Disaster recovery plan

Don't worry, I'm not contemplating the end of the world; I'm simply preparing for the possibility of some major problem with my computer.

A couple of years ago, my previous Windows XP machine suddenly decided not to load Windows. It got so far and then stopped. No matter what I did - system restore etc etc I couldn't get Windows back. I couldn't even reinstall Windows over itself; so my only choice was to reformat the hard drive and start again. It took days to get back to where I was. Fortunately I had all my documents stored on DVDs and I had CDs for all the programs I used. What I didn't have were all the updates to Windows that had been applied since the original installation.

My current machine has two hard drives which work in what is called a Raid(0) array. A Raid(0) array shares data between the two discs. What it means is that everything should load faster as both drives run together. It also means that when one disc fails then I am b*******.

I say when because all hard drives are doomed to fail. Logic tells you that anything which spins at 7,200 rpm with a head microns away from the surface is not going to last forever. You don't always get any warning signs - just one day the disc crashes or seizes up. If you are lucky, then some geeky expert can recover the data; otherwise you've lost the lot.

I have a lot more stored on this computer than I had on the old one.; a lot more programs and a lot more data. For example, all my digital photos are stored on the drives. So sensibly I keep regular backups. Up to now I've used the built in Backup and Restore facility in Vista to make backups to an external hard drive. It is better than nothing but not a complete solution.

So recently, I've been investigating software that would do a much better job and came across Acronis True Image Home. The latest version is 2009 - obviously ahead of its time. You can't buy it in the shops yet - it's available online from Acronis. I've installed a demo version to try it out.

So far it seems to work very well. The program has some useful features. First off you can make a full shadow copy of your hard drive with the software. You can also make copies of just your data, your program settings, your emails and the state of your system in case it is just those that you need to restore.

The program allows you to make a startup CD which you'd use to reinstall a hard drive given that Windows won't load. There are other utilities included in the program e.g. the facility to erase information from a drive in such a way that it can not be recovered (Gary Glitter could have done with that) and a whole host of other stuff.

One particularly useful feature of the software is what Acronis call "Try and Decide". This creates an area on your hard drive (a partition) where you can load new software or updates to existing software. If you later decide not to keep the software or the update you can remove it without it effecting your computer. It is a more thorough than System Restore which just removes the changes to the registry leaving the installation intact.

So will I buy it once the 15 days is up - very likely. If I didn't I might end up regretting saving a few quid at some later date. Just don't tell Pam of my plans yet!