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Thread ID: 31448	2003-03-22 04:56:00	New PC, suggestions on how to make reformat easier in future.	John W (523)	Press F1

Post ID	Timestamp	Content	User
130052	2003-03-22 04:56:00	Im getting a new PC in a few weeks, WinxP with CD writer. To assist in any future reformats, any suggestions on what I should record to make this task easier. Im assuming the hardware will remain unchanged. Thanks......John.	John W (523)
130053	2003-03-22 06:24:00	Once you have everything working as you want it, make a disk image using Ghost or the like. I usually do this before putting any application software on, and then make another image once all the software is working. That way I have the choice to reimage bare or with software. A reimage only takes 5 minutes or so (depends on how big the image is) - a helava lot easier than a reformat. andy	andy (473)
130054	2003-03-22 06:53:00	Hi John, What I recommend in doing, is (provided you have) Partition Magic 7 and above + Norton Ghost . (1) It's likely you may get a computer with only 1 partition . This partition is the Operating System and the amount of free available space included . (2) Or either you may get a System Restore CD . Use Partition Magic to 'resize' the partition as far as you can . By doing this, you won't be including any free space as well . This free space, may later play an important part for future partitions or if you want to reinstall Windows XP with a different partition size, you can customize your Windows XP partition size to your liking, without any problems . Use Norton Ghost to copy just the partiton . Not the entire drive! Its alot better that when it comes to reformating your hard drive, use PQ Magic in replace of FDISK instead . Hope this is any help	The Student (3269)
130055	2003-03-22 08:04:00	one small problem with image setups is if you are a heavy user or someone who upgrades a lot then the image will always be out of date. ie you can restore useing the image then you would have to "fix" the pc to get it back to working state. all i do is to store all the apps, drivers, windows cabs etc on another partition and reinstall of that.	tweak'e (174)
130056	2003-03-22 08:30:00	I haven't found a way to install XP from cab files on hard drive. I would be interested to know tweak'e. I have done it with win95/98/me but was unable with XP. Would be great if I could. I utilise a somewhat slightly different approach to tweak'e in that any program's I load/upgrade, I store in a folder "loaded programs" on a separate partition. Also utilise a program cobian backup to save folders on the separate partition as well. I back up such things as mail, address book and documents using Cobian. When I was using Win98, I made a fresh install that was running sweet ( without program's) and made a Ghost image on the other partition. It only took about 15mins to load this, then loaded the program's and imported the mail etc.. Much much faster.	Pheonix (280)
130057	2003-03-23 02:38:00	I would have to disagree with you in part tweak'e (a first for me I think), as imaging should always be kept up to date like any backup. I keep an image of my bare bones OS installation, a second image of the full basic program and configuration setup, then a third image of the current working setup. I update the last one everytime I install anything major and keep a note of minor configuration changes made between images. They only take up a couple of GBs of disk space which is nothing on today's big drives. This way I am always pretty much up to date and since imaging doesn't take very long, there is no reason not to keep them up to date. I roll over the third image, keeping the last two and this way I have a four step roll-back if needed. I have never had to go back past the third image in 3-4 years of disk imaging, starting with the original Ghost Personal, and I have never had to reformat or reinstall my OS. There is no reason why images should be out of date. Cheers Billy 8-{)	Billy T (70)
130058	2003-03-23 02:52:00	Well, there's a file on the CD that you can use to start the install of XP if you arent booting off it, Im sure its possible to do it from the HDD! As for ghost - Ive simply got a VERY basic 2K install with one game (Id already installed it when I did the ghost so figured why not?!), with DVD software, 39.xx detonators etc, but its basically so I have a down time of about 15 minutes should my PC die on me! Go with Symantec Ghost Personal 2003, its your best bet. You can do Partition > Partition (What I did) or to a CD-R. Its then your choice if you update it or not :-) My 2 cents anyways ;-)	Chilling_Silence (9)
130059	2003-03-23 02:53:00	> all i do is to store all the apps, drivers, windows > cabs etc on another partition and reinstall of that. Yeah, me too - but not the cabs for windows, as Im partially using RedHat.. and that's 3CD's, so why bother!	Chilling_Silence (9)
130060	2003-03-23 03:22:00	>I would have to disagree with you in part tweak'e (a first for me I think) not a first thx goodness ;-) got to be carefull with recent images as you may image faults as well. basicly your makeing a restore disk just like hp/compaq/dell etc do. not a bad idea for those whose system don't change much. right pain for those who update a lot. the amount of time it takes to do the images (exspecially burning them to cd) can be more than the amount of time it takes to install the os fresh. the only big plus i can see of doing images is if you do one of a very basic install (ie straight after windows install with no drivers etc installed) and have the comman os bugs fixed (certain dll's that sometimes don't get installed, IE removed and other tweaks). this can make a good clean install. a bit of a pain to do as you will need to put the HD in another machine to do the image (as the os won't be running properly with no drivers).	tweak'e (174)
130061	2003-03-23 03:28:00	..Or you can make a Ghost book Disk. Ive gone and Zipped my Files and split them and put it on 3 CD's. All I gotta do is use PKunzip to extract the files to my HDD somewhere (Ive got 3 HDD's and a DVD-ROM in my PC.. All IDE channels are full up ;-)) and boot of the Ghost Disk. I then just point it to my .gho file and Im peachy.. All I need is a 98/XP boot disk, the Ghost boot disk, and my 3 Cd's with the Zipped .gho file on them :-) And Im back and up and running in 15 minutes :-)	Chilling_Silence (9)
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