>...that I asked before.
>
>Ok, if I have an external hard drive and I copy every file from PC hard drive to it, and then I blow up the data on the PC hard drive, if I reformat, can I simply copy all the files from the external to the PC hard drive and have my system back? If so, then why do I need an image backup, as I'm led to believe I do?
Well, I am not entirely sure about all the details, but I think some files are expected in certain location - i.e., they are not relocatable. I think these are the files marked with the "System" attribute, and may include the OS kernel or something (the very first files that get executed), and the virtual memory file. The latter could probably be reconstructed without much trouble, but the boot files probably not.
Difference in opinions hath cost many millions of lives: for instance, whether flesh be bread, or bread be flesh; whether whistling be a vice or a virtue; whether it be better to kiss a post, or throw it into the fire... (from Gulliver's Travels)
