Back Up by Drag and Drop ?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Emory Richter
  • Start date Start date
E

Emory Richter

In XP
can I back up my complete hard drive: C:\
by just dragging C:\ in a Windows Explorer window
on to my external backup hard drive E:\
in a second Windows Explorer window
without a backup application
and keep the state, registry, and all files and folders
that is, have a complete drive image
which I could use in a second computer?

Thank you,
Emory
 
No, that is not the way to do it. If you want to make a
bootable image of your drive, you'll need to use an
imaging program designed for that purpose.

Norton Ghost 2003
http://www.symantec.com/sabu/ghost/ghost_personal/

--
Carey Frisch
Microsoft MVP
Windows XP - Shell/User

Be Smart! Protect your PC!
http://www.microsoft.com/security/protect/

------------------------------------------------------------------------------


| In XP
| can I back up my complete hard drive: C:\
| by just dragging C:\ in a Windows Explorer window
| on to my external backup hard drive E:\
| in a second Windows Explorer window
| without a backup application
| and keep the state, registry, and all files and folders
| that is, have a complete drive image
| which I could use in a second computer?
|
| Thank you,
| Emory
 
Emory said:
In XP
can I back up my complete hard drive: C:\
by just dragging C:\ in a Windows Explorer window
on to my external backup hard drive E:\
in a second Windows Explorer window
without a backup application
and keep the state, registry, and all files and folders
that is, have a complete drive image
which I could use in a second computer?

Thank you,
Emory
Click to expand...

No you cannot! Think about it for a minute. What about all the 1000s of
registry entries, the files scattered goodness knows where, etc?! You'll
need to use an imaging application (I use Drive Image 7 because, unlike
Ghost (I think Carey must be being paid by Symantec for advertising! ;o))
you can back up from within Windows. With Ghost you need to boot from the
Ghost CD and use their proprietary interface. I've used DI for years with no
problems whatsoever, except one that was caused by a failing hard drive).
 
can I back up my complete hard drive: C:\
by just dragging
Click to expand...

It was a nice fantasy
but guess I'll have to go the full route.

Carey and Miss Perspicacia thanks for your help.

Emory
 
If you received an XP Home cd you can go to Start>Control Panel>Add/Remove
Programs>Add/Remove Windows Components and install Backup. Backup is not
installed automatically by the XP Home Installer. Backup will show up in
your Start>All Programs>Accessories>System Tools. You can backup the
contents of C:\ and you can just backup Documents and Settings or the System
files.
 
Back
Top