Is is possible to make an image of an OS from another OS?

[racerguy]

I own acronis backup software, I have 3 OS installed on 3 seperate HDDs. One of my OS had an error, it's xp and it's quite old and has had many sp and windows updates. I take care in cleaning my pc of useless junk with Ccleaner and defrag for eg.

Anyway my xp could not start up so i repaired it with my xp bootup feature. From xp sp3 now it says my xp has only xp sp1 on it. I downloaded both sp2 and 3 to be installed but sp2 takes forever to install.

In short although i recovered my xp it's not the same as before.

There's 2 options i can go now. 1 try and repair it or just install a fresh copy.

I'm thinking of option 2 install new copy but obviously i need to back up. I would like to keep everything in my old xp the same as possible. I have had this xp since 2007 so i'm obviously not used to the default and original settings of xp.


If u were in my situation what would u guys do?

[farbird]

try using a ubuntu linux live cd and run the partition editor within.

the gui included shd be quite easy to understand..

[ab_cat]

i will do a clean install, upgrade to sp3, patch with all the ms updates, install all the necessary software and do a backup image.

[epos]

OS partition is just another partition to cloning/imaging software. I'm surprise you would ask this question when you have 3 OSes. probably because acronis always touting "hot" imaging, most user didn't know they could also image the system when WinXP isn't running.

I too prefer to have my system customize to my liking, Ghost serve me well when things happen--HDD crash or virus attack, etc. I always have a backup image in another HDD or another system or DVD.

Slipstreaming Windows XP Service Pack 3 and Create Bootable CD (http://www.helpwithwindows.com/WindowsXP/Slipstreaming_Windows_XP_Service_Pack_3.html).

How to Slipstream Service Pack 3 into Windows XP (http://www.lancelhoff.com/how-to-slipstream-service-pack-3-into-windows-xp/)

[racerguy]

OS partition is just another partition to cloning/imaging software. I'm surprise you would ask this question when you have 3 OSes. probably because acronis always touting "hot" imaging, most user didn't know they could also image the system when WinXP isn't running.

I too prefer to have my system customize to my liking, Ghost serve me well when things happen--HDD crash or virus attack, etc. I always have a backup image in another HDD or another system or DVD.

Slipstreaming Windows XP Service Pack 3 and Create Bootable CD (http://www.helpwithwindows.com/WindowsXP/Slipstreaming_Windows_XP_Service_Pack_3.html).

How to Slipstream Service Pack 3 into Windows XP (http://www.lancelhoff.com/how-to-slipstream-service-pack-3-into-windows-xp/)




I'm not concerned about the installing process of xp. That's easy. I'm trying to use acronis to create an image of xp by logging into vista.

I'm getting daunted by the huge task of backing up stuff.