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DoGoodDrugs · Mar 21, 2006, 02:11 PM

i am about to reformat my computer, so that i can partition it in order to install winxp... i was wondering what is the best/easiest way to do a complete backup then and easy restore to exactly what i had before?

thanks
~DGD

CharlesS · Mar 21, 2006, 02:33 PM

Well, the easiest way is to get an external hard drive that's at least as big as the internal one, then use Software Restore to copy everything from the internal to the external, then format, then use Software Restore to copy everything back.

That's not the cheapest solution, of course, since you have to get an external hard drive. But it's a good one nonetheless, since you can continue to use the hard drive as a continuous backup or as an emergency boot disk afterward.

romeosc · Mar 21, 2006, 06:38 PM

Originally Posted by CharlesS

Well, the easiest way is to get an external hard drive that's at least as big as the internal one, then use Software Restore to copy everything from the internal to the external, then format, then use Software Restore to copy everything back.

That's not the cheapest solution, of course, since you have to get an external hard drive. But it's a good one nonetheless, since you can continue to use the hard drive as a continuous backup or as an emergency boot disk afterward.

If external Hard drive is large enough make 2 partitions as large as the one you want to back up. Then you can restore to the first, then next week restore to the second, then next week restore to first.......

That way you have rdundent backups!

DoGoodDrugs · Mar 22, 2006, 02:22 PM

thanks for your help... but i don't really have access to another harddrive... i do have an external that would be big enough, but its already filled... so i would have to back that up first... which seems like a waste... is there anyway way to do this software restore using DVDs? i have plenty of them around so that would be my cheapest solution.

thanks
~DGD

CharlesS · Mar 22, 2006, 03:29 PM

Originally Posted by DoGoodDrugs

thanks for your help... but i don't really have access to another harddrive... i do have an external that would be big enough, but its already filled... so i would have to back that up first... which seems like a waste... is there anyway way to do this software restore using DVDs? i have plenty of them around so that would be my cheapest solution.

thanks
~DGD

Nope, but you could manually burn all your stuff to DVDs. That could be a pain, though, depending on how much stuff you have...

jamil5454 · Mar 22, 2006, 04:08 PM

If you have .Mac you can use Backup 3 to compress and backup your stuff to multiple DVDs, automatically spanning across multiple DVDs as necessary. Then you'd just select the Restore option in Backup 3 to get your stuff back.

.Mac is useful for some things, but I probably wouldn't pay $99 for it.

romeosc · Mar 23, 2006, 07:42 AM

Originally Posted by DoGoodDrugs

thanks for your help... but i don't really have access to another harddrive... i do have an external that would be big enough, but its already filled... so i would have to back that up first... which seems like a waste... is there anyway way to do this software restore using DVDs? i have plenty of them around so that would be my cheapest solution.

thanks
~DGD

You really need to back up your external anyway for when disaster hits!