If I were to do a back up of my C: drive on to an external hard drive and then for some reason my computers hard drives are erased or get a virus, would I be able to put the back up back on my computer and have all of my programs back? Or does that only work on files that I create or download?

Hello,

Depends on what you call "backup". If you did a drag-n-drop of all the files, then NO, it would not work, because you would not be grabbing any of the invisible system files, such as the registry.

I am not sure if Windows Backup will talk to anything other than a tape backup device. Never tried it.

Now, if you use a disk imaging program, such as GHOST, PQDI, or IMAGEQUEST, then yes, that should work for you just fine.

Also, if you get the idea that you are going to use this disk image to make some "clones", then you will need to manage the SIDs on Win NT, 2000, and XP machines. The above programs offer some options concerning the SID.

Good luck.

Christian

well i was planning on doing a windows backup onto another computer i have on my network, or i was considering getting an external hard drive and putting the back up on there. But if windows backup wont work on anything other than a tape drive, then I'll have to find an alternative to backuping my computer with all the programs.

You'll definitely need 'Ghosting' software to do the job, and you should make sure it's the most up to date version you can get your hands on.

Hi,
Using the inbuilt windows/veritas backup system you will be able to backup to a file, map the network drive or use the local exturnal drive which ever you deside.
to be honest i dont know how usfull this will be as i dont really use it. i presume that in the event of a system failer you will have to rebuild the OS from the windows disk and then go to the backup software and chose restore from file. it should work but as i say i have not used it

hope it helps

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