Any cheap/free programs to backup a tablet's OS for emergency reinstallation?

[Sebastian]

I bought a used tablet that has XP Tablet operating system loaded but that did not come with a hard copy of the OS. I'm OK with that, but I'm wondering if there's a cheap way I can backup the OS so I have a hard copy to restore from if it crashes. Any free utilities out there do it? I've used Norton Ghost in the past, but want something very cheap or free.

[Rushan]

If you want to do a full back up of your system you can download the Knoppix live CD. It will give you two different ways to make copies of your hard drive. Be carefull with the DD command option.

[gordoncahill]

If you search around the web you will also find ways of making a Tablet OS disc from a normal copy of XP Pro and the CMPNTS folder on your tablet.

Gordon

[Sebastian]

Thank you both, Rushan and gordoncahill. I'll look into both of those ;-)

[pitcherj]

The solution I use is called DIXML. It's an open source utility that makes a complete backup of your disk using an XML-aided methodology to keep track of the files. It works VERY well and I have used it to back my M7 up to a USB external hard drive. What is nice about this particular piece of software is that it makes use of Microsoft's Volume Shadow Copy Service to make a live backup while the system is running (no reboot or booting off of a disk is necessary). I have also restored my system using this software. It is available as a BART CD plug-in to make restoration easy. You merely create a BART CD with the plug-in installed, boot from the CD with a USB or other type of disk with the backed up data on it, and restore it.