Windows 7: Backup software

Hi, i dont have a great deal of knowledge when it comes to backing up and restore so please forgive me. I just wanted to find out if i can have two applications on my pc, one for file and folders(as the one i use is totally friendly) plus a drive backup/imaging program?.
I have Norton 15 at the moment but have just noticed from another post that Paragon special edition 2010 is available as a free givaway today and wondered if this was any better/more reliable?

Any guidance would be appreciated.

Thanks

Andy

windows 7 has all the back up that you need. If you go to search and type in back up and restore, you will find the back up for your personal documents, folders, pics etc. If you type system restore, you will find the back up for the operating system, finally, if you type in system image, you will find the method to back up your entire hard drive. This is handy, once your system is up and running the way you like. Make a system image, if anything every goes wrong you can roll back to the point that you had made the image. You never have to worry about reinstalling again. Bottm line, unless you do not like what Windows 7 provides, you have more than every thing that you will need.
Any questuons, just post and I will be glad to assist you.

Hello Andyonline,
richc46 is correct and knows what he is talking about. I used it to successfully restore to a working system rather than do a clean re-install. That being said, I find the program very minimalistic and automated. Some have claimed problems with the quality of the backups with it. I wanted to have more than one System Image. This is not actually supported in Windows Backup and Restore. The alternatives of renaming or moving the last System Restore so you can make a new one and not overwrite the last on is considered by some to be a dangerous or at least risky business.
Automated backups and system images are problematic for me in my limited experience in that if you had a infected system and you didn't know it, you will restore the infected system when you use the last System Image you made.
So good luck in your hunt for answers, I am actually going to follow it as I have the same question. It to me has been answered but I still interested in the value and efficacy of each of the non MS backup programs.
glennc

I have a 3rd party system imaging (Macrium Reflect) just in case the windows imaginging lets me down. But never restored from Macrium because I have from windows imaging and it has not let me down. I use the renaming windows image trick as well. Another member (forget who) has successfully restored from a renamed image.

But a really simple approach is buy a (or 2 for hardware redundancy) cheap USB external HDD (eg. 500GB WD Elements) use the straightforward Windows shrink volume/Create partition process and immediately make say 2-4 partitions. You can store "untouched" but separate images in the root (eg I:\, J:\, K:\ etc) on each. When it comes to restore time (hopefully never but likely!) Windows will see them all and let you pick.

Hello mjf,
As you stated, I too can not say it failed. Now I am I think laboring under the misconception that Windows 7 will not let you store than one System Image.
Being timid, I have not gone the rename route because previously before the clean reinstall Windows backup did fail me. I moved the Image to a different folder and it couldn't find it. A lot of other issues were going on so I can not specifically claim that it was the moving of the Image. I bought the second drive to eliminate the need for a external backup. But what you describe does sound good.
Macrium on the other hand, if it works lets me keep as many System Images as I want in the space I have. It also can as you probably know, Image the drive with the empty space or without and compress. This is quite a difference in size.
So I am still on the fence. Thanks for your viewpoint and experience.
glennc

I think I'm correct in just adding that windows image restore needs:
1) An non corrupted image (of course)
2) One in the root of a partition (not in a sub folder)
3) Named / renamed back to the standard image folder name [WindowsImageBackup]
4) A restored partition size at least equal to size of the partition the image was made from (irrespective of how relatively small the actual image is)

More experienced members know how to deal with 4) if it becomes an issue.

Hello mjf,
I think I got the idea. As long as it resides back in the original folder with the proper name it will work. Changing the name and moving it as long as you do the above will work, if I understand you.
Thanks
glennc

Hi Glenn,

As you already have Macrium , why not use it?

It is much faster than windows app. , the images are much much smaller, and it isn't picky about where you want to put the images, what you call them , or where you want to restore them to.

3rd party apps are far better than those bundled with windows.

Hello SIW2,
Thank you for your input and time. Up to XP Pro I had a list of 3rd party software that I used regularly. For years and never ran into any extreme problems. Since going to Windows 7, I've had to play for a week trying regular stuff or problems I have never seen before, may ignorance is bliss. At least they weren't apparent. I eventually had to do a complete clean reinstall to a basic running system and used Windows backup with System Image. I had previously installed old favorites on my machine and they didn't work properly, or I didn't configure them right. Anyway after the System Image, I installed drivers and it messed up again, erroring my SATA DVD Drive. Luckily I had the System Image. From my experience on previous Windows I would say I agree with you on 3rd party apps being cleaner, neater and better. Now every time I install something I am doomed. I have spent the day trying to get SuperAntiSpyware completely off my system with the help of a group of accommodating member's help.
I am afraid to install anything practically, that isn't MS even if it is less feature filled or easy to use because of constant issues. So I have a first System Image from Windows that will get me back to a clean basic system. And Macrium Images that will return me to various times after. Hopefully I'm covered. My reliability index went from 10 on the basic system to like 5 and crept back up, but today I put Spybot on and it failed to start properly and I'm back down to 5 -6. I do know that Revo Uninstaller Pro works specifically with and for 64 bit programs and it saved me today. I may actually have to buy a copy it is so helpful. Hours of other attempts did nothing to completely cure my problem. Revo Pro did it first shot.
So who knows???????????????????????????????????????? I am confused and a bit irritable over fighting with a friend on what programs to use.
I guess its try at your peril. The only thing I trust for now is System Images and Revo Pro.
Take it easy.
glennc

I have to agree, Macrium has worked flawlessly for me, I've used it twice to restore disk images. It compresses a partition to about 1/2 it's size and does all this at about 600MB a second, and that's on a relatively slow machine.

Ap