[tomtom]

Hello,
My laptop has started developing the odd bad sector on the HDD after experiencing a blue screen of death a few days ago... chkdsk (or whatever its W7 incarnation is) finds errors fixes things (I think - or at least it tries to), then another bad sector pops up etc... my backup sw has been having a fit as it keeps encountering the odd un-readable files.. I strongly suspect the HDD is fucked (for want of a better technical word).

Thankfully I have a backup(s).

Its still under warranty, so I suspect they'll send round a box and take the machine away when I call up later....
In the meantime - I was wondering whether its worth 'mirroring' the HDD to dump on the new/replacement HDD/machine if/when that gets sent out to me... Having never mirrored a HDD, is it

a. easy?
b. worth doing - or is it better off just re-installing all the programs etc... 
c. Wont work anyway if there are errors on the HDD...?

TT

[Tris]

Easiest thing is to 'Ghost' your machine onto DVD's/external USB. This will take a snapshot of your machine as it is now (all programs, settings, data etc) and you can restore this (minus hardware errors) onto a new hard drive in your laptop.

Luckily Windows 7 comes with built-in free imaging software that you can 'ghost' your machine with (thanks to Paul B for pointing this out).

http://www.intowindows.com/using-windows-7-image-backup-tool/

[tomtom]

 

Nice one Tris - its being picked up tomorrow AM so I'll get it backed up... (though  for a 8 month old HDD screwing up...) Still glad to get it 'in the nick of time' etc...

PM me if you're up for some bouldering this week (or new Manc wall after work etc..)?