can you copy vista to an exteranl usb harddrive?

  • Thread starter Thread starter JimR
  • Start date Start date
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JimR

Mike Hollywood said:
Hi,

I have an old 40 gig laptop hard drive, and i put it in a USB2 case so now
it's an external hard drive that works via the USB2 port.
Can you copy your vista install to it, and then if your working version
gets borked, copy it back via the usb port and be back in business?
I mean, can you do it using vista? or if not, can you do it using 3rd
party software?
Thanks for any input on this.

mike
Click to expand...


Yes, this can be done with a third party application like Acronis True Image
10.
 
Yes, you can do this. Go to Start and click Help and Support. Type "Complete
PC Backup" in the search box and press Enter. Click the first link, in the
results and read how to perform the backup. Vista includes this backup
program.

If you would rather use a third party program, Acronis True Image is
probably the best choice. The latest version supports Vista. This makes a
complete image of the hard drive and allows you to restore individual files
or the complete installation.

Acronis True Image 10
http://www.acronis.com/homecomputing/products/trueimage
 
Yes it can be done. Basically all you need do is image the drive to the
external drive. For preference i would use Acronis Drive Image. If you are
using Vista Business, Ultimate or Enterprise editions then you could use the
Complete PC Backup option. The only problem with Complete PC Backup is that
there is no compression. If, for example, you have a hard drive of 60 GB and
Vista has been allocated 'all' of that space for its own use then Complete
PC Backup actually takes up the full 60GB even though your actual 'used'
space may only be, say 15GB.

With Acronis it automatically uses compression (which can be altered) and it
only images the used space on the hard drive, not used space and empty
space. For preference i would go for Acronis every time.

--
John Barnett MVP
Associate Expert
Windows - Shell/User

Web: http://xphelpandsupport.mvps.org
Web: http://vistasupport.mvps.org

The information in this mail/post is supplied "as is". No warranty of any
kind, either expressed or implied, is made in relation to the accuracy,
reliability or content of this mail/post. The Author shall not be liable for
any direct, indirect, incidental or consequential damages arising out of the
use of, or inability to use, information or opinions expressed in this
mail/post..
 
Hi,

I have an old 40 gig laptop hard drive, and i put it in a USB2 case so now
it's an external hard drive that works via the USB2 port.
Can you copy your vista install to it, and then if your working version gets
borked, copy it back via the usb port and be back in business?
I mean, can you do it using vista? or if not, can you do it using 3rd party
software?
Thanks for any input on this.

mike
 
You're Welcome

--
John Barnett MVP
Associate Expert
Windows - Shell/User

Web: http://xphelpandsupport.mvps.org
Web: http://vistasupport.mvps.org

The information in this mail/post is supplied "as is". No warranty of any
kind, either expressed or implied, is made in relation to the accuracy,
reliability or content of this mail/post. The Author shall not be liable for
any direct, indirect, incidental or consequential damages arising out of the
use of, or inability to use, information or opinions expressed in this
mail/post..
 
Mike Hollywood said:
Hi,

I have an old 40 gig laptop hard drive, and i put it in a USB2 case so now
it's an external hard drive that works via the USB2 port.
Can you copy your vista install to it, and then if your working version
gets borked, copy it back via the usb port and be back in business?
I mean, can you do it using vista? or if not, can you do it using 3rd
party software?
Thanks for any input on this.
Click to expand...

To add to what others have posted, Complete PC Backup is only available on
Vista Business, Enterprise or Ultimate. It is a type of drive imaging.

Acronis True Image allows you to created and save a compressed image of a
drive or partition on an external drive, or to clone the drive.
 
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