Backing up Windows XP!!!!!!

[Ilwrath]

Hmm...  I'd recommend going with the flow and using Norton (symantec, whatever) Ghost 2003.  

It works well with NTFS and FAT32, and can resize the restore on the fly, in case you want to shift around partition sizes,  or need to re-install the drive image to a different size hard drive.

It also has a very strong verify function, and I've never seen it create a bad image.  Plus, with "Ghost Explorer" you can pull a file or two out of a previous backup image.  

Whenever I go to format the Windows box and start over, I first make a ghost of it.  That way, any files I forgot to back up, I have in my ghost, and can restore...  Also, if for some reason (licensing, whatever) I need to restore the machine to a previous state, I could do that, as well... All from one compressed backup set.  :-)  

[Ilwrath]

Oh, how life is so much easier with one partition for just Windows, and another for apps and data.

This is one I just don't understand on Windows, though.

What good does having apps on a seperate drive do you?  none.  With having a registry, you can't restore the system partition without hosing the apps, so why bother trying to seperate them from the system? It's a useless convention.

I keep the data on a seperate partition many times, but I've been starting to get away from even that.  Just put it all in a directory (like c:\data) and write yourself a logon script to back it up to another computer each time you log on.  :-)  Only takes a second to run an xcopy over the 100-base-T switch... Or, even better, gigabit.  Then, burn the directory to a CD now and then for even more protection.

The theory works for Linux, too... Only use rsync instead of xcopy and just copy your whole home dir.  ;-)

[Ilwrath]

twice now I have seen entire partitions wiped out after a Service Pack upgrade,

I've never seen or heard of that problem before...

Hmm... Never applied NT4 SP2 (not SP2a, but the original SP2) on an NTFS boot partition, have you?  ;-)

But, really, most modern service packs break very few things, if your system is anywhere near standard.

[Ilwrath]

My main problem with MS service packs nowadays is how they re-enable stuff I've disabled, make IE icons re-appear on the desktop, things like that.

Egads, yes!  And it's not just the service packs that do this.  (See my previous rants about the Microsoft update treadmill and why I use RedHat Linux 9.)  Hotfixes, and "critical updates" do this, as well.  Hell, I've seen MS APPLICATIONS re-enable disabled services!!  Basically, anytime you install ANYTHING that comes out of Redmond, you have to completly go through the 15-20 step routine of checking and verifying your locked-down system configuration.  What a pain!