My HP G62 laptop recovery partition does not contain boot files but I have made one image of it as it should not change. I did in fact restore it once when a program started writing in it and filled it up.
I personally do not back up the image files. I don't see the point in that. If you are that concerned image to more than one disk.
I use FreeFileSync for my data backups (link in my sig).
Post a screen shot of Windows Disk Management.
We need to see which of your partitions are marked as being a "system" partition.
There is no harm at all in making a one-time image of any partition that you think you might need later, including recovery or tools partitions. But you MUST restore C and any partitions marked "system" to recover from a disaster.
I don't trust the cloud for anything. My images are stored on a separate drive D and backed up to a backup drive E. I also make periodic backups of data (including image files, but not Windows) to an internal drive that I mount in an external dock--every couple of months.
Here is my Disk Management. Note 3 internal drives. All with a single partition. C is all I have to make an image of--notice that it is marked "system, boot, page file, active....". Most likely, your C partition is NOT marked as "system".
I'd think a reasonable plan for you would be to:
1: Make recurring images of C. Weekly would be fine.
2: Make a one-time image of whatever other partitions are marked as "system". Restore both images when you need to recover from a bad situation that System Restore cannot resolve. The thinking being that you'd only need a one-time image of the other partition(s) because they aren't likely to change over time like C will.
An alternative would be to make a recurring single image file containing BOTH C and any "system" partition. One image file in which you deliberately include multiple partitions. That way you don't have to concern yourself with the non-C partitions possibly changing over time.
Of course, you could make 2 image files every time: one of C and another of the system partition.
You can keep 1, 2, or 100 image files on an external disk. They are just files like any other. You'd just need to have sufficient space. I put each of mine in a dated folder like D:\images\120214 for Dec 2, 2014 to avoid any confusion. When I make a new image, I put it in a newly made dated folder.
You just have to understand what's needed, what you've done, and how to manage and locate the image files when the time comes.
Your plan looks OK. I know some people do alternate with imaging programs, figuring at least one will work. You might also consider Aomei Backupper to make images. It's free and not confusing. I think it will also do file by file data backup like Syncback Free. I use FreeFileSync for data backup, just like Kado897.
I also use AOMEI Backupper as a secondary imaging tool. It seems quite good but I have not restored a system with it yet.
Disk 0 looks to have the same layout as mine. I image SYSTEM and WINDOWS. In fact Macrium has an option to select the partitions needed by Windows.
Looks to me like you'd need to have image files of C and "System".
C has about 56 GB used. System uses less than 1 GB.
Those combined should yield Macrium images totaling somewhere above 20 GB in size, probably less than 30 GB. Keep however many you want, depending on how far back in time you think you might want to restore to. Not likely you'd want to restore to 6 months ago. I make monthly images and keep the most recent 2 or 3.
OK I've downloaded and installed Macrium Reflect Free.
A number of people here have said to create a bootable disk using Windows PE included with Macrium. In the "Advanced" option for doing so, I can choose between Windows PE 3.1, 4.0 or 5.0 rescue media. 3.1 is pre-selected, should I choose 4.0 or 5.0 instead?
The Macrium help file says:
Auto versus Pre-built WIMDoes this mean that in creating the boot disk, Reflect will gulp a humongous 1.7 GB from the 'Net?
- The pre-built Windows PE component is included with the full Macrium Reflect installer.
- The Auto PE option is a 1.7 GB download from the Microsoft web site.
- The Auto PE option allows for the creation of a custom rescue environment. This can be used to add your own programs or drivers, however, this functionality is outside the scope of this documentation.
- Both the auto and pre-built Windows PE rescue environments can be loaded from CD/DVD, external USB/Flash media or from a Windows boot menu.
- Due to Microsoft licensing restrictions, the pre-built WIM is only available to customers who have purchased before Reflect before the end of October 2012.
WHS has provided a pre-built ISO that you just need to burn to disk. You can find a link to it in the notes section near the beginning of this tutorial Imaging with free Macrium. It is only about 200MB.
False alarm created by Spybot S&D old version (may affect the new Spybot S&D version as well) when creating a Macrium usb rescue boot flash drive. Had to disable Spybot S&D before it would let me create the Macrium rescue media.
Free Edition 64 bit
Build 7256
2/1/2015 4:31:46 PM Encountered and terminated Fraud.WindowsRecovery in C:\ProgramData\Macrium\Reflect\Windows AIK\Tools\amd64\wimserv.exe!
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