External hard drive image software?

Which imaging software is the one to get?

I am running XP pro as my OS. I want to be able to format the primary hard drive every 3-4 months and restore the complete image, including the OS and files I saved on the external drive. I have to get the external drive as well but that's another subject. I want to get this done soon before my daughter, my wife or I fill this new machine with too much garbage.

I am leaning toward Ghost 9.0 but have never tried imaging before. Do you have experience or a recommendation of something else?

Thanks,
DD

Ghost is good.... best to get it by buying nortons systemworks pro OEM that has the version you want. Unless you buy the business version that allows imaging across a network it will do all the retail version should.

I have used Ghost and PQ Drive Image. A while back I got a free upgrade to Acronis True Image and I reallt liked it. Unfortunately the drive i had it on smoked before I made an image.

Acronis

i adore ghost its amazeing the newest verion i dont like as much cause ya need the ghost install disk to resore ya hardrive from a dvd back up ya made

Ghost has always suited my needs. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

The newest version of Ghost (9.0) seems to have a problem recognizing USB drives when it comes to restoring an image. Bad news if your OS goes belly up and you have an image on an external drive, since you boot to the emergency floppy and it won't see the image on the USB drive to restore it. Make sure you also put the image on CD or DVD just in case. You should also try Acronis, BootIt NG, and Paragon Drive backup to see which one works best for you.


Acronis

BootIt NG

Paragon Drive Backup

Have never used ghost but need to start with some sort of image software. Since ghost v9 is being reported to have problems with usb drives my question is: can one save a disk image with ghost v9 to a usb drive and then copy the image from the usb drive to cd/dvd and restore from that image or does one have to restore from the original location the image was stored? Thanks Rick

I would not recommend ghost 9. Apparently it has problems recognizing external hard drives. Ever since Symantec took it over it has steadily declined. I use an older version though and it works fine. Fred Langa recommends BootItNG also. If you have never used imaging software before be prepared for a fairly steep but short learning curve. To get a true exact image requires working outside of windows(dos) or a lot of monkey motion within the windows envirionment. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif