDD with the same OS's installed.

Before leaving partimage after imaging all my OS partitions I pop the spare drive into a USB HDD docking device I have and use the restore feature to restore all my OS partitions.

I then pop my spare drive into my notebook and make sure everything works ok.

I then save all my images to an external drive for safekeeping.

This method has saved me a lot of grief.

If i need to restore a partition restoring from the appropriate flash drive is a snap.

My data is stored on separate partitions, a large Fat 32 partition shared between both my linux and Windows partitions and a large NTFS partition for my Windows installs only.

I manually back these up regularly to my external drive.

It does take some work but it's worth it.

The fact that partimage is absolutely free is icing on the cake.

Good coverage of an essential subject; there are free image and data backup programs readily available to accomplish all that is described. Doing an image restore vice a rebuild is a timesaver! One thing that was not mentioned that is important when doing an image restore (either periodically or as-needed) is to also look for and install driver updates after the restore. If the image was created from a new machine, updated drivers are very likely and updating them is essential; after the machine ages, driver updates from the manufacturer are not as likely...

Thanks to Frank Golden for explaining your process. Seems to work very well for you and gives me hope that I'll be able to implement something far less frequent with only one or two OS's. Furthermore, you're clearly a Linux user/fan and you made all that mention of both Linux and Windows in the same comment but didn't make one dig toward MS. I like that (since I'm an MS fan) so your opinion now means something to me. This entices me to investigate Partimage. I see that it can be run from the SystemRescueCD. So would the process look something like this:
--I take the CD, insert it into my Windows box (while it's in what Leo calls my "pristine" state),
--boot the box to CD
--use the Partimage program to create my Windows XP image.
Does this sound like the right steps? If so, after the image is created, I assume that I can then save it to an external HD, even while operating in the SystemRescueCD environment?

I TOTALLY agree with the suggestion. I personally use DriveImage XML (free, and can also be used with BartPE), and I also DEFINITELY recommend moving the MyDocuments folder to a second hard drive (presuming that it might be the main hard drive which crashes, if any, and as such, if Windows crashes, so does the MyDocuments folder), and also, using Second Copy on a daily basis, backup the MyDocuments (data) folder back on to another partition of the main hard drive. You can always replace the operating system and programs, but you can NEVER replace the data.

I follow a similar plan, but add one more: I use a one-line DOS command to update a straight file for file backup on an external hard drive of everything! That way, when I mess up just a simple file or three, I can go get it directly from the similar file structure on the external drive without messing with a restore program.

This command in a batch file will copy only those files that have changed since the last time the batch file ran. It takes a while the first time, of course, but after that, it takes just minutes. It's all in one line, of course:

xcopy C:\ "Q:\Backups\Laptop" /D/S/R/Y/H/I/C/EXCLUDE:C:\batch\NObackup.lst > "C:\Backup.lst"

You can omit the EXCLUDE command, but I don't bother backing up temp dirs, etc.

And you can then look in C:\Backup.lst to see every file that got copied.

If you wonder what all those parameters mean, open a DOS prompt and type xcopy /? and it will explain them and many more.

I've been using this approach for 20 years. It's simple, effective, and fast.

This is similar to a technique I use to backup some of my machines. The limitation is that this will not backup your operating system. If you suffer a complete system meltdown your data will have been saved, but you'll still be faced with a complete reinstall of the operating system and all applications. (A price I'm willing to pay, but only for, as I said, some of my machines.)

14-Oct-2009

'DO several HDD images for clean/fresh install:
1. SETUP: inc drivers, Windows Updates.
(Without pagefile this may fit on CD)
2. SETUP plus APPS: #1 above plus utilities and applications no security(This will fit on a DVD.)

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