Acronis True Image 9.0 states that it supports the following:

Windows XP
Windows 2000 Workstation
Windows ME
Windows NT Workstation
Windows 98

I have used it on Windows XP to create DVD-sized chunks in a backup, but I haven't used it in Win98. The software works well for logical partition or whole drive backups, but the incremental and differential backups did not work at all for me. I use it to do backups for two different WinXP boxes (one Home, one Professional). If you use this particular version, make sure to get the final release (Build 3.854).

For Win98, I use Norton Ghost 2001 and Norton Ghost 2002. Both work well for the CD-ROM backups I create, but I don't know what the upper bound is on the file size of the chunks it creates. I use the master/slave system it provides to send backups over the network to another machine after booting both from floppies. It takes time and a little know-how to set up, but it works well if your network adapters are supported in terms of the DOS drivers required.

After looking for them for hours, I finally gave up and decided to use an IDE to USB adapter to hook the HDD to my main PC and backup from there...

Here's how I used to perform backups in W98SE:

I had a spare drive that was the exact same size as my main hard drive. I temporarily mounted it as my primary drive, and partitioned and formatted the spare drive, as well as making it bootable via a floppy disk.

After that initial task, when I wanted to do a backup, I hooked up the spare backup hard drive as a slave. Then I simply used Total Commander (aka Windows Commander) to copy the primary hard drive contents to the slave in verbatim. Anytime I wanted to perform a new complete backup, I erased everything on the slave, and copied everything over again using TC.

If I ever had a hard drive failure (actually, that happened two times), I simply removed the dead primary drive, and popped in my spare backup hard drive (as a master), and all was well with the world again 😀

To make things even easier, you can install one of those removable hard disk caddy/bays as a slave, and that makes it a snap to pop in your spare backup hard drive... if everything is set to "auto" in BIOS for the hard drives, it's simply a matter of powering down and back up again 😀

One advantage to al of the above is if you need to quirckly access a file from the backup hard drive (e.g. you've accidently deleted or overwrote something), you can easily snag it from the spare backup hard drive (quite a bit easier than when using any regular backup software).

rfnagel wrote:

After that initial task, when I wanted to do a backup, I hooked up the spare backup hard drive as a slave. Then I simply used Total Commander (aka Windows Commander) to copy the primary hard drive contents to the slave in verbatim. Anytime I wanted to perform a new complete backup, I erased everything on the slave, and copied everything over again using TC.

But TC (and most other similar techniques) will not duplicate the boot sector or partition tables.

Jorpho wrote:

But TC (and most other similar techniques) will not duplicate the boot sector or partition tables.

Hence the first step in my backup process. I always had an identical hard drive for backups, and I initially partitioned and formatted the drive to match my primary drive, and then made it bootable.

After that, there was no need to change the partions and such, as I always used the same backup drive in the same PC 😀

Hey ktorpil, if you want to backup of your system then just go to control panel and find backup application. It will provide you so many option like "bake up your system", "backup drive" , " backup your private date" etc. I am not more familiar with window 98 se OS. So i have no more idea for back up. Now software are available in market for backup your system. Thanks.

Look at this thread ---> What's the best way to format a hard disk?

ktorpil wrote:

So any suggestions of a backup program that works on 98SE and have the ability to split the backup file into numerous 4GB files? Norton ghost? Acronis true image? I'm fairly sure these don't run on 98SE...

What you need is Norton Ghost 2003, which works in DOS basically and is available for the price of the minimum bid on Ebay if you look a little.
It can burn directly to multiple DVDs or HD, backup over LAN, and can use NTFS if they are not encrypted.

The only reason to stay away from it may be the size of your storage disk. Somewhere between 500 and 1500 GB, Ghost 2003 is maxed out.

The earliest version of Ghost that I have used that works with 98SE is V5 - I used to have it on a bootable floppy. I have also backed up/restored a 98SE drive with Ghost V8 and Acronis 9. I have an old Pentium II still chugging along since 1997 with the original 98SE install. The hard drives have been replaced a few time and power supply once but thanks to Ghost and later Acronis I didn't have to re-install anything. It's funny going through the drive and finding files over 10 years old.

You cannot use a file manager (Like TC) to backup a hard drive, only data. A drive imaging tool is definitely recommended if you want to take a snapshot of your system and be able to restore it to working state after OS crash or hard drive failure. Have you ever had a bad virus that couldn't be erradicated and required OS re-install? Then re-install all your favorite apps, games, shortcuts, tweaks, etc..Amost whole day wasted. Or restore from an image in 2 hours or less, depending on the size of the image you made and have your system restored to the exact state that you created the image.

akula65 wrote:

I have used it on Windows XP to create DVD-sized chunks in a backup, but I haven't used it in Win98. The software works well for logical partition or whole drive backups, but the incremental and differential backups did not work at all for me. I use it to do backups for two different WinXP boxes (one Home, one Professional). If you use this particular version, make sure to get the final release (Build 3.854).

Acronis 9 works fine with 98 and XP - you can specify the split size when you initiate backup. If you are backing up to CD/DVD it will automatically split to the right media size and burn. If you purchase the retail version you will be able to boot directly from the CD to a self-contained GUI so no installation is required. I have also created a full backup of my XP SP3 PC and 2 additional incremental backups - the full backup is just bare XP with drivers, the second is more drivers & a few apps and the third is all apps. I have restored successfully from all 3. Have not tried differential backup.

If you don't want to spend money there are to free drive imagers you can get: SelfImage (open source) and DriveImage XML (free for private use, XP and higher). I haven't tried either one but maybe worth a look. Whichever way you go definitely image your drives it will save you lots of grief later.

dellsmaith wrote on 2009-11-21, 06:46:

Hey ktorpil, if you want to backup of your system then just go to control panel and find backup application. It will provide you so many option like "bake up your system", "backup drive" , " backup your private date" etc. I am not more familiar with window 98 se OS. So i have no more idea for back up. Now software are available in market for backup your system. Thanks.

Soooo many complicated solutions and this was the best. THANK YOU!!!!