XP imaging/cloning

I'm resetting and tidying my netbook to pass on. When it's sorted I'd like to create an image so it can be reinstated if necessary.

What's the best - free - software to do this?

Clearly I'll also need a recovery boot CD, what software is best to do this?

I'd use the Windows backup/restore utilities if it was Win7, but XP...

Have you checker whether your hard drive supplier provides a free version of Acronis

Unfortunately I haven't got Acronis, free or otherwise

Clonezilla, free and works a treat. http://clonezilla.org/

Macrium Reflect or Easeus ToDo. But as said earlier, some hard drive brands supply a strict OEM copy of Acronis.

You can use ImageX provided by Microsoft but it is a faff for a one-time use.... See if you can get an old copy of Acronis from the internet somewhere (some of the older versions have been made free for magazines and stuff).

XP never liked being imaged though imho. You'd be better customizing a Windows XP installation disk with the drivers and ensuring it is SP3 (or slipstreamed in) and relying on that if it all went tits up.

In reply to a post by Pipexer:

XP never liked being imaged though imho. You'd be better customizing a Windows XP installation disk with the drivers and ensuring it is SP3 (or slipstreamed in) and relying on that if it all went tits up.

What do you mean by "SP3...slipstreamed in"?

Last time I re-installed XP onto a replacement HDD I used a SP2 cd and then it took ages to download and update to SP3...it would be interesting to know if there is a quicker and easier way

Yes, you can either get a genuine Windows XP with SP3 installation disk.... or if you do not have one, use nLite (google it), to slipstream SP3 into your existing Windows XP installation disk - it creates a fresh ISO with the SP3 in it which you then burn to disk. You can also slipstream drivers and all sorts in there (but don't get too carried away otherwise you'll goof it up).

The former is better of course, because as always, Microsoft are better at making Windows XP installation images than anyone else.

Have a look at the Paragon web site. They do free versions of all their utilities, and their disk imaging works a treat. I've used it many times to restore disks or to clone to new disks.

"SP3...slipstreamed in" means a CD with SP3 merged into the original XP release. There are processes for doing this.

You don't need to do an SP2 upgrade if you are next going to do an SP3 one. SP2 is contained within SP3.

Edited by XRaySpeX (Sun 24-Feb-13 18:53:02)