Tired of Installing Your OS?

[Taem]

Back to the OP, and the recommended tools... At some companies where we have implemented Altiris we use BartPE to package automatic OS installs. At some others we use a less expensive tool called Kasaya, which among other features, also incorporates the Acronis Backup engine. I've tried and disabled Acronis on one of my machines, because my backup sets were starting to exceed 80MB, and it was using over 2/3rds of my local hard drive to store backups. I use BackupPC at home to backup my machines to my file server. That way I can maintain DR separately from my machines.

I really love Acronis. I used to use it to make a clone of my HD onto a removable HD (the type that plugs in via Firewire and USB 2.0) and it does it so quickly its truly amazing. Every backup/clone program I've ever used takes hours to complete, but Acronis is done in less than 30-minutes on average. However, for whatever reason I simply stopped using it. I think I actually like reinstalling my software, hardware(firmware)/software updates from scratch because every time I do it, I always trim the excess fat in a manner of speaking; I loose the programs I no longer use or that have lost their appeal over time. Acronis is still a great tool, but I have no idea of its costs now.