Looking for software program to back up whole system

One of the best things about Windows 7 is that it added that feature which digidogo mentioned. Acronis usually offers its older versions for free. Do a search. I've always used Acronis, even its free versions work very well. With Win 7, I was pleasantly surprised to find a similar program. Both let you burn a boot-up CD (which, of course, you will need if your entire system crashes). Best to back up to an ext HD since computer files can get very, VERY large.

try norton ghost.exe...

It seems to me that, apart from Norton Ghost and Acronis, which you have to buy (though they are not that expensive, considering the time and data loss you might incur), there are very few free offerings which work very well at all. This one, however, might just be what you need: http://www.macrium.com/reflectfree.aspx I found it through this blog, which gives a brief review, apparently based on experience of using it: http://www.thefreewarejunkie.com/2008/06/make-complete-disk-image-macrium.html

Norton Ghost is one of the good software to protect your applications, back up your files and folder and can recovering back even with failure system. Ghost can backup to a hard drive and other device types. I am use Norton ghost to create images of my system to cd for backup my data and folders. It is very easy in creating a boot cd is easy. When you create the cd, tell Ghost you want it to be bootable put your boot floppy in the A drive and ghost does all the work. The only thing you have to do is change your BIOS configuration. so you boot from the CD. Your computer will boot with mouse support and the standard ghost program appears. I think this just instructions but i dunno you can do it your own anyway best of Luck.