ghost image?

Okay, let's say I have my laptop now, reformatted with all the basics installed. How do I create a disc, or can I, that I can use next time instead of reformatting? I have a DVD writer and the laptop reads DVDs. Any help?

 

Got to have the Ghost software, which is not freeware. I'm sure there are others out there, like Altiris or Acronis, but I haven't really been in the market.

 

I have a nero program that mentions ghosting...havent used it yet. Would that work? link the laptop to my desktop as a network drive?
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sorry, image drive. what is that?

 

'ghosting' is a common term for 'imaging', since the Ghost software, for the longest time was the standard.

You can use some kind of boot disk to map a drive to a network share and put the image there. Or if you have something that will let you put it on an external USB, you could do that.

I use PE Builder (imagine that) - www.nu2.nu

It lets you create a CD that boots Windows XP. So if you have an external USB, you can hook up before you boot with the CD and it will recognize it as a drive. You have to use 32-bit software, though. No DOS stuff.

 

ugh

 

*sigh*

 

I feel like an idiot. I thought I used to know computers.

 

I'm wordy. That PEBuilder is just a WindowsXP boot. Lets you pick up external USB drives. That's much easier than getting the network card stuff configured and dealing with that part of it.

 

but is there anyway to make a cd that I can just copy to the blank harddrive? I dont know. It's why I'm axing.

 

It sounds like you want to use a CD to put an image down on the blank harddrive. That's fine, except you've got to make an image first, then write it to a blank CD.

Here's my method:

Boot the newly rebuilt laptop with PE Builder and the external USB hard drive connected and ON.

Use imaging software to create an image file of the newly rebuilt laptop and write it to the external USB hard drive.

Now you're done.

To restore the image, use image file off the USB drive. Unbelieveably faster than CD access.