"R. McCarty" <PcEngWork-NoSpam_@mindspring.com> wrote in message
news:%23DW4VXWGHHA.3872@TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl...
> I'd opt for Acronis True Image instead of Norton Ghost.
>
> One issue for all imaging is the potential loss of personal
> data. Since XP stores your profile data on the same volume
> with XP if you use an Image to recover from an earlier date
> your personal data ( Image date to present ) will be lost.
> The way I avoid that is to have a separate partition to store
> all my personal data. This way any recovery only restores
> XP & Applications and the data isn't overwritten. Takes a
> little work to redirect/setup but very valuable long-term.
>
> <isotobin@identicalimagepleez.org> wrote in message
> news:Z8ednaBYKaS4lerYnZ2dnUVZ_omdnZ2d@giganews.com ...
>> I'm tired of complete reinstalls once a year. What's the best program?
>> I've read pros and cons on Newegg.com.
>>
>> Do they truly back up the entire OS, registry and programs to DVD?
>> If so, how do they shutdown the protected files and system files that are
>> currently running?

I would suggest having a spare hard drive in a removable caddy onto which an
image is re-created every so often to refresh the spare 'system' hard drive.
This could be used to backup user files every week This gives a basic
system and user files. It's not going to be perfect (RAID is, perhaps, the
nearest to perfection) but it should give a reasonable resiliance to fire,
theft, viruses that have evaded detection and mechanical problems.

Regards.

Bill Ridgeway
Computer Solutions

>
>