making a bootable copy of OS on hidden drive

Hi
I would like to make a copy of my C drive in a hidden drive, like on a bought PC.
I know it's easy to reinstall but when you take account of the time involved to get all your software loaded and up and running it takes ages.

I would like to hit a key at boot up, access the hidden drive and reinstall thew entire setup.

There is some software available that'll do something similar to what you're looking for. Not sure it's freeware, though, and I've not tried it to see how well it works (if at all). But someone mentioned it in a thread I was subscribed to. Searching for it, but I'm not sure I'll be able to find it.

The one thing different than the way a "factory restore" on an OEM machine would work was that it would restore to whatever state it was in when you created it (at least as far as what I can remember about it).

To create an OEM type recovery partition, you need OPK which is available only to OEMs and a certain amount of skill. Read this.
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Far more sensible to customize your windows and then create an image using whichever tool you like.

Just want to say a big thanks for the very quick replies.
I am looking at Macrium and will give the a try, the OPK will need more looking at

cheers

Just had a better look at OPK, does not appear to be for mere mortals like myself.

Well, I've got to give up the search for now. But it's somewhere on sevenforums. I think the thread was started by a member that wanted a way for his company employees to "restore" their laptops while on the road. Didn't want any extra hardware and wanted it to be simple for the employee to initiate and complete the process. Someone suggested an app that reportedly provided that feature. I remember checking it out thinking that's pretty cool, even though it doesn't really fit with the way I use the machines I've got or had. But it's something I would've downloaded (if it was free) and I would've eventually checked it out to see how well it worked. So either I didn't download ($) or it's a download I haven't yet checked out. On top of that, I can't find the thread, either.

BTW, I don't think the one I was thinking of was OPK. It's one that's available to everyone.

hawkeyefxr, if/when you run across the software that can do what you're looking for, can you please remember to take the time to post the name/link here? Thanks!

F5ing, i will be sure to do so, though i to have run into a brick wall on this. There are apps to make the image no problem, you can make a bootable DVD but to make all that on a hidden drive i have not fond yet.

Thanks. Searched again for this today with no luck. I'm positive it was a thread here on sevenforums, but obviously I'm not coming up with the correct search terms.