Take a snapshot of your PC now you’ve got it just the way you like it
Having reinstalled Windows, restored your programs and tweaked your settings so everything is just so, we now need to find a way of keeping things this way. Ideally, you need a snapshot of your hard drive as it is now, so you can get it back to this state at a later date. Both Windows ME and XP sport the System Restore facility, which allows you to roll your system back in time to a point when it was functioning well. This is invaluable, but won’t replace the need for a backup image of your Windows partition. If system Restore were to fail, it’s useful to have another option. Also, System Restore enables you to undo any restore operation, which, while handy, does mean that rather a lot of data needs to be stored as both backup and prior-to-backup images need a home somewhere. That place is your hard drive, and it could get a little inconvenient if space is at a premium.
Having said that, there’s no point in ignoring a useful feature, so set a restore point once you’ve got your system as stable as you can. To set a restore point, launch System Restore, via the Help and support centre in Windows XP (Accessories, System tools in ME) and choose to Create a restore point. This will set a marker at this date and time and let system restore return here in future. Going back to a previous restore point is easy. Just choose Restore my computer to an earlier time, then select the restore point from the dates that appear in bold on the calendar that is shown.
However, System Restore won’t bring Windows back from the grave. For this job, you need to be able to take a complete copy of your Windows partition. Acronis OS selector lets you copy complete partitions. You will need some free, un-partitioned drive space for this to work. The copy is seen by windows as a new drive, so put it after your data partition. See our walkthrough below on how to achieve this copy. Restoring Windows will involve deleting your windows partition in Acronis OS selector and then copying your backup partition to the old Windows partition’s location.
Acronis has its disadvantages, however. Your back up takes up exactly the same amount of space as your original Windows Partition. To compress your image, use Norton Ghost 2002. This excellent program is widely available. Like Acronis, it runs from its own boot disk, but it allows compressed images and will support burning images to CD rewriters. This is a boon, as your back up is then protected against hard drive failure.
Back it up
Use Acronis OS selector to back up your Windows Partition
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Boot into Acronis OS selector. Choose Disk Administrator. Now select your Windows partition and click on the Copy Partition Icon. Select some free disk space to copy this to.
Click OK. Ensure the file system is correct and click OK again. You will be returned to the Disk Administrator Screen. Click on the checked flag icon to commit the operation.
Your Windows partition is copied. This creates a new partition that is visible by Windows which changes your drive letters. Try to place your partition after your data partition.
