Working with Disk Images

  Here I'll give you some background on  my previous blog topic.
  After reading the topic you'd be wondering what is a disk image;it is the backup of data that is present on a disk.A disk can be a partition or a complete hard disk.Many of us would usually make copies of critical data and store it at multiple locations;extend the same concept to a disk and the end result is a disk image.
  Now the disk image can be used just as you would use a backup copy of a file in case the original file is deleted/damaged i.e. restore the disk image to the original disk and continue using it as before.This is how Vista installation works.The process is fast because it mainly involves copying.
  What is done is that the C drive is backed up after installing the Operating System and Drivers.This data is stored in the image file present in a different partition.The image file is in the .wim format.Read the article in wikipedia to know more:
Windows Imaging Format
  Now I thought how to use this idea to speed up the installation on my pc.I wanted to see if it was possible to install my software and backup the C drive.This would make the job short and simple.
  Well I did some research on the internet and also talked with friends.The feedback I got was that this is how OS issues are solved in companies.My friend Ajay told me that this is done on a regular basis on his pc;this is because he tests software and the OS gets corrupted over time.
  Another friend, a senior told me to learn how to do this over the network i.e. sit in one pc and do a backup/restore of a single/multiple remote computers.I was baffled wondering how to try it out practically.I did a little research found the technique was called multicasting and decided to save this for the future.
In the following posts I'll discuss the usage of a few disk imaging software.Here's a good list of disk imaging software:
List of Disk Imaging Software