Time to back that sucker up

If there's one thing I'm particularly anal about regarding computers - it's backups. So when Darlene's new computer was all done getting set up (all hardware working, all files transferred, all programs installed) the first thing I set out to do was back that sucker up.

I felt in the mood to try out something new for backup software and I do like 'free', so I looked around online and decided to give Clonezilla a try. It's an open source program capable of cloning one hard drive to another or saving an image of a hard drive onto another drive (like an external USB hard drive). This tool is not for the faint of heart however, as it has features needed by IT professionals which would be daunting to the layperson. Luckily, Clonezilla has an online step-by-step image creation (and restore) guide, making the process relatively easy. If you are comfortable with image programs like Symantec Ghost, this new tool isn't much of a stretch.

Clonezilla is downloaded as a bootable ISO image file, ready for burning to CD-ROM using your favourite CD burning software (I use CDBurnerXP). It's based on Linux - translation - it just works. I made use of it this morning and it worked like a charm. So if you're looking for a new drive imaging tool, give Clonezilla a try.