Easiest way to make a hd image backup?

I just got a T61 and plan on installing XP this weekend. I would like to burn an image of the newly installed XP to a bootable disc.

Can I use the Thinkvantage Rescue and Recovery program ( http://www.pc.ibm.com/us/think/thinkvantagetech/rescuerecovery.html) to produce an image that can be used to restore XP? There is an ImageBuilder program ( http://www.pc.ibm.com/us/think/thinkvantagetech/imageultra.html), but it's only a trial version that needs to be separately installed.

Thanks!

 

Try drivexml.

 

I use True Image to image my drive.. Takes about three minutes to restore. You'll need an external drive or to partition your drive in a way you can keep the image on a drive that is not the boot drive.

 

I also use Acronis True Image, and I swear by it. I don't put the images on a partition. Instead, I leave some space unpartitioned (about 20GB or so) and let True Image use it for its own proprietary image vault method. I used to just drop the images on a secondary partition someplace, but one ended up corrupted once, and the only thing I could guess that might have caused it was Windows scheduled defrags. Haven't had the problem since.

 

I never could get Acronis to restore, so I use Paragon Drive Backup Personal now.

 

ThinkVantage software is pretty good.

 

I use Acronis to copy an image to a second hard drive in my ultrabay caddy. I have a T60 running Vista. Works fine. Just make sure you don't configure to delete data on the source drive.

 

Thanks for the replies. I ended up going with DriveXML since it's free. I stored an image of the new install onto an external hard drive. If I want to restore the entire Windows install, I can use the DriveXML plug-in on a BartPE boot disc.

 

If you have a Seagate drive, which I do, you can get a free download of DiscWizard from Seagate's website. It is basically True Image.