Question : Problem: Disk Cloning Software

I just installed Vista on my development machine for the first time and I spent an inordinate amount of time configuring the OS just so and installing all my development apps (the most notable being SQL Server 2005, VS 2.0 and Dreamweaver CS4).  

I never want to go through this process again.  I'm want to make the investment, purchase a shadow copy program, and burn an image to an external drive for future use.  What application (payware or shareware) that would be most appropriate for the task?  

Ideally, the application would allow me to push the image to a different computer if I chose to buy one in the next few years.  Is there a product out there that can deal with all the trickiness associated with a different set of drivers and the HAL?

Answer : Problem: Disk Cloning Software

Hi idana,

Acronis Trueimage Echo workstation will do what you require.  It is my personal preferred system for backup and imaging.  I use it for my workstations and server (server version) and also promote and sell to clients.

The add-in module 'Universal Restore' allows you to perform a bare metal restore to disimilar hardware.  This is acomplished by driver injection when you re-image to a new PC.

The Universal Restore (UR) option need not be bought initially.  If your PC should fail and you decide to replace rather than repair you can buy the UR module to then perform your restore to new hardware.

You have the additional benefit of being able to convert your TrueImage backups to Virtual disks compatible with VMWare, MS Virtual PC and parallels, so in a worst case DR situation you could even get up and running in a virtual machine whilst waiting for your new hardware to arrive.

Website for further info - http://www.acronis.com/enterprise/products/ATICW/

A trial version is available for download - give it a try.

Cheers

Kevin