backin up my hard drive

[wesr]

ok i have a question. if i wanted to back up my hard drive, could i just drag all my folders into another hard drive. then i put them back onto the original computer. now would everything be back the same again....like themes, background, tweaks etc. or would i have to do that again?

[notbob]

no


windows doesn't work that way--there's the registry, boot loader and other stuff that can't really be dragged and dropped

you could use something like symantec ghost to move an entire partition to another drive--but if you have xp you'll end up either calling redmond or reinstalling (as windows will realize it's not where it was)

[Induna]

If you want an exact copy of your drive you need to make an image of it, then back it up that way. I've got PowerQuest Drive Image 3.0 that came free with a computer mag.

[nasrules]

why do you need to???

dont forget that if ur usin xp an u need to reinstall, you can do so without uninstalling your current installation and you will retain all your settings etc.

[wesr]

imjust askin in case my hard drive crashes. i mean i dont have any sort of back up right now....so im thinkin of buyin an extra hard drive. so all i need to do is get a program that will copy all my data and settings. So will it look the exact same(background, theme, etc) when i copy it back over?