Total Image and Restore for Windows 2003

[Nobody]

I have a laptop running Windows 2003. It took a lot of work to get everything working, and I have a lot of software installed. I want an image backup that would allow me to restore the entire disk from an external backup on a USB drive.

I know that ViceVersa will backup the driver, but I am unclear on how I would restore the whole drive in the event of a failure.

[TGRMN Software]

ViceVersa is a file mirroring software so you will have all your files mirrored to a second location. But ViceVersa will not make the disk bootable. For that you will need to look for drive imaging software.
_________________
--
TGRMN Software Support
http://www.tgrmn.com
http://www.compareandmerge.com

[robertpri]

Guest,

I have the same issue, and would like ideas/etc on this.

We use VV Pro 2 to copy the Windows Server 2003 to an external USB drive. Fine. We also use Windows 2003 NTbackup to export the "brains" of 2003.

The idea being that in a catastrophic crash, the NTbackup would restore the core operating system to the "new drive" or "new computer" and once operating, we would restore the VV Pro copy.

Will this work? Damned if I know! Trying to get a straight answer on this is seemingly impossible. [and I'm not blaming the TGRMN folks on this]

We have had DISTASTROUS results trying to use those [intense swear words here] drive imaging "things" for this reason:

Unless there is one out there that "actually works" [please submit recommendations, if you know of one] the programs we have tested seem to only work on the source computer or the same make and model as the source.

Ergo: you have a "Dell123" computer with "WD80" drives. It's stolen, burned up, trashed out whatever. You try to load your precious drive image onto your new Dell456 with WD120 drives. Forget it.

If I sound bitter on this subject it's because I am. We have lost months of data with so-called recovery systems, copy systems, backup systems, etc., ad nauseum that do not work. They all seem to be designed to restore a file or folder back into the source computer. Fine, but our goal is to restore to a new computer, and that seems to be rocket science.

BTW: I will say that VV Pro2 is the MOST impressive program we have seen to date, but it won't do everything as noted.

Any suggestions?