Backup and restore

[Dave \Crash\ Dummy]

I use Windows backup to save a system image to an external drive once a
week, but I have to wonder just how good a backup it is. Taking a worst
case scenario, if my hard drive crashes and has to be replaced, can I
use the Windows install disk or recovery disk restore the system image
to the new drive? How much will be restored and how much will be lost?
Will installed applications be restored?

 

[Char Jackson]

I use Windows backup to save a system image to an external drive once a
week, but I have to wonder just how good a backup it is. Taking a worst
case scenario, if my hard drive crashes and has to be replaced, can I
use the Windows install disk or recovery disk restore the system image
to the new drive? How much will be restored and how much will be lost?
Will installed applications be restored?

The best advice I can offer is to take a spare drive and temporarily
connect it in place of your normal system drive, then restore one of
your saved images to that drive. See for yourself that the new drive
boots properly, and that everything is as you expect.

More specifically to your question, it's not quite clear to me what is
meant by a "system image", and perhaps that's why you're asking, too.
If it's an image of the entire drive, then you should be able to
restore it to a new drive and off you go, only losing any changes
you've made since that image was created. However, if "system image"
means something less than the entire drive, you may find yourself
disappointed.

If restoring an image, as a test, is too much to ask, you should at
least 'explore' one of the images to see what's in it. Also, check the
program for a description of the backup option you're using, looking
for something like 'backs up entire drive' rather than 'backs up key
components'. You can also check the size of the saved image, comparing
it to the size of the used area of the backed up drive.

IMHO, though, none of these secondary checks are as good as actually
slaving in a new drive and trying a full restore. If/when your system
drive crashes, you'll have to do it anyway, so it's better to know in
advance how well it's going to work.

 

[KCB]

I use Windows backup to save a system image to an external drive once a
week, but I have to wonder just how good a backup it is. Taking a worst
case scenario, if my hard drive crashes and has to be replaced, can I
use the Windows install disk or recovery disk restore the system image
to the new drive? How much will be restored and how much will be lost?
Will installed applications be restored?
--
Crash

"The future ain't what it used to be."
~ Yogi Berra ~

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows7/Restore-your-computer-from-a-system-image-backup

 

[Dave \Crash\ Dummy]

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows7/Restore-your-computer-from-a-system-image-backup

Thank you. That pretty much answers my question.

 

[wilby]

I use Windows backup to save a system image to an external drive once a
week, but I have to wonder just how good a backup it is. Taking a worst
case scenario, if my hard drive crashes and has to be replaced, can I
use the Windows install disk or recovery disk restore the system image
to the new drive? How much will be restored and how much will be lost?
Will installed applications be restored?

Dave:
If you don't think the Win Backup will give you what you want then do this:

Download and install the freeware version of Macrium Reflect. This
creates full images of disc partitions and/or complete hard drives.

Run Macrium and do nothing except to create their bootable Linix CD.
Label it, do a trial boot from it to make sure it does boot, and save it.

Now boot Windows and start Macrium and create a full image of your hard
drive to an external USB or ESATA hard drive. I strongly suggest you do
a verification of the backed up image.

At this point you are protected against hard drive crashes. Booting the
Macrium CD will allow you to create an exact copy of your failed hard
drive. All you need is a new hard drive installed in place of the failed
one, it doesn't need to be formatted.

Now whenever you feel like it you can create a new image. Delete oldest
images when your external drive begins to fill up.

I keep images on a few different drives that I store in different places.

Wilby

 

[Dave \Crash\ Dummy]

Dave: If you don't think the Win Backup will give you what you want
then do this:

Download and install the freeware version of Macrium Reflect. This
creates full images of disc partitions and/or complete hard drives.

Run Macrium and do nothing except to create their bootable Linix CD.
Label it, do a trial boot from it to make sure it does boot, and
save it.

Now boot Windows and start Macrium and create a full image of your
hard drive to an external USB or ESATA hard drive. I strongly suggest
you do a verification of the backed up image.

At this point you are protected against hard drive crashes. Booting
the Macrium CD will allow you to create an exact copy of your failed
hard drive. All you need is a new hard drive installed in place of
the failed one, it doesn't need to be formatted.

Now whenever you feel like it you can create a new image. Delete
oldest images when your external drive begins to fill up.

I keep images on a few different drives that I store in different
places.

Wilby

Been there, done that. The problem is I will never get in the habit of
doing that weekly, nor do I want to. I have both Macrium and Paragon
bootable CD's and images, but they are several months old and will
probably be several months old if I ever have a catastrophic failure.
What I read in the link KCB provided assures me that the Windows backup
image will probably be good enough.