Win 7 System Images - incremental or not?

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  1. Posts : 26
    Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit
       #1

    Win 7 System Images - incremental or not?


    Using Win 7 Home Premium 64bit. Using Backup & Restore to do file level backups and system images to an external disk. I do not have a backup schedule -- I do them manually.

    Are system images incremental? That is, does the backup software just add new and modified files to the system image after the first image has been created?

    --Larry
      My Computer


  2. Posts : 10,455
    Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit Service Pack 1
       #2

    Hi Larrymcg and welcome to Seven Forums.

    I'm afraid they are not. You probably need a paid for third party backup system for that. Most, if not all, of the free versions are not incremental.
      My Computer


  3. Posts : 12,012
    Windows 7 Home Premium SP1, 64-bit
       #3

    You may be better off without incrementals anyway. They add a layer of complexity that you don't really need. Just make a full every week (or day if you must).
      My Computer


  4. Posts : 26
    Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit
    Thread Starter
       #4

    OK, not incremental. Thanks for that info. Agrees with what I had surmised.

    Since the space used (as reported by the Backup & Restore "Manage Space" button) seems to be almost constant, I also conclude that only one system image is being kept.

    Is there a way to have multiple (full) system images saved?

    -Larry

    PS: I tried really hard, for several months to get Acronis to work. Finally gave up. First program I ever paid for and had to throw it away!
      My Computer


  5. Posts : 132
    Windows 7 Ultimate x64
       #5

    Just out of curiosity - what was wrong with your Acronis?
    I have to admit I really dig that little tool.
      My Computer


  6. Posts : 10,455
    Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit Service Pack 1
       #6

    larrymcg said:
    OK, not incremental. Thanks for that info. Agrees with what I had surmised.

    Since the space used (as reported by the Backup & Restore "Manage Space" button) seems to be almost constant, I also conclude that only one system image is being kept.

    Is there a way to have multiple (full) system images saved?

    -Larry

    PS: I tried really hard, for several months to get Acronis to work. Finally gave up. First program I ever paid for and had to throw it away!
    By default Windows Imaging will reserve 30% (I think) of your backup drive and store as many images in it as it can before deleting the oldest. The way I get around that is to limit the space management to one image. Before taking the next image manually I rename the existing WindowsSystemImage folder to something else (I stick a date at the end) Image backup will then create a new folder for you.

    Please note however that you need to rename the image folder back to what it was before you can restore from it.
      My Computer


  7. Posts : 26
    Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit
    Thread Starter
       #7

    Kado, Thanks for that info. I'll give it a try. I'll also take a look to see if I can get Windows Imaging to use more than the 30% default. I think there is a tutorial that mentions it.
    --Larry
      My Computer


  8. Posts : 10,455
    Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit Service Pack 1
       #8

    You are welcome larrymcg. I think the tutorial you mentioned is similar to what I have described but I can't find it at present.
      My Computer


  9. Posts : 26
    Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit
    Thread Starter
       #9

    sordid, concerning my issues with ATI. I was using ATI Home 2010 (with Plus Pack) on a brand new Win 7 Home Premium 64bit system. That version of ATI is supposed to be happy in the 64bit OS world. Maybe it wasn't The list of issues is very long and none of them ever got resolved via the Acronis Forums even though there were zillions of messages with all kinds of suggestions. Here's some info:

    Images would verify about half the time. Some images would verify one day but not the next. I tried using two different external disks and both new and old external disk boxes (I buy hard disks and put them in USB connected boxes; they are not the pre-packaged external disks).

    Sometimes ATI couldn't find all the incrementals for an image. Sometimes the latest one would be missing. Sometimes an intermediate one would be missing. They were *always* on the backup disk (Win Explorer could see them) but ATI couldn't find all of them.

    I tried several versions of the ATI recovery disks. Had lots of issues with mouse clicks being totally ignored (no matter how many times you tried). So I was never able to verify an image via the recovery disks.

    Some folks claimed that I should create the backup images via an ATI recovery disk. I didn't do that because I really wanted to do the backups without having to boot into another operating system.

    And lots of other issues too but those above are fatal as far as I'm concerned.

    I reinstalled without success. I upgraded to newer versions with no success. After several months I gave up and started using Windows Backup & Restore.

    --Larry
      My Computer


  10. Posts : 132
    Windows 7 Ultimate x64
       #10

    Larry, that sounds pretty unpleasant. Never ran into any of those issues myself - fortunately.
    Thanks for elaborating. Will ask some of my friends I know use or used ATI as well.
      My Computer


 
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