Well I want to try changing to a different OS on my eee 701, but i'm not sure how exactly I can "backup" the OS on it so that I could just totally wipe it but put it back to it's current state if needs be (if that makes any sense).

I'm thinking making an image?

This isn't eee specific though - just want to know how to backup my OS totally so i can click a button and things be back to the way they were.

err...just download a backing up programme and do it

hmmm, trashcan would be an upgrade for it

Quote from harjun :

err...just download a backing up programme and do it

But that doesn't do what I want - I want to "snapshot" my OS to a file and then install another OS on, but then be able to click a button and restore the OS i have atm just the way it's setup...

Can you partition it?

as much as i HATE to suggest a symantec program. The program you are looking for is Norton Ghost.. probably the only thing norton got right.

No matter what we have to tell everybody at PC World!

Quote from franky500 :

as much as i HATE to suggest a symantec program. The program you are looking for is Norton Ghost.. probably the only thing norton got right.

No matter what we have to tell everybody at PC World!

yupp. u got my vote here

Norton Ghost is probably the best (only) partition-backup program out there that really does what it says on the box...

Quote from scoobyrbac :

Can you partition it?

Yes, but with a 4GB SSD it's not going far!

Uh, if you had an external HD and a bootable Linux (either Flash Drive or CD) along with a bit of linux knowledge, you could use dd.

Quote from franky500 :

The program you are looking for is Norton Ghost..

+1.
Using it for 8 years now.
Nothing compares with the ol` Ghost floppy disk. I am using the 2003 version tho, the later sucked imo.
Acronis True Image gets the job done also.

4GB SSD.. can`t you use a flash usb drive? Ghost afaik can write the image on those.

just make a factory backup of everything on your hdd...lots of programmes for that.
then install your new OS
Then at a later date if you want to go back to factory settings just put the disc in, and it'll load all of the OS and everything.

If you're just wanting to try a different flavour of linux, install it on a USB stick and boot from that.

www.pendrivelinux.com

Quote from harjun :

just make a factory backup of everything on your hdd...lots of programmes for that.
then install your new OS
Then at a later date if you want to go back to factory settings just put the disc in, and it'll load all of the OS and everything.

Except I'm not sure how a "factory backup" (aka a recovery disk) will help A. keep all my files / installed apps, or B. Install XP again seeing as it's a Linux model...

As it is it seems Norton Ghost or Acronis TruImage will do what I need - Using an external drive isn't an option as A. I don't have one and B. Seeing which OS is fastest off an External HDD won't help!

Quote from Jakg :

Except I'm not sure how a "factory backup" (aka a recovery disk) will help A. keep all my files / installed apps, or B. Install XP again seeing as it's a Linux model...

As it is it seems Norton Ghost or Acronis TruImage will do what I need - Using an external drive isn't an option as A. I don't have one and B. Seeing which OS is fastest off an External HDD won't help!

I hate to say it, Jack, but an external drive is actually faster than the SSD on the Eee in terms of read/write speed. Sorry to burst your bubble and all that

WTF.

But I love the SSD in this little thing

If only I had a use for it

just get windows out of that comp and put linux on it
ubuntu is tha best

Acronis True Image or Norton Ghost (hard to find that now).

If you got linux liveUSB - dd if=/dev/sda of=/media/usb/backup.bin

Quote :

just get windows out of that comp and put linux on it

When I got my 701, the first thing I did was put XP on it. Turn off updates and hibernation and you're well away. The default Linux is crap.

Paragon Partiton Manager

Then find something external that is the same size as your harddrive. a 16GB SD Card would probably do im guessing? Then just do a raw copy of your harddrive onto the SD card.
Then if you ever want your old OS back just do another raw copy but in the opposite direction.

Quote from the_angry_angel :

http://clonezilla.org/

Just thought i'd bump this to say that seemed to be exactly what I was looking for - using it now, backing up my NC10 to an old SATA HDD (via USB adaptor). Not exactly stunning speed (6 mb/s) but does the job.

Do you have any experience backing up via a network? It works via Samba, NFS (i think) etc and i've got a shared folder on my main Windows 7 PC. Is there any way I can just get it to make an image on my PC in future or not?

.. Honestly Jack, doing crap over SMB and such is shit slow. For some reason SMB really kills speed compared to FTP and such. USB is faster than you'll get over SMB (at least in my experiences)

Yup an image is what you want:

Seagate diskwizard:

http://www.seagate.com/www/en- ... port/downloads/discwizard

It's free and works. I've used it myself. It's essentially licensed Acronis software.

All you need is an external storage space (usb drive?) and the boot CD, which you can get by installing the software on a Windows machine and using it to create a boot CD.

Clonezillas too complicated and a pain to use. Plus the one time I tried it, it created the image ok but when i tried verifying it, it was corrupt.