Fail to manually backup system restore files

Restore points are unique in that it is much easier to designate a new location and manually create new points over trying to backup existing points. Once you have a few made Windows will automatically take over creating new ones to be designated to the new location.

Besides restore points another option besides the backup tools included in Windows would be manually exporting the entire registry as a single file. If a problem comes up that could be imported back into the registry. You can review the guide for restoration as well as backup at Registry - Backup and Restore

Once you designate the drive or partition you then open up the system restore feature to manually create a few to start with. System Restore Point - Create

To make things easier you can use the shortcut for this mentioned in the guide there in the other guide. System Protection Properties Shortcut - Create

You can manage the restore points as to which drives will see them created by going into the Control Panel>System>System Protection tab to see which drives are seen as on as well as even removed old points. And what could prove even more useful overall is a complete system backup referred to as a system image. Backup Complete Computer - Create an Image Backup

Why use up 100gb or so on restore points when you can have a full system backup? Here I not only keep images onhand for this system but a few laptops since I maintain a good amount of drive space across several drives. It can bail you out of tight spots much easier at times when someone is hit with a virus or something doesn't go quite well during a custom setup.

You determine that by going into the Control Panel>System>System Protection and click on the destination drive in the list to highlight it. Once highlighted you click on the "configure" button which brings up a new screen with other then C being set to off by default.

If you want them created and stored on a second drive you simply click on one of the two options for restoring previous versions of files or including the restoration of system settings along with the previous versions of files. The image here shows how fast you make the selection for a particular drive or disable the feature with a simple click after on the apply button.

The backup options vary. The Windows Easy Transfer will back up user files and program settings. The Backup & Restore options allow you to backup specifics user files, designated folders for a periodic or continual incremental backup. Or the ability to take a snapshot of the entire drive.

You can also add other drives in as well for a full system image but requiring a great deal of drive space, removable media, or the best place a network backup. For that however you will want everything working in the best possible order when going to create a full image. Having more then one over time can also be a good predisaster plan.

As for restore points that mainly a snapshot of the registry for a fast roll back to a certain after something new has been put on or an automatic point was created. That's mainly used when an update or new program runs into a problem. If other problems are present and more severe a repair of Windows (upgrade to repair install) or even fresh install may end up being needed if you lack a full image to restore.

A limited backup on the other hand is restored once a fresh copy of Windows goes on Then you are simply restoring files and folders onto a copy of Windows with a brand new registry all over again.

With restore points however those are best when the most recent and with any drive change and space to use setting change fresh points would be needed since the older ones will soon become obsolete after a certain amount of time. In fact turning off the system restore feature will automatically delete all points old and latest to start off again with brand new points when everything is in peak condition.

You may care to have a look at this tutorial at the link below, especially Method Two.


System Restore Point : Create at System Startup



As System Restore points age they become less reliable and I would rather have a good image to restore than to do a System Restore, they are notoriously unreliable.

Imaging with free Macrium

I ran into a permission error when giving Option #2 a try here. Once I checked off the "don't store password" box the Account information window was able to close.

Here I store two images one made with the Backup feature itself and Acronis just in case something goes wrong. In the latest restoration while booted live from a repair cd made before SP1 went on guess what? A error appeared! I could have used the 7 dvd but now need to simply burn a new repair cd for live restorations.

The restoration of images can also be seen while booted in Windows and starting the process. The system will automatically restart when the restoration tool is loaded into ram and proceed to reformat the drive in order to unpack the image itself. Keeping a current image onhand can prevent a loss of recent files as well as any new programs added.

And of course the big advantage of storing a full image elsewhere over the vulnerability of restore points becoming infected by malware is they can't get into them that easy! Plus the restoration of one will wipe the drive clean of any bugs you encounter after the image is first made.