DISK IMAGING

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DISK IMAGING

• BOB COOK, DOAI

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DISK IMAGING

• Uses software to make an exact copy of your hard
  drive
• Allows total restoral of your PC OS and
  Programs in 20 minutes or less
• No more hours of reinstalling Windows, Windows
  updates and all your programs

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DISK IMAGING BENEFITS

• Protect against hardware failure
• (Typical hard drive lasts 3-5 years)
• Protect against software failure (lost or damaged
  files)
• Easy fix if you get malware
• (malware may not be able to be removed except
  by formatting hard drive)

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HELP MY COMPUTER BROKE

• Many problems are due to software corruption
• Dont spend hours or trying to diagnose and
  repair the problem just restore your image
• If you cant fix it in 15 minutes, restore your
  image
• If you need a new hard drive, just restore your
  image to your new drive

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IMAGING SOFTWARE

• Free alternatives available (search on
  Snapfiles.com)
• Many pay versions available (Acronis True Image,
  Norton Ghost, Paragon, etc)
• I like Acronis True Image best and it is
  usually the highest rated.
• Make the emergency boot disk!

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STORING THE IMAGE

• Keep the image on an external or a different
  internal drive
• Consider burning the image to DVDs and storing
  offsite (along with copies of your data)
• Keeping the image on the same drive is of no use
  if your drive fails!

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IMAGING RECOMMENDATIONS

• Consider starting with a clean install of windows
• Make a separate partition for your data files
  (see snapfiles.com for free programs)
• Install your OS and programs on your C\ drive
• Install a firewall and antimalware programs

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IMAGING RECOMMENDATIONS

• Go to www.windowsupdate.microsoft.com and install
  all updates for your OS
• Make the image of your C\ drive. Keep on DVD
  and/or external USB drive
• Monthly or quarterly, reinstall your image,
  install any new software and windows updates,
  then make a new image (this insures no malware)

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WHAT ABOUT MY DATA?

• Since data changes quite often, consider an
  automatic daily (or at least weekly) backup of
  your data to an external drive
• For utmost protection (fire, theft, storm), keep
  an image and your backup data OFF SITE! Encrypt
  any sensitive data!

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EXTERNAL DRIVES

• Prices have fallen drastically
• If speed is impt and your computer supports
  firewire, get a firewire drive
• Get a drive that spins 7200 rpm with at least 8MB
  cache
• Portable drives dont require a power supply,
  small and lightweight, but more expensive and
  slower (5400 rpm)