Is it possible to just copy over my entire hard drive onto another one? will that make a backup so if windows crashes and I need to reformat, I just have to reformat that hard drive, then copy over the backup that I made?Is that possible?

yes - it's called making an image of the drive. BUT use a backup program to do it not just a copy program. You need to take an image of the drive - a copy program will skip files, etc. Any of the good backup programs, Acronis, Drive Image, etc will do the job.

yes - it's called making an image of the drive. BUT use a backup program to do it not just a copy program. You need to take an image of the drive - a copy program will skip files, etc. Any of the good backup programs, Acronis, Drive Image, etc will do the job.

thankyou for the help.. I'll go and see about one of those programs... once I make an image can I burn it to DVD or somthing? I dont want to keep it on a hard drive if I dont have to. I have very limited space on my drives. my main hard drive with windows, and all programs is 320 gb, but my other 2 drives I use for storage are only 80 gb each, and 1 is already full.. the other only has 30-40 gb free, but I have lots of dual layer DVDs. if thats possible.. also.. If I do have to use the backup I create.. How would I do it? because once I reformat the main drive, there is no OS, and the only thing I know to do with a formatted drive is run the windows installer. lol So what would I do?Thanks.

Normally the backup program will allow you to make an "emergency startup disk" which will boot your system and allow you to restore the backup. I doubt if you will be able to burn the backup to a dvd mainly because of the size - it wouldn't fit on one disc. you have a few options - the best would be to purchase a 1TB drive - they are dirt cheap right now. this would give you lots of space you could delete a lot of stuff or burn unnecessary stuff to dvd's and reee up space on one of the 80G drives for the backup - IF it's enough space There are online places where you can get free or pay for drive space - you can upload your drive image there. First thing I would do is really go through your system and delete everything that is not necessary. If there's stuff you want to keep but you almost NEVER use - burn it to a dvd. You need to get a good idea of the amount of space you'll need. Most backup programs will compress the backup so the space needed will be less than the space used. Vic

Normally the backup program will allow you to make an "emergency startup disk" which will boot your system and allow you to restore the backup. I doubt if you will be able to burn the backup to a dvd mainly because of the size - it wouldn't fit on one disc. you have a few options - the best would be to purchase a 1TB drive - they are dirt cheap right now. this would give you lots of space you could delete a lot of stuff or burn unnecessary stuff to dvd's and reee up space on one of the 80G drives for the backup - IF it's enough space There are online places where you can get free or pay for drive space - you can upload your drive image there. First thing I would do is really go through your system and delete everything that is not necessary. If there's stuff you want to keep but you almost NEVER use - burn it to a dvd. You need to get a good idea of the amount of space you'll need. Most backup programs will compress the backup so the space needed will be less than the space used. Vic

well I was thinking to put them on DVDs I would use winrar and archive it that way. it has a function to split up a file into volumes of what ever size I specify. I did just reformat my drive less then 2 weeks ago, so there isnt any junk on the main drive, and I think right now im only using 40-50 gb at the most. I would have no problem fitting that onto my storage drive, but I like to use the storage drives for whatever I download off of here, or wherever, so I don't have to re-download all my addons every time I re install FSX or reformat or whatever. saves a lot of time. But when I get a backup program ill see what it does, and I will go from there.I dont see any reason why I couldnt put it onto DVDs to store, and when I need it I will extract the backup onto a hard drive to use.

You can't use winrar or winzip to restore the backup and I doubt that the backup program will support multiple disks - but it's worth a check.

Is it possible to just copy over my entire hard drive onto another one? will that make a backup so if windows crashes and I need to reformat, I just have to reformat that hard drive, then copy over the backup that I made? Is that possible?

Windows7 allows you to create a backup image of the operating system and restore it or certain files. Create an image of the drives or files you wish and place them either on another drive installed on your computer or an external drive. Windows 7 will then ask wether you want to create a recovery disc.To restore an image just boot from the recovery disk and the operating system/files can then be restored. if you have a new hard drive just simply restore to that.