I just reinstalled W7 and took 10+ hours downloading all of my programs, setting up my poker mods / importing HHs to HEM, etc etc.

Is it possible to create a disk image of what my pc looks like at this precise moment? i.e. immediately after a clean OS reinstall + all my preferences & trusted programs freshly installed?

In case of a future OS reinstall (which I do at least once / year anyway), I'd really just like to restore everything to THIS moment in time (rather than the factory-shipped state)...that'll save me a good 10+ hours...

Is that possible? If so, does it require a 3rd-party app, or is there freeware that could do this?

(Note: correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't want a mere 'restore point', do i? Because it was my understanding that if my computer gets infected with malware, using a simple restore-point won't actually cleanse the malware, but will basically just restore my files / preferences to a previous moment in time. So in short, I need something that comes with the power of a fresh OS reinstall vis-a-vis malware-removal, but also the efficiency of having all of my programs / preferences installed...(of course this only works presuming those that I installed immediately post OS-reinstall are safe, which I believe they all are.)

Yes, you should have backups, it's possible.

When using windows 7, just type "backup and restore" in the orb and you're good to go to create one time images.

If you want to do incremental backups, http://www.areca-backup.org/ is free, simple and offers compression.

Clonezilla

OK, thanks -- what i've never been clear about w/ programs like those is what I wrote in italics in my OP...they seem focused on merely preventing data loss...in my case, I actually don't care too much about that since I back up my data fairly regularly. I care most about simply saving time when I do my annual (or more frequent) re-install.

And someone once told me that to be sure you're starting with a fresh slate, you want to do an OS-reinstall, "not just a system restore with your OS's 'restore point' function"...which I took to mean that there was a difference between those two things. Did I just get bad advice? Do the methods suggested in your replies above indeed come with the full 'cleaning power' of an OS reinstall?

(Basically, if I could 'clone' the location of every bit on my computer as it exists right now -- today -- and then return to this state at will, with anything that was installed or changed after today wiped clean, that's what i'm looking for.)

A system image will be everything. A restore point is just drivers and crap.

Clonezilla ftw

Here's instructions: http://geekyprojects.com/cloning/how...illa-tutorial/

Macrium reflect has a free version, and has never failed me. It will do what you want.

Fresh install on a new hdd takes me about 10 mins.

Clonezilla backs up your entire system partition. If you are a smarto, you will have a system and a data partition and clone your system partition. Putting it back into place will be minutes.


Every couple of months make a new clone so that new software, versions and windows updates do not have to be installed again.

I do this with both my computers.