Copying an entire hard drive to another...

Hey,

I'm looking to back up a hard drive and remember seeing this post from franlynnxxx recommending using a program called DriveImage XML rather than copying files over in small groups at a time.

Just wondering if anyone has done this before using that program? I'm not sure exactly how it works - when it's finished copying over how would one go about viewing individual files from it? Is it really better way of doing it (it will obviously be less time-consuming but it's not an emergency, just backing it up to be doubly safe)?

Also, I'd be copying from a TrueCrypt encrypted hard drive to another TrueCrypt hard drive so would that cause any problems using software like that?

A whole bunch of questions there, sorry about that! I guess what I'm really after is the best way to effectively back up an entire hard drive and what programs people would recommend from past experience? I'm more than happy to pay for software if I can guarantee it will do the job well.

Thanks in advance. :)

You can create a image, with different programs, the only advantage is speed. it can take tame when copying a lot of images. but if your HW is up to date it wont be a problem. i think you are backuping less then a 1TB, so you can just copy/paste the files.