OT: Imaging Drive for Backup / Restore

OK, I'm ready to take my backup / recovery to a new level. I've
always saved my data, and if something would happen then I could just
reinstall Windows and the programs. I've done it so much it's second
nature for me to set up a new PC. This is a valid backup / restore
strategy.

However, I'm curious about imaging the whole PC to be able to restore
it exactly to a point in time.

My C: drive is 250 gig. This is where the OS and all programs are
stored.

I have an extra (new, they were on sale lol) Seagate 250 gig external
USB drive that I can use to store the image.

So, I guess the questions are:

- What software is most useful for the backup / restore.

- How do I use it to do a backup?

- How do I use it to do a restore?

Of course the question of what do I boot from when I restore comes to
mind, and how do I do that.

I'm willing to do a lot of the research but a pointer in the right
direction has saved me a lot of time in the past, and people here have
been especially knowledgeable / helpful.

Journey
.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: HP Refuses to provide XP installation CD
    ... A restore CD will fuck this up! ... I do backup so no need to get insulting and make assenine ... Installation CD would be a better option than the lame ass backup ... See the "Press R to perform a standard system recovery." ...
    (comp.sys.hp.hardware)
  • Re: ASR - XP Pro q
    ... before the recovery starts. ... "Everything" and reformat it's partitions also. ... that the law requires the consumer be able to restore the computer back to ... The consumer should NOT have to purchase a restore tool, a tape backup unit, ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.general)
  • Re: HP Refuses to provide XP installation CD
    ... A restore CD will fuck this up! ... I do backup so no need to get insulting and make assenine ... an installation CD) should *not* be used. ... See the "Press R to perform a standard system recovery." ...
    (comp.sys.hp.hardware)
  • Re: need help restoring exchange store from backup
    ... I had restored from a previous backup I ... got an error during hard recovery, but was able to mount the DB and get it ... Information Store First Storage Group: ... I started exchange services, and began restore. ...
    (microsoft.public.exchange.admin)
  • Re: Creating a boot CD
    ... I thought this was what I was looking for, i.e. imaging. ... A backup isn't a backup unless it's backed up. ... Imaging programs use this as a basic restore ... compare the mounted files with the originals. ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.general)