what is the best way to back up a c drive - see details?

Question

I am trying to avoid warrantee because they always have to wipe the harddrive. this means I will lose programs that are already difficult to install. 

back end programs, like oracle express, along with it's front end programs like sql developer. then other programs like visual studio.

can you simple "copy and paste" the entire c drive onto a thumb drive and then paste it back onto a laptop after a laptop warrantee wipes your drive?

currently I am having battery issues where it drains when I turn off my samsung laptop.

If I use my warrantee for any other reason and ship it off, is it save to simply paste the c drive back onto the computer and then be able to run oracle express and sql developer? 

Answer 1

The best would be to clone the drive to another drive. An external HDD of the same capacity or larger. Using programs like Acronis True Image will assist you with this.

Answer 2

NO!.  you must use 'mirror' software for this ... it also copies the Windows registry and the hardware drivers

Answer 3

Backup utilities are for data and files. Programs are not included. Even if you manually copy programs to your backup disk, they won't run because they're not installed there properly.



What you want to happen is to make a duplicate of your hard drive. For that, you need a hard disk duplicator like Ease US Disk Copy. Even then, to make this duplicate run to replace the original disk will be problematic to the uninitiated.

Answer 4

First, you need an external drive for the backup. Second, you need backup and recovery software. An excellent FREE one is at https://sharewareonsale.com/s/ashampoo-backup-giveaway-coupon-sale  Be sure to create the restore media with the software as you will need the restore media (usually burned to a CD or a USB stick) that you can boot to and then restore the backup. I've used this and it works well.

Answer 5

You will need to get yourself an external hard drive. Be sure to get one that is capable of handling your entire computer, with a little extra to spare.

Answer 6

You need to buy a portable hard drive of suitable capacity and back up software if none is installed on your machine. Acronis sell good back up software. There is no shortcut to archiving OS, programs and files.