Backup & Restore with a Difference

Hi Everyone,

I am running a desktop with Win7 Ultimate SP1 64bit as O/S. It resides on my SSD C:\ drive. I do not (knowingly or deliberately) install any programmes onto that drive.

Wherever possible, ALL programmes are installed on my M:\drive, although during installation it is obvious that some "bits" are being placed on the C:\drive, over which I have no control.

A few programmes require activation after install, some of the activations are limited by the Seller and, if they feel too many activations have occurred, they put a block on reactivation.

Is there any way I can create copies/clones/whatever of the OS and programmes to allow a restore which preserves everything and avoids the need for reinstallation please?

Thank you.

Hi samuria and thanks for your welcome.

I suppose, realistically, if I created a system clone for c:\ and a disk image of m:\ the registry - at that point in time - would be in sync with everything. I'm not aware of using any programmes that would dramatically alter registry settings so, if I did a clone and an image every month or quarter, a restore wouldn't be that far removed from reality as to cause any great inconvenience.

Your views on this would be appreciated.

Ian

Hi RolandJS,
Thanks for getting back to me.

Just to clarify - my c:\ and m:\ are separate drives, not just partitions on the same drive, also, Windows updates/upgrades are, if I understand correctly, no longer active, which is great for me as I've had them turned off for a very long time now thanks to several destructive experiences with them.

No data is ever (knowingly or intentionally) stored on either c: or m: drive. I have several other drives for that purpose - all are in USB connected drive bays, providing a total of about 60TB.

Ian

Hi RolandJS,

Please forgive what might seem a silly question, but HOW am I to restore drives C:\ & M:\ before Windows has booted/loaded?

My intention was, in the event of a crash, to replace both drive C:\ and M:\ from the crashed unit with the cloned and imaged drives -- in the hope that full synchronisation between O/S and Programmes would be achieved/maintained and no installation/reconfiguring/updating would be necessary..

Hi RolandJS,
Thanks once more for your ideas.

I think the physical replacing of drives is possibly a more reliable route but -- a friend has offered to lend me a desktop (similar but slightly older hardware than mine) so I can put that theory to test as to synchronicity of O/S and Programmes.

Thanks to you and samuria for respective inputs - much appreciated.