Thanks
Perhaps I can remember to switch letters earlier on when I'm no longer a
new user, assuming I need to reinstall XP (a ____ of a task from all
indications) which I would think inevitible, judging from previous
windows experience.
<snip>
There are some precautions you can take to make life much easier when the
inevitable data loss occurs from a hard drive failure, bad software install,
etc. Data loss will occur, it's just a matter of when.
Invest in a drive imaging program. The current favorite is Acronis True
Image version 10 (there is also Norton Ghost and Terabyte Unlimited's Image
for Windows). There programs will make a compressed image of the hard
drive. Save this image to some external media such as an external USB hard
drive. Restores can be done from this image on an individual file basis or
of the complete drive. Image the drive on a regular basis. Image before
installing software or upgrading the OS or drivers as well as the periodic
imaging.
That way if something damages the installation you can replace, repair the
damage and then restore the image from the external drive. Restoration is a
matter of minutes as opposed to days doing a reinstall of the OS, and
applications.
You should always, not matter what type you choose, have a full, complete
and current backup of important data. There should be no compromise with
this. Since you should have this, why not use a drive imaging program which
gives you the best recovery options? You can still burn individual files to
CD or DVD for redundancy.
Take the time to become competent with and invest in a backup solution now
so you don't have to worry about the effort to reinstall. The first time
something happens and you restore an image in 20 minutes compared to days
spent otherwise, will repay many times over for the time and effort spent.