Help with XP, backing up my system

[Blair]

Does anybody here know how I can backup a freshly installed version of win XP to a cd?

I reinstall XP every so often, and I hate losing all my system tweaks, and some basic programs. I figured there should be a way to create a restore point on a cd, then just boot the cd when I wanted to reformat to the fresh install.

I've tried searching the net, but said nothing about making a backup disk/cd. Can anyone help me out?

Thanks in advance.

 

[thenerdguy]

I used to back up win98 to cd with norton ghost but I think xp is to big. or it might be considered illegal. Ill look into it. But this would go a lot better if it was in the hardware/software forum.

 

[Steelwind]

Norton Ghost is my favorite. It makes a nice image of your OS and you can use that image on a number of machines. We used to use that in the IT department when we did the W2K rollover. Combine Ghost with 3-Com's remote startup NIC's and you've got one smooth transition.

Click to see Ghost

EDIT: I should point out that using the same image on several machines would be in violation of Microsoft's Terms of Service Agreement. You should have a legit key for each machine that runs XP. That or a corporate license (which our IT dept. had) that allows so many machines.

 

[Blair]

Well it would be only for my computer (The one I'm on currently). It seem's so simple, but I guess microsoft thought otherwise.

I have system restore cd's that came with my computer when I bought it, but I hate half of the programs, and I have since installed new hardware that wasn't part of the orignal system. So formatting, reinstalling, and uninstalling all those programs takes a few hours to do. I was hoping I could make a backup and save that configuration to a disk and save some time.