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| Hard Drive Images
 A hard drive image is a file that contains all the software and data that resides on your computer's hard drive, including application programs, user data, favorites, desktop items, configuration settings, the operating system and Windows updates. It can be used to restore your computer to work and look exactly as it did when you created the image -- in approximately half an hour, versus a few hours if you need to reinstall Windows and don't have a drive image!
You may have received a System Restore disc with your computer, as well as a Drivers disc and an Applications disc. Should your hard drive fail --- and they do every day, even on brand new computers --- and your computer is still under warranty, your computer vendor may replace the hard drive and return the system to you looking exactly as it did when you first received it. That doesn't include any programs you installed, nor any data you added since it was new. Some vendors don't include these discs with your computer and it's your responsibility to create them as one of the first things you do with your new computer. Do you know where your recovery discs are?
You may have created regular data backups, as mentioned in the Data Backup article, but that's not enough. It takes a long time to re-install your programs from their installation CDs (assuming you can find them), set everything up as you prefer it (wallpaper, home page, desktop icons, e-mail accounts, etc.) and restore your user data (assuming you know where to put it). So, restoring the system to "factory default" condition still leaves a lot of hard work ahead.
There are numerous drive-imaging programs available, including many free versions for home (non-commercial) users. The two most popular commercial programs are Symantec's Norton Ghost and Acronis True Image -- the latter being my personal favourite. Macrium Reflect is another popular and excellent drive-imaging program, valued for its speed and ability to write image files to DVD-R or DVD+R discs, a feature especially helpful for those who don't own an external drive. It is available in a free version for non-commercial use.
Acronis True Image is also available in free versions that have some feature limitations, but those limitations tend to make it easier to use. The free versions are available from and "branded" by Seagate and Western Digital and normally require one of their hard drives to be installed in the system or accessible as an external hard drive. That requirement can be over-ridden by pressing <Alt>+t+o (as in Technician Over-ride) during the dialogue that says the required drive brand was not detected.
By creating a drive image periodically, you can restore the computer in just half an hour or so. Then all you need to do is restore the last data backup, which takes just minutes. Believe me, having lost my own hard drives to nasty viruses and power surges, drive images are worth their weight in gold!
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