Able to restore complete image of a HDD from an USB 3.0 drive?

I'm new to imaging (backup) and would like to ask some questions about the Windows 7 built-in backup & restore function:

Is Windows 7 restore able to restore a complete image of a HDD from an USB 3.0 drive? I have an external USB 3.0 drive, that's why I'm asking - when I'll boot with Windows 7 DVD - will it recognise the USB 3.0 drive or will I be unable to restore my HDD?

Do I have to create that rescue CD/DVD when making an image backup in Windows 7 backup & restore program? Or would that just make a copy of my Windows 7 DVD? In short: do I need that rescue CD/DVD or can I use my Windows 7 DVD to restore my HDD as well?

I've read that when recovering an image which icludes more than one partition the user has to partition the new HDD before restoring the VHD partitions onto it. Is that true or can the restore program itself partition the new HDD according to the partitions in the VHD file.

For example: I have a 500 GB internal HDD with three partitions (C-system, D-data + the hidden 100MB partition). My C partition is 80 GB, 50 GB full, my D partition is about 400 GB, 200 GB full. Will all that get restored as it was before - with the same partition sizes and free space as before?

Thank you!

That message was moved from another theme, I'm sorry for the inconvenience. Please answer me, I'm leaning towards Win7 B & R but need some more info. Thank you!

Is Windows 7 restore able to restore a complete image of a HDD from an USB 3.0 drive?

Click to expand...

You can only restore from bootable media - e.g. the dvd/repair disc - that will need to have the usb3.0 drivers installed.

can I use my Windows 7 DVD to restore my HDD as well?

Click to expand...

Yes, see above

can the restore program itself partition the new HDD according to the partitions in the VHD file.

Click to expand...

Yes

Will all that get restored as it was before - with the same partition sizes and free space as before?

Click to expand...

Yes

I see... Well, when I installed Windows 7 on my laptop it didn't have the USB 3.0 drivers I tihnk. Because if I pluged my mouse into the USB 3.0 port during installaiton the mouse wasn't detected. If I pluged it into the USB 2.0 it was found and ready to use during the Windows 7 installation. So what does that mean: will I be able to restore my image from an external USB 3.0 HDD? Probably only if I connect it to the USB 2.0 port - meaning it will recover with USB 2.0 speed? Or not even this way?

I have an OEM version of Windows 7 - if my HDD totally fails and then I restore the system image to a brand new HDD - what will Windows 7 OEM do? Will it let me restore the image on a brand new HDD or will I have problems (because of Windows 7 activation)?

Will Windows 7 system image backup always "save" all my partitions (my whole drive) into one single VHD file? I would like it to. I don't want more VHD files (each for each partition). How do I set that?

How do I verify a system image file? How do I know that it will work when needed?

What do you think - why did that happen to this guy:
YouTube - Windows 7 System Image Recovery Failure

Again, thank you for help!

Based on the ads I've seen from Seagate, Western Digital, etc their USB 3.0 external hard drives are supposed to be compatible with Windows 7. As soon as the hard drive is connected to the computer the necessary drivers are supposed to be automatically installed (plug and play.) If you mouse isn't configured as a USB 3.0 device it wouldn't be detected when you plugged it in to the 3.0 port.

As long as the external drive is recognized by Windows 7 (and it should be once the drivers are installed) then you should be able to take advantage of the added speed - both uploading and downloading.

As with everything, when dealing with a previously untested device, I'd recommend making a standard system image using a known USB 2.0 external hard drive and the default Windows 7 imaging settings (or some other known imaging software like Macrium or Paragon.) At least that way you'll have an image you can restore from. Then I'd make another system image using the 3.0 hard drive and attempt to restore your computer from that image. If it works (and it should as long as the drive is recognized) then I'd feel comfortable using the 3.0 drive for future system images.

The only way to verify that a system image will work when needed is to try it. Most likely you'll get a dialog box after the image is completed saying it was successful. But trying it is the only sure way to know it works. Hope this makes sense.

Hi again! I finaly did the system image to an external USB 3.0 HDD. It copyed over 200 GB in an hour and a few minutes. I guess that the USB 3.0 was recognised and used because that seemed pretty fast. I also made the recovery disc. I have some questions now. Three VHD files were made (for three partitions) but a couple of other files and folders too. What are those files & folders about? I haven't tried to recover from that image yet so I don't know if USB 3.0 will be recognised when recovering using the recovery CD. Also, next time when I want to do a new image backup to my ext. HDD, should I first format the drive to get rid of the old image or just simply delete the whole WindowsImageBackup folder before making a new image? Thanx!

Here are the files and folders that were made:

Can anyone tell me please?

I'm not a wiz but I have been using Win7 to save images to a 2nd hard drive and when I explore the image I get the same thing as you do as far as extra files.I've always clone an image in the past and with that you can see exactly what you have. Difference between an image and cloneing is not known to me. I can guess an image is compressed and will transfer faster.
When you do a restore of image to your PC all of that comes with it I guess and what you get is the exact image you created back then. I wouldn't fool with the files of the image while exploring it.
Hope this helped.

if USB 3.0 will be recognised when recovering using the recovery CD

Click to expand...

Only if your restore media contains the correct usb3.0 drivers.

should I first format the drive to get rid of the old image or just simply delete the whole WindowsImageBackup folder before making a new image?

Click to expand...

If you no longer want the Windows Image Backup folder - just delete it.

My restore media is the system restore CD that I made after the system image backup finished. I don't think it has USB 3.0 drivers in it. I hope it has at least USB 2.0 drivers in so that I will be able to recover the system image. What do you think?

If I use the Disk Management tool to view my VHD files - could that make my system image backup useless/damaged?

Thank you!

Yes, you should be fine if you use usb2.0

If I use the Disk Management tool to view my VHD files - could that make my system image backup useless/damaged?

Click to expand...

No.

Well, I only have USB 3.0 cable which should be USB 2.0 compatible. And Recovery disc probably has USB 2.0 drivers integrated? I hope so. Thank you for helping me.

That should be ok if you plug your usb3 hd into a usb2 port.

i use macrium pro. it has a bootable winPE system that adds itself to your bcd bootup menu selections. macrium provides a utility (reflectdc.exe - reflect driver copy utility) that automatically copies your usb drivers to the winpe system. it also then adds them when you create a cd or dvd recovery disk. one caveat - i had to manually add my usb3 hub drivers to the appropriate folder in C:\Boot\Macrium\Drivers.

Hi kronck,

Yes, that may be due to usb3 drivers having two .inf files

I always like to try these things out before I use them. With Macrium, I create an image of a 2GB test partition that has some copied data. That's how I found out that free Macrium can image with USB3 but not restore - for that I had to use USB2. Reason is because the Linux recovery program does not have USB3 support.

I have tried Winows7 imaging but found it to be too messy and way too restrictive. You never know what it is doing. Free Macrium or free Paragon are much better options.

I have not tried it yet, but Acronis TI 2010 or newer, is supposed to be able to access USB 3 HDDs at full speed. Since it can be used on a bootable flash drive, I see no reason why USB 3 would be a problem...unless the flash drive isn't compatible with USB 3.

I hope it can - it's a paid product.

I have three more questions about the Windows 7 system image backup tool:

1. Sometimes I'm unable to eject my external HDD - Windows 7 says that it's in use by a program and that I should close that program to be able to remove my USB HDD. I don't know which this program could be so I reboot my PC in order to be able to safely remove the drive. Is this a common thing?

2. When I'm creating a system image (it takes about an hour and a half), what am I permitted to do at that time so that I don't compromise the creation of the system image on my external HDD. OK, I know that I shouldn't defrag at the time (that I should do before), what about surfing the internet, playing games, watching movies etc., is that safe? Or should I leave the PC running idle (maybe even disable the internet link) until the system image is done?

3. I would like to test my system image and restore it on my old PC. The system image has my new laptop's whole HDD backed up (a 500 GB drive). My old PC has a 320 GB drive. But I only backed up about 250 GB of data in that system image. So, will I be able to restore it to a 320 GB drive? The partitions will have to be smaller, does the system image backup save the data of the free space too? So, is it possible to do it?

Thank you!

1. Have you looked in Task manager and see if that tells you.

2. You can continue to use your pc while windows is making an image - but it may take longer if you do.

3. No you can't restore it to a smaller HD