Restoring Windows 2000 snapshot

September 12, 2006 9:35 AM

Is there a dependable program that will do a "freeze frame" of a fresh Windows 2000 install, so that I don't have to install Win, SP4, my basic driver set, DirectX, etc, etc, if/when my computer bites the big one? Ideally it would generate a bootable CD that would replace /winnt and registry.
posted by rolypolyman to Computers & Internet (10 answers total)

Norton Ghost can create and recover from a mirror of your drive.
posted by justkevin at 9:40 AM on September 12, 2006

The recent versions of chost has been pretty crappy. (Probably can be said for most of Norton's products, because they buy out products and crapify them)

My recommendation is Acronis TrueImage
posted by mphuie at 11:26 AM on September 12, 2006

I was just about to say exactly the same as mphule. My understanding is that TrueImage is regarded as the de facto imaging standard for Windows.
posted by dance at 11:28 AM on September 12, 2006

yep ... see above ... norton ghost (been using it for years) and acronis trueimage (using it now).

And use an external USB HDD ... it is gold
posted by jannw at 11:31 AM on September 12, 2006

My experiences have been the opposite of a lot of people, I've found Acronis amazingly flakey and unreliable while Ghost 9 has been a dream, it alone has cut my workload at my job in half plus it retains all the functionality from Ghost 8 and earlier.
posted by Cosine at 11:54 AM on September 12, 2006

Yup, Acronis TrueImage. I've used it a lot and swear by it. I like the fact that it can backup to an external USB drive. Very handy. TrueImage works whether you have windows, linux or other OS since it works by booting from CD. I had problems with Norton Ghost, although version 7 I think.
posted by jldindc at 12:49 PM on September 12, 2006

I use Drive Snapshot. Just like Ghost or TrueImage, but you can get image WHILE windows is running. It can do differential images as well, so I get one about once a week.

I use a BartPE boot disk if I need to restore.

http://www.drivesnapshot.de/en/
http://www.nu2.nu/pebuilder/
posted by Crossbar at 1:01 PM on September 12, 2006 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: Thanks all... appreciate the great suggestions.
posted by rolypolyman at 1:19 PM on September 12, 2006

Another vote for Ghost. I use it practically everyday both console multicast and standalone. The standalone interface is a touch cryptic but it always does the job. Works on whole disks or individual partitions (so you can fix you system disk and not touch your data partition). You can also setup batch files that will automatically restore the image when you boot from the CD/DVD.
posted by Mitheral at 1:57 PM on September 12, 2006

Some possiby misleading information floating around here. TrueImage can and will save an image your Windows drive image while Windows is still running. By default, you run it from Windows, NOT from a boot CD. It can also be used from a boot CD.

With both Ghost and TI, you will need different versions of these products if you are imaging servers.
posted by Dunwitty at 4:56 PM on September 12, 2006