Very basic question about partitions

G Private wrote:

I am looking to buy “backing up” software. I have a new laptop with partitions C for programs & D for data. I simply want to save an image of the whole of partition C and save it to D. Then, at a later time, use that image to restore the entire partition C to its previous state (without affected D or the hidden partition). Can I do this with Acronis True Image HOME? Or is Acronis True Image overkill?

Yes you can do this with Acronis True Image Home. Is it overkill, possibly. I've been using it for 3 years now and am happy with it. There are free alternatives, several of which are based on the same Acronis imaging engine used in ATIH, that you can download from the disk drive manufacturers websites. Check out Maxtor/Seagate and Western Digital websites for more info, their versions only work with their brand harddrives (I understand you have to have at least one of their drives in your system before the s/w will work). If you like the free versions you can always buy the full version from Acronis later if you'd like more features.