How do I perform a full backup?

control panel > System and Security > Backup & Restore

Select create a system image

You may have an issue of semantics.

"Full" may refer to the first pass, when all the files you chose were backed up.

"Incremental" may simply mean all files created after the original Full, while still keeping everything from the first pass.

Between the full and the incremental, you may well in fact have everything you wanted.

Have you checked the destination location to see if newly created files are there? If they are, then I'd guess you would be satisfied?

I use a program called "Second Copy" and that is the way it works, but the terms "Full" and "Incremental" are not used. The first pass copies all chosen files. The second and later passes copy anything new to the backup location and delete from the backup location anything that has also been deleted from the source folders.

If I wanted to do a "Full' backup as you may be using the term, I would have to delete ALL of my backup files from the destination drive and then do a new "first pass". But why would I want to do that when everything is already there as requested? Unless the program has broken or I have made a fresh installation, etc. In my case a new "full" backup would take an hour or two, but the second pass (incremental) takes only seconds because only newly created files are copied.

Shanester said:

A full backup backs up all of the files that I've selected, whereas a system image backs up the entire hard drive. One of the requirements for performing a system image is that your external hard must be as large (or larger) than the hard drive you're backing up - even if the files on your hard drive would fit onto your external drive.

My hard drive is 400 GB, but my external drive is only 200 GB, so I can't perform a system image.

So, does anyone know how I can perform a full backup?

Thanks,
Shane.

Use this imaging program and you will not have that problem. Besides it is faster, the images are smaller, you can mount the images and it is more reliable than Win7 imaging. It is a win/win program and it is free.

whs said:

Shanester said:

A full backup backs up all of the files that I've selected, whereas a system image backs up the entire hard drive. One of the requirements for performing a system image is that your external hard must be as large (or larger) than the hard drive you're backing up - even if the files on your hard drive would fit onto your external drive.

My hard drive is 400 GB, but my external drive is only 200 GB, so I can't perform a system image.

So, does anyone know how I can perform a full backup?

Thanks,
Shane.

Use this imaging program and you will not have that problem. Besides it is faster, the images are smaller, you can mount the images and it is more reliable than Win7 imaging. It is a win/win program and it is free.

Have you tried clonezilla? I clone my drives as a backup. Then I place them on the shelf.

whs, thanks for the suggestion about the imaging application, but right now I only want to backup my documents (not my programs).

I image my data and my system at different intervals. But, of course, my data is sitting on a seperate data partition which I would highly recommend for a variety of practical and security reasons. Data Partition on Vimeo