Freeware backup program wanted!

[Testlund]

I was wondering if anybody here might be using (or know of) a good backup program that is freeware, where I can do the following:

1. Install the backup program from the program CD/ or just use it from the CD.

2. Make a backup image of C: and save it on another partition.

3. Burn the backup image on a DVD.

4. Switch off the computer, remove the hard drive and throw it out the window. Then put an empty identical hard drive into the PC.

5. Boot the computer with the backup program CD.

6. Put the DVD with the backup image and restore it on the new harddrive, and voila! The computer is back in operation!

I've been searching on the net but haven't found any freeware program with this exact feature.  

[EricL]

Why not just run a Raid 1 array?

[Testlund]

I don't understand what you mean by that. It's a SATA disk on IDE connection. I'm helping a guy fixing his computer system. His hard drive broke down and he had to buy a new one. I was hoping to make a backup of this one after all the trouble of installing and configuring, and then he would just have to insert the backup next time the system breaks down.

[EricL]

RAID stands for Redundant Array of Inexpensive Drives.

Bascially you buy a RAID drive.  Inside it has two identical hard drives.  It looks to the user and software as a single drive but inside, it stores everything twice, once on each drive, fully redundently.  If a problem crops up on one of the drives, it tells you and you can run on the other.  You can pull out the bad drive, plug in a new one and it will re-duplicate everything automaticaly.  Expensive server systems even let you do this while thigns are running.  Less expensve desktop systems are cheap and easy and available in new PCs or as a retrofit.

You can buy a 500Gb RAID 1 Array (1TB total storage) for about $250.  I just bought a Western Digital external RAID 1 drive at Costco for that amount that I used for my music and photos.

Note that Windows activation may have a problem with doing it the way you propose.  Completly replacing the hard drive (as opposed to a drive int eh RAID array) will change the hardware key and Windows may think it is a new computer and require a new license.

[Testlund]

I had no idea! I thought RAID just meant something like how it is connected to the motherboard.  
But if a serious virus would infect the system, like a boot virus or rootkit that mess up the system it would logically get written to both drives.

I see what you mean by the licence key. Never thought about that. I was thinking about upgrading my own computer with an extra hard drive and new graphic card, installing Windows on my new drive  

[EricL]

But if a serious virus would infect the system, like a boot virus or rootkit that mess up the system it would logically get written to both drives.

Correct.  RAID protects against physcial corruption but not logical corruption.  For that, you need traditional backup or some other capability like Apple's Time Machine feature.  Microsoft was actually working on something similar for Vista but pulled it.

I see what you mean by the licence key. Never thought about that. I was thinking about upgrading my own computer with an extra hard drive and new graphic card, installing Windows on my new drive  

If I remember correctly, the hardware key is based on like 10 hardware things.  There's a complex algorithm that allows some of them to change without changing the key, so it may still work with the same activation key.  If not, Microsoft does have a way to call them and explain so you don't need to purchase another license...