Losing data is the most annoying and frustrating thing that can happen to a user. If your hard disk “dies”, then there is nothing you can do (other than spending thousands of dollars on expensive data recovery methods) to recover that data. The best practice to follow would be to take regular backups of your data. But what about your Operating system and all the Applications that are installed on your system?

Normally re-installing everything on a new hard disk would be long and arduous process. However, there is an easier solution. Taking a Disk Image backup is a worthwhile process. This type of backup takes a “snapshot” of everything on your system at that point and stores it in another location. This could be a DVD, Internal/ External storage, Networked storage devices, etc. In the event of your hard disk failing, restoring your system to the point where the image was taken is an easy process. In one simple restore process, you can have your OS and Apps back and working within a short space of time. The best part is that you don’t have to spend time digging up the serial numbers for all the software you have installed.

However, this full restoration of the system takes you back to a certain time period. This means that most of the latest data that you had on the system would be lost. This is where the normal regular backups come in. With those and a Disk Image, you can have your system up and running very fast and therefore avoid any frustration of losing data.