Having recently had yet another Hard Drive die on me, I am becoming all too well skilled at the fine art of computer repair.
After what seemed like the umpteenth time formatting , partitioning and cloning a hard drive, I began to think of the software that I have come to depend on for making these daunting tasks less so.
First on my list is
Norton Ghost. This little piece of software has saved my tush many times over and when I think back on all the grumbling I did about having to shell out $70 or $80( I'm pretty sure I got some sort of rebate though) for a program I would only use "once", I can only laugh. I have continually upgraded my Hard Drive, as the prices fell I would buy a bigger HDD. I have always had a backup copy of my XP installation and after this latest "ghost" session I noticed that I am still running on my Nov. 2001 install of XP.
Good points: Very reliable ~ a big feature when moving all the stuff (read "my life")from a drive or partition to another.
Bad points: Not the most user friendly program, works in DOS, so must stick with Fat32. Only backs up full partitions.
Second would have to be
Partition Magic. This little tool takes the hopelessly complex tasks of all things Hard Drive related and boils them down to wizards and a few clicks. Now don't get me wrong, this tool takes a little knowledge to keep from doing real damage to your computer. But there is also a fantastic help section that can give you a great tutorial on the mechanics of hard drive partitioning and formatting.
Good points: Very user friendly interface, (maybe
too easy) Extremely powerful tool to accomplish all functions necessary for setting up a Hard Drive.
Bad points: If the user is not careful can do all kinds of damage, Also works in DOS,(but uses a Windows interface, then shuts computer down and goes to work)
This is only 2 of the many tools I have come to rely on. I am going to post a running list here, which I will add to from time to time, and I welcome anybody else to tell about your favorite tools here as well.
