Hi. I've been imaging my PC about every six months. I reloaded from one of those, and was impressed by the speed and the ease. However, I'm not sure what programs I should include.

Obviously, my OS (XP SP2). I'd assume with all the patches to the current. I have Office 2000, and that never changes, so I'd include that with my image.

But what about the other stuff? Do I just download the current version of my anti-virus and firewall? Re-install my games and download the latest patches? Or image my disk after I've put all the games and utilities on it? I have a fair number of programs, mostly utilities but some games. My current internet connection is a bit slow, but I can usually get around 50K/s (kilobytes) from it.

I like to reload because I get a nice clean disk out of it. One of my fears is that if I get everything loaded and then image is that the disk will be fragmented and have crap on it that I don't need.

I'd appreciate some comments. Thanks.

every 6 months is too long. monthly is probably the norm, altho weekly is also popular.

you can keep as many images as you want ..long as you have room, so if u wanna load an early image,you can always do that, even if you have a more current one on hand.

what version of ghost are you using?

you can always do a pre & post update image .. i sometimes do that when the updates i'm doing might cause problems (service packs, etc.)

restored images automatically defrag the drive. it's one of the nice features of restoring an image.

i image & restore everything on my system drive (where windows resides). i keep all prgms there except for multi-cd prgms like encarta, cuz they make my images too big.

Imager? Sorry, Rad, I've gone to the dark side and use Acronis. But really, my question doesn't rightly concern which imager; more what to image.

I suspected that an imager defrags when it reloads, but I'd never heard it from someone who knows. Thanks for that little factoid.

So, you'd think that I might just load up my disk and then image it? I do have a couple of things like Oblivion and Civ4, which are good size programs, but perhaps I'll leave them off.

Anyway, appreciate the advice. Thanks.

silverjim

I believe that Rad asked about what imaging program you use because Ghost 2003 and Ghost 9.0 > ... are different and offer different options.

I use Ghost 2003 and my strategy starts from square one, when the installation starts:

1.) Clean install of the operating system on C:

2.) Move user data folders (My Documents, Favorites, E-mail storage, Address Book and such) to a different partition, e.g. D:

3.) Create a partition dedicated to images (never defrag), preferrably on a different physical HDD, e.g. E:

4.) Update the operating system to current (using pre-downloaded updates - do not connect to the internet)

5.) Clean up temp-files and such, defrag and create image #1

6.) Install "for keeps" programs and update to current (using pre-downloaded updates - do not connect to the internet)

7.) Clean up temp-files and such, defrag and create image #2

8.) Install periferal hardware (keyboard, scanner, printer, ...) and update to current (using pre-downloaded updates - do not connect to the internet)

9.) Clean up temp-files and such, defrag and create image #3

10.) Install the preferred FireWall and AntiVirus software, connect for the first time to the internet and update to current

11.) Clean up temp-files and such, defrag and create image #4

12.) Install "other" programs that come in new versions on a regular basis

13.) Clean up temp-files and such, defrag and create image #5

Now, you have five images to roll back to. #3 is important since it is created prior to installing FW and AV. Some of these are difficult to uninstall but that image makes it easy. It is often quicker to re-install the updates to Windows/Office and other programs than to struggle with a troublesome uninstallation.

14.) Create a "disaster recovery" image on a monthly basis, e.g. after the monthly batch of updates to Windows/Office.

15.) Since user data is not included and have been moved to a different partition, backup using the preferred utility at least on a monthly basis. If you have important data, backup often enough to make you feel comfortable.

That's how I do it,
Christer

yeah, it doesn't matter which imaging app you use as much as when you image. a 6-month old image is .. well, old.

i image my entire system drive monthly, which contains windows and all apps, minus multi-cd apps. sometimes every 2 weeks, depending on how much my system is changing.

http://partition.radified.com/

my partitioning guide describes some strategies for setting up a disk to make it easy to put everything on system drive, so images are quick-n-easy

then, when you restore, you make sure you're getting everything.

ghost 2003, which i use, doesn't offer the option to select individual files when creating the image .. only when restoring (via ghost explorer, which i use only rarely .. normally just restore the whole image .. never had a problem)

silverjim

Brian, a frequent contributor here, has referenced this web page by Dan Goodell on occasion in the past--it's a thoughtful read on backup strategies:  Backup strategies

nice link.

each one of those sections could be on a separate page.

May I say this forum is quite informative and helpful. Many of the other tech forums that I've posted questions  on, I've either received no answer or answers  that didn't really reference the question that I'd ask, instead going off on some tangent.

I especially like the  idea of doing two partitions - one for the OS and programs, the other for  data. That way I could just do backups of my data at appropriate intervals and do an image of my C: partition whenever something new was added (like once a month).

I do, however, have one odd problem that I'd  like to run past y'all. Lately (I can't put a finger on exactly it started to happen - old age, I guess) my browsers (Firefox and Opera) will ask me if I want to open or save a file. Sometimes it'll be an MHTML file from the CNN.com site, sometimes from other well-known sites and the file won't have a name, just tells me that it's a octet stream or words to that effect.

Also, Firefox occasionally displays the source code for a page instead of the page when I go to the site. Really annoying. It's 1.5.0.7, btw. In fact, when I hit the 'preview' button here it displays the source code. Crap. I'm sure it's something in my system, I just don't know what.

I've scanned the disk for virus (avast free), spyware (adaware, spybot, MS defenser), and trojans (blacklight). Nada. I've kept up to date on the MS updates, too. I'm going to reformat and reload, thinking that should get rid of the problem, but I'd sure as hell admire to know what causes it.

Anyway, enough of my ramblings. I appreciate all of your  help with my problems.

silverjim

Re: "May I say this forum is quite informative and helpful?"

Yes, you may.  :)

Of course, the reason is cuz we're smarter (and prolly better-looking, too.)

Not sure about the browser glitch.