More Than 3 Out of 4 Enthusiasts Reject Windows 8

@Scoop
Given you say you are new to imaging experimenting with it using your spare HDDs is absolutely the best way to build confidence that you are using imaging software with some confidence. Macrium Reflect (free or paid) gets the thumbs up from many forum users and you will find tutorials here on it.
You need to understand the the difference between
(1) file/folder backup and
(2) System imaging

(1) is just for backing up your personal documents or non system installed files. I believe this is the backup gregrocker is referring to.
(2) gives you a full snapshot of every aspect of your drive - all the OS including installed programs.

With Windows native imaging and Macrium you can copy individual files from your image without affecting the image. It is a good idea to keep the size of your OS partition with installed programs smallish, say on the order of 50GB or even less. This makes regular imaging more manageble.

Large data files like photos, videos and music are best stored on a separate partition using a different backup strategy since many of these files won't change. Some form of incremental backup may be best here. However, be warned Windows inbuilt file/folder backup is slow as a wet wick.

I just met a 4th person in real life who has (or had ) a win8 machine.

She was grateful to get the machine as a gift - she needed a laptop. But she doesn't like it because it has 8 on it. She couldn't return it, so has been putting up with for some time. I suggested she try classic shell. She was delighted to hear it might provide relief.

She is straight out of university, so not entirely dim or unducated. If she understood MS were trying to turn her into an anally probed guinea pig in the MS money pit, she didn't say so. Not exactly, anyway. ( Next time I see her I will enquire to see if she did understand what MS are up to )

Though I have only come across 4 people in real life with 8 machines - they all disliked it intensely. 3 have got rid of it completetely.

gregrocker said:

mjf said:

You need to understand the the difference between
(1) file/folder backup and
(2) System imaging

(1) is just for backing up your personal documents or non system installed files. I believe this is the backup gregrocker is referring to.
(2) gives you a full snapshot of every aspect of your drive - all the OS including installed programs.

Still OT but I should clarify:

The only backup image I ever use is the one created just after install and setup when it's running best. Later images can be subject to creeping corruption and not pristine installs.

For that reason after storing the "baseline image" I only concern myself with keeping the data backed up in real time. Since this is essentially sync'ing, and I have other PC's at different locations I want to have the same file set, the method I arrived at that works best doing all of these at once is Sync, Backup and Store your Files to the Cloud with Skydrive - Windows 7 Forums

Good point, Greg, you are correct.

I didn't mention in my earlier post, but I keep a 'pristine' image with the OS and drivers/updates only, another with drivers and all programs installed but nothing else, and the third, 'working' image of my setup as it is currently with all games, VMs etc installed. None are, or will be, stored in the cloud.

The second image is the one that'll be updated to 8.1 should I decide to install the final release.

No data whatsoever is ever kept on the C: drive.

That way, my bum is covered no matter what the eventuality.


Wenda.

Wenda said:

gregrocker said:

Still OT but I should clarify:

The only backup image I ever use is the one created just after install and setup when it's running best. Later images can be subject to creeping corruption and not pristine installs.
...

Good point, Greg, you are correct.

I didn't mention in my earlier post, but I keep a 'pristine' image with the OS and drivers/updates only, another with drivers and all programs installed but nothing else, and the third, 'working' image of my setup as it is currently with all games, VMs etc installed.
...
No data whatsoever is ever kept on the C: drive.

I use a similar system.

I create an initial backup OS image, "install + updates" with no programs.
I create another backup OS image, after I have installed my drivers and standard programs.

From then on, I create backup images pre-"Patch Tuesday".

gregrocker said:

mjf said:

You need to understand the the difference between
(1) file/folder backup and
(2) System imaging

(1) is just for backing up your personal documents or non system installed files. I believe this is the backup gregrocker is referring to.
(2) gives you a full snapshot of every aspect of your drive - all the OS including installed programs.

Still OT but I should clarify:

The only backup image I ever use is the one created just after install and setup when it's running best. Later images can be subject to creeping corruption and not pristine installs.

For that reason after storing the "baseline image" I only concern myself with keeping the data backed up in real time. Since this is essentially sync'ing, and I have other PC's at different locations I want to have the same file set, the method I arrived at that works best doing all of these at once is Sync, Backup and Store your Files to the Cloud with Skydrive - Windows 7 Forums

I'm not being narky but I couldn't disagree more strongly.
I have a base line image for all my PCs and have never reverted to them once. I recommend you keep images spanning back a few months and you will be safe against most trouble. I have multiple third party software that continually provides fixes/upgrades.

If I need to go back to my base image I may as well do a clean install. In practice this has worked well for me.

Choose your own solution but more recent images have saved me much effort in the past. I consider relying on a "pristine" image alone illogical. I am speaking from experience.
Think it through and take the advice you consider sensible and best of luck.:)