Hi.
I have a few Norton Products. Pretty sure that I can technically get what I am asking instead of using/buying a third-party program like MiniTool Partition Wizard.
Can 1. I copy my hard-drive(s) (preferably all of it, or at least all Windows files and all the updates), 2. reformat/re-partition, 3. re-install the OS's and the files to NOT have to completely RELOAD XP or Vista. I'd rather re-load when I upgrade my systems.
Have a desktop (XP Home Edition 32-bit) and laptop (Vista Home Premium 64-bit).
On my laptop there is a hidden partition, C drive, and another hidden partition. It's a Toshiba. I made my back-up dvd and it works. But it did not get rid of my partitions (it actually hid the one after the C drive). The partitions that are not C drive show up as Healthy and have 100% free-space in Computer Management. It's all NTFS. It is similar on my desktop. I'm sure that all the system files/boot files are on the C drive of my laptop since it says the partitions are 100% free-spaced. It would probably be best I have my C-drive in the front and any partitions after instead of this ambiguous spacing.
The Norton Products I have are:
- Norton 360 ver.3 (currently installed on both), Norton 360 ver.4 was purchased and waits until ver.3 is expired.
- Norton Ghost 15 (currently uninstalled)
Both do back-ups, but the imaging of Norton Ghost is probably what I want. Is it theoretically possible to do what I'm asking with the Norton 360 options?
I would use an external usb2 hdd. I have one for back-ups and do not use it otherwise.
How do I do the process: Can I make an image, then delete/re-format/re-partition and then load the Norton Ghost (or 360) image or back-up and it will re-install? Or do I need to install Windows again, install Norton (Ghost or 360) and then install the image? I assume that Norton needs to be on there so the imaging or back-up files can be initialized and the software can work. Would I need to re-register Windows?
In this article: http://www.aumha.org/win5/a/wpa.php It says something about formatting the hard-disk and OEM's. Should I copy those files and put them in afterwards?
Any help is appreciated. I have kind of gone in circles and why use all of these other programs or buy more, when I already paid for what I have? Hoping Ghost or 360 can do it. Any other info you need from me, just ask.
Thank you.