Upgrade Vista Home Premium to Ultimate - Disk Imaging (Part 1)

System Imaging with DriveImage XML for Vista Home Premium

Vista Ultimate includes a feature called Complete PC Backup and Restore. This functionality simplifies the process of creating a full system backup, effectively cloning or imaging the hard drive’s current configuration.

It’s important to note that Complete PC Backup and Restore differs from Automatic Backup. Automatic Backup focuses solely on files and settings, and is available across all Vista editions except Home Basic.

Utilizing DriveImage XML on Vista Home Premium

This article details how to create a hard drive image on Vista Home Premium using the complimentary utility, DriveImage XML. The screenshots presented were captured on a Windows XP system; however, the application functions identically on both Vista and XP.

DriveImage XML facilitates the backup of both individual files and complete disk images. These backups are stored within an XML file, enabling restoration of the copy at a later time.

The application boasts a user-friendly interface. Simply proceed through the guided steps of the Drive Backup Wizard.

The process involves selecting the drive to be backed up and specifying the destination for the XML image file. DriveImage XML even supports backing up the disk while the operating system is running.

Backup progress is visually displayed, tracked by sector.

Additional Capabilities

Beyond basic imaging, DriveImage XML offers disk-to-disk backup capabilities. Furthermore, the Task Scheduler can be leveraged to automate the backup process.

Backups can also be directed to a network drive. DriveImage XML is a free and highly effective disk imaging solution for enhancing Vista Home Premium. It is also compatible with Windows XP.