Checksum an entire PC?

[Adam Sandler]

Hello:

I was wondering, just like there are individual file checksums, like
MD5, is there a way to checksum the entire PC?

Why do I want to do the entire PC? Because a single operation of
doing so is probably easier and faster than doing individual MD5
checks on hundreds or even thousands of files.

I'd like to know the state or signature (if you will) of the entire
box before any development or testing occurs on it.

Thanks!

[Dave Warren]

In message

Post by Adam Sandler
I was wondering, just like there are individual file checksums, like
MD5, is there a way to checksum the entire PC?

No. Files are constantly being modified, so you'd likely never get the
same checksum twice unless you scanned back-to-back (and even then, it
would be extremely unlikely)

All it takes is one eventlog entry to change the checksum.

Post by Adam Sandler
Why do I want to do the entire PC? Because a single operation of
doing so is probably easier and faster than doing individual MD5
checks on hundreds or even thousands of files.

This is not true, you'd still have to read every byte of every file.

The output would be somewhat simpler, but you'd lose all useful
information in the process.

Post by Adam Sandler
I'd like to know the state or signature (if you will) of the entire
box before any development or testing occurs on it.

Use virtual machines with snapshot functionality or images that you can
re-deploy to ensure a known state.