OS and Software > Microsoft Help > how to image the OS for possible future restore?

how to image the OS for possible future restore?

reply to Moropo
Yes, Windows 7 has a backup tool, but it's a dumbed-down version compared to others that has other tools and utilities. I use Paragon's Backup and Recovery. There's Shadowprotect and ATI Acronis True Image amongst others.
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reply to Moropo
If you're looking for free, there is Windows built-in imaging as mentioned above as well as Macrium Reflect Free, which works quite well, is faster and compresses smaller.

reply to Moropo
Is this windows system image a true solution in the sense that if I were to get a virus, or some irreparable change in my PC, i could restore to the earlier state and everything would be back to how it was?

I guess I'm just afraid it would be similar to System Restore which didn't do shit...

Also, another question, to restore from such a system image would I have to be in Windows to do this or is it something I can boot from etc? I just want to be covered in the case of a virus denying me access to the system etc. I want something that I can boot from and restore. Does that make sense? Is this doable?

Thanks, and sorry if I'm not being clear.
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math PhD student (University of Miami)

Yes, if you do a full system image, you can restore from that, and things will be exactly as you left them. It's nothing at all to do with the almost useless System Restore.

You will need to create a Rescue CD from within the Backup section. When you restore, you can boot off the CD and restore from an external usb drive for example, or from another drive on your system, whatever you have set up...

I have used it without any problems many times in Win 7, but not yet in Win 8 as I don't have that installed now.

Edit: The main disadvantage of using the built-in system is that it's rather slow, compared to others, and the image size is rather large. Of course there aren't as many options as other paid solutions either. But it does get the job done.

reply to Moropo
Keep in mind the Windows 7 imaging software cannot access the new larger hard drives. I'm not sure what the boundary is, but 1TB is fine and 2TB is probably too large. Imaging Windows 8 using the included software (Control Panel, Windows 7 File Recovery) shouldn't be a problem on any size drive. Just thought I'd warn you in case you decide to image your Windows 7 system too. Also keep in mind Windows 8 File History and Windows 7 File Recovery (also exists in WIN8) do not work at the same time. You will not be able to use File History while you have a backup scheduled.

reply to Moropo
Thanks everyone, it sounds like the built-in stuff is enough for what I need.

@Kramer: my HDD is 1TB and the external I ordered is 500GB so I should be fine.

What Im planning on doing is after clean-installing Win8, I will do a full system image, create a Rescue CD and then with an ISO program create an ISO image of this Rescue CD and keep that in my external HD in case the CD gets lost etc, this way I can burn a new CD from this image etc.

Question: does this Rescue CD hold the entire system image? If so, I guess instead of a CD it has to be a DVD at least...? Around how big will the restore be from a clean install?

Thanks again!
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math PhD student (University of Miami)

No no... the rescue cd is just to boot from and run the restore program.... bare bones stuff, just what's needed to restore. Your image will reside on another drive of your choice and will be fairly large... I use my external usb drive, it's 500 GB also, so plenty of room.

The size of the image will vary, depends on what you've got installed and how much data, if any, is on your main drive. My images of 7 with 15 GB of data were sometimes as large as 40-50 GB. Just look and see how much space Win is taking on your HD, and figure it will be close to that size....

Ah I get it. Thanks for explaining! The Rescue CD just contains the program to boot and once there I can select the image residing on a drive to restore from etc.

Another question, can I keep this image in the external HD (which connects through USB) or should I make like a separate 100GB partition and leave it there? In other words, once I boot from the Rescue CD will it be able to see the external HD since it connects through USB?

Thanks.
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math PhD student (University of Miami)

Yes.
You will be able to restore off of an external USB hard disk drive.

quote:

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Yes.You will be able to restore of off an external USB external hard disk drive. I just select the entire external drive from a list to backup to and Windows 7 / Windows 8 creates the appropriate folders on the drive

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Yes. That is what I meant, I guess I just worded it badly. (IE: removed the edit)
That's how it's designed to work. Windows loads the recovery CD with the USB drivers (possible other drivers) in order to detect external based media so you can perform an external system restore. Might work also for backing up too, can't remember though.
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reply to Moropo
With Windows 8 the drive size should not matter at all. I just mentioned that in case you got the idea you might want to backup your WIN7 system as well (not a bad idea). FYI- It never hurts to make the rescue CD, but if you have a Windows DVD, that will do the same thing. I've restored a full system numerous times from an external hard drive. As long as the hard drive is plugged in at boot time, Windows will be able to see it.

Correction: Not exactly Windows, but some sub-set of it.