>>If you use Drive Image do you have to re-register Vegas?

No. It literally freezes your drive *exactly* how you backed it up; defragmentation level and all. Registered products remain registered.

I have used drive image for years and it is absolutely the best; especially the current version. I also had Norton Ghost, but never used it. It has a lot of options and command line switches. I personally do not need that, nor would most people. Drive Image is very simple and reliable. It does exactly what you need and does it simply. (Note: Drive Image does assume you have multiple hard drives. I have 6.)

>>With the increased size of disks I'm rethinking how I do backups.

What I personally do:

Make a perfect, pristine Windows XP system. Apply all the updates, patches, system settings, firewall settings, data, etc. Get it exactly how you want it, then back it up with Drive Image.

Then, with my tape drive (OnStream 15/30GB) and Retrospect backup, back up the data as appropriate. Getting a good backup set can be time consuming to get it just right, but once you've got it, you've got it. You must be very careful on this note. You do not, for example, want to back up then restore the registry or virus definitions!!! If you've got your backup set right, you can just restore *everything* you backed up to tape without having to go through and pick and choose.

Then, whenever you need to restore a system, restore your Drive Image file, then restore the data you backed up to tape, then you are up and running exactly how you want to be, right where you left off. (Right before a system restore, I will back up my data to a *file*, rather than *tape* in order to do a restore because it is much faster than a tape drive to restore.)

This is an extremely good setup that I have used for years. That way, you can try demos, betas, experiments, etc. If you don't like it, you can reset everything to your pristine system within an hour or less.

One thing I do is keep a Drive Image file set of a completely stripped Windows XP system. Nothing extra installed. Then, when Pinnacle Studio 8 people say that Studio 8 doesn't work due to thus and such setting or thus and such program, I can recall a stripped WinXP system, install Studio 8, see it still doesn't work right with absolutely no system overhead, then I can go buy Vegas+DVD...and here I am today... :)

Side note: Drive Image does NOT back up to DVD media; CD only. I'll bet that will be with the next version. You can, however, use 650/700 meg of a 4.7 GB DVD disk if you want to... :) Found that out the hard way. You can though, create a Drive Image file(s), then back those files up to DVD media, depending on the size of your back up. I personally back up the Drive Image files to tape.

If you run a dual boot system, like I do, there are a couple other things to consider, but I think I've said enough already... :)

...and there ya' go.

Thank you.