Backing up Windows XP!!!!!!

[carls]

Personally, I would _NEVER_ pay for an operating system unless the installation media is included. If the whole package is a bargain I might settle with one of those recovery CDs - but what happens if you install new hardware and Windows asks you to "insert the Windows CD into your CD-ROM drive" to copy some DLLs not installed by default?

With Windows being as unstable as it is (viruses, trojans, spyware, registry breakdowns etc.) you shouldn't have to be without some way to reinstall your system.

Of course, the hard drive will come prepartitioned - probably as one huge C:\ - and if something blows up and you have to use the "repair" CD it will most likely wipe out all the contents of your drive.

By the way - if I own a Windows XP license but have no installation media, would it be illegal to use a home burned XP CD with my license key?

[carls]

Hmm. One more thing.

Is anyone else thinking that this whole license thing is blowing out of proportion? There's the OS3.9 license debacle, the Microsoft stuff about owning the right to use the product and not the product itself (funny how they even try to apply this to hardware, IE the X-Box), and of course the Unix vs. IBM & Linux thing.

I bet my Sony Discman includes a lot of patented stuff but if it was possible, I could install Linux on it and nobody would care. If I buy a copyrighted book, I can burn it or use the pages for taking notes using a big green marker pen. I could even cut out the little letters and words and use them to write a new book!

But with software... Hey, I'm lucky if I paid enough to let more than ten persons look at my homepage!

[carls]

@mikeymike
That goes for any OS IMHO. Workbench: and Work: are two fine examples of good thinking :-)

[carls]

@Ilwrath

I keep all data, games and demos on a separate partition. Most games don't write to the registry (at least not the ones I play), so at least my game characters and skill levels etc. will be around if I ever reinstall Windows.

Since I use Windows as a single-user OS I don't bother with exporting home directories and stuff.

[carls]

@Jope
I recently read a magazine article about creating your own patched XP CD (Win XP patched with SP1) and this of course required you to burn a new CD with XP and SP1 on it. They stated that it was perfectly legal (given that you have an XP license), but probably not supported by Microsoft.

[carls]

@Jope
I meant "they don't support it" as "they don't like it". I guess they would rather sell more copies of their own, patched CDs :-)

[carls]

@mikeymíke
For €100 you'd think they could throw in a CD :-)