Not many users are not creating or regularly doing a back-up. They find it expensive tool and time consuming. Some believe that starting from scratch is the way to go in getting rid of nasty malware like rootkit or some kind of mebroot. I don't think reformatting is advisable all the time if a user is aware that with the good backup copy of the good state of a system means we saved time and money. I often restore my system to previous good state using ImageX or Acronis True Image Home. Yes, I have two backup utility to use just in case one fails!
When to Backup?
Backup anytime you want. Anytime you think your system needs a backup. If you know there's a lot patches coming this month, you should create a backup. Backing up do not require whole day but some minutes only. My very first backup took less than an hour only.
I see no reason for users to say backup tools are expensive because there are free good backup utilities for Windows. Below are some of the best that I've tried.
ImageX
ImageX.exe Tool is a powerful image capture utility but it is not shipped in Vista. Some of you maybe have it already if the PC manufacturer added it in your hard-drive. Example: Dell ships their PC with Recovery Partition and the ImageX.exe and other files required to use ImageX.exe is located in the local drive D:/Tools (a visible partition).
If you do not have ImageX.exe, you can get it for free by downloading the Windows Automated Installation Kit (WAIK) from Microsoft Download Center or get GImageX (please see the program information below). You will find ImageX.exe in c:\Program Files\Windows AIK\Tools\x86\imagex.exe (please read the documentation in WAIK program)
To use ImageX.exe in capturing or restoring the whole system drive or whole disk, you will need to boot to Vista DVD then proceed by clicking Repair My Computer. Next, choose Command Prompt the use the commands:
imageX /apply or ImageX /capture to capture or restore your backup.
Example commands:
To apply or restore to an existing ImageX (.wim file) file, you will enter the following commands:
imagex /apply D:\Dell\Image\Factory.wim 1 c:
To capture or create a backup of your existing drive or system drive, you will use the following command:
imagex /capture C: D:\Your backup folder\myfullbackup.wim “Drive C” /verify
Below are the screenshots when I backup a 320GB hard-drive:
GImageX
The GImageX is similar to ImageX Tool in WAIK by Microsoft. The difference is any user who is not familiar in using command line utility will likely use ImageX with Graphical User Interface (GUI). GImageX is free and you can download it from the author's website.
Replicator
Karen's Replicator is one of the easiest full backup utility I've seen! It lets you backup files, folders and even entire drive... automatically. See the screenshot below on how to create a full backup of your Drive C, where Windows is usually installed: