Summary: We'll look at reasons why imaging a hard drive isn't the best approach, and other options you have.
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How do you "image" a hard drive? I would like to make an image of my hard drive so when I mess things up like I usually do, I could restore everything back to a pristine condition without having to reformat and reinstall the operating system and associated programs. |
"Imaging" a hard drive is a process that makes a complete copy of the drive, all of it, at a very low level. Restoring from a backup image restores everything to the exact state that it was at the time you took the image.
Sounds great, doesn't it?
But I'll let you in on a little secret: I've never imaged a hard drive. Not once. There are a couple of "catches" that make it not quite as useful as you might think.
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First to answer your question: to create a hard disk image, you'll need a disk imaging utility. There are several, though as I mentioned I don't use one, so I don't have a real recommendation. These utilities will walk you through the process of creating an image.
Now, why don't I use one?
Most people think of disk imaging as a backup utility. As you've pointed out, if you "mess things up", you can restore the system to the original state that it had at the time you took the image. The problem is that the image is monolithic - all or nothing. That means any and all changes you've made since making the image will be lost when you restore. All of them.
Now, I don't know about you, but while I do "mess things up" on a regular basis, I also do many, many other things that I don't really want to lose. So for me the approach to restoring from a full disk image would be to first try to copy off the data that I want to preserve, hope that I got it all, restore the image, and then restore the data. That seems like a fair amount of work to me.
My approach is slightly more traditional: an incremental backup solution. It backs up things as they change.
And yes, when things get really messed up, I rebuild my machine. From scratch. What I find, though, is that because I install and uninstall software on a fairly frequent basis, about every two years or so I need to rebuild the machine anyway.
So when does disk imaging software make sense?
The single biggest use for imaging software is in corporations, where large numbers of machines need to be built out frequently, and identically. Rather than running through the setup for Windows and whatever other applications might be part of the standard configuration over and over for each machine, it's done once, and then imaged. That image can then be restored onto multiple hard disks significantly faster than the standard setup process.
Another use for disk imaging software is for benchmarking and software comparison tests. When comparing several different utilities, the only valid comparison may be to start from an identical configuration each time. A standard disk image of the system provides a quick and easy way to start from an identical state each time.
And yes, a disk image tool might sometimes be used in conjunction with an incremental backup strategy.
But after all is said and done, to me a traditional backup strategy seems just as much work, and slightly more flexible.
Related:
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What backup program should I use? Backing up your computer's data is critical. What program should you use? There are many, but the best is whichever one you actually will use.
Article C2439 - October 17, 2005
Dear Francis,
Hey man I just want it to tell you that there is not an specific step on how to image your hard drive. As Ilyas said, "they(YOU!) need imaging software once they (YOU!) find that software simply run the software and flow the instructions."
Thank You
Posted by: gblaze at November 10, 2007 11:13 AMA disappointing answer. I need to image a hard drive. Your answer tells me nothing about how to do it, it just tries to convince me not to. There are many reasons why one might need to image a hard drive, not everyone has the same situation as you. I am not even dealing with my own computer, why would I buy software for someone elses? xxcopy is a great free utility, as long as you feel comfortable typing in a couple of codes in the command window.
Posted by: Tracy at January 21, 2008 11:20 AMI have a laptop with a lost user account password. Hence i can't use it. is there any way of creating an image of the current hard drive data, before reinstalling the OS?
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I'd start by recovering the password and logging in:
http://ask-leo.com/ive_lost_the_password_to_my_windows_administrator_account_how_do_i_get_it_back.html
Leo
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First I agree with the previous poster the title of this article is wrong, this is not a "How do I" article it is a "Why I don't" article.
Second:
Most of us purchase computers with the OS already installed and loaded with all kinds of worthless OEM junk from the manufacturer (AOL, junky games, crappy maintenance programs, etc.) then pop in our programs of choice (Office, photoshop, various plugins for browsers...) Reinstalling the OEM OS from scratch and redoing all that can take hours of time sitting in front of the screen and cannot be automated.
But, If I make an image immediately after I have the system in a usable condition I can restore my computer to exactly where I want it in about less than an hour and it is completely automated except for Windows Updates and restoring the data files.
I can't disagree with this article more.
Posted by: Chris at March 7, 2009 9:51 AMHi Leo,
Great advice but, I don't know if you realised. But you didn't actually answer the question "How do I "image" a hard drive?" Apart from saying you need a disk imaging utility. There is always a good reason for making a back-up image of your hard drive. Reasons and situations for each individual are many. For instance if your computer crashes beyond repair, then an imaged copy of your hard drive which is a couple of months old is more welcome than no back-up at all.
Data that changes and is added should be backed-up regularly in another form anyway. But losing settings, drivers etc is much more frustrating when having to reinstall everything.
Hope you can use this view and add it to your own future advices. All the best!
Sorry, I know this a late response from an old comment.
Posted by: anonymous at March 12, 2009 3:51 PMI have found it much easier to create an image of a partition on my hard drive that has the OS and all the programs I use, and keep my document files in another partition. I used to re-install windows and all my programs, but that took all day. Restoring the image to the hard drive takes 30 minutes, Big difference!
Posted by: Daniel at July 9, 2009 7:56 AMCould I ask some basics on mirror image. Does a mirror image mean that even your windows and its latest updates are stored/backed up or only the documents/files/settings. And am I right in saying that the backup in Win XP only backs up documents and settings and not the Windows OS and updates. Please advise. This issue has been troubling me for a long time.
18-Aug-2009
Posted by: Rajeev at August 17, 2009 7:06 PM
What a crappy article ? How stupid ! I expect more from a computer guru. The title of the article is "How to image a hard drive", not "A bunch of reasons why I don't think imaging your hard drive is a good idea".
Again, extremely poor work. I expect better. I'd like the value of the time I wasted reading this sub-standard and misleading article, as well as the value of the time it has taken me to write this post.
Posted by: Jonny Quick at October 6, 2009 10:17 AMThere is disk imaging, and then there is making a disk image. Well i guess they are the same like you said. Windows 7 makes it a little bit easier to create an image. I found a guide on it here: http://www.groovypost.com/howto/microsoft/windows-7/create-a-windows-7-system-image/
Posted by: baxter at October 16, 2009 1:22 AM