Win7 Laptop recovery image?

dzmephisto · 22 Jun 2010

I just bought an Asus K601 laptop today and I was prompted right after i got to the desktop to create a backup for my system, which I tried to do.

After a couple hours of hussle, I ended up with just 1 dvd with a folder called "WindowsImageBackup" with a size of 6.07GB (Much smaller than the estimated size shown during the burning of the disk, 19GB.). I was prompted to create a "backup" disk as well, but I chose not to create one.

Is this "WindowsImageBackup" disk going to work if my PC ever crashes and needs a complete recovery? Or am i missing something?

richc46 · 22 Jun 2010

Welcome

I would be reluctant to give you a yes or a no based upon the facts given. But many, including myself, use this to back up. Save to an external hard drive.

Free Backup Software: Paragon Backup & Recovery Free Edition - Overview

theog · 22 Jun 2010

Do you mean you promped to make STARTUP DISK, you will need this for backup to restore.

dzmephisto · 22 Jun 2010

I just called Bestbuy's (where i got the laptop) geek squad, and they said something about booting from the disk by pressing F12 or something at startup....? would that work?

theog · 22 Jun 2010

Best to have the Startup disk as well.

dzmephisto · 22 Jun 2010

theog said:

Best to have the Startup disk as well.

What would that be?

theog · 22 Jun 2010

Is this what you were doing Backup Complete Computer - Create an Image Backup

https://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/675-system-image-recovery.html?ltr=S

whs · 22 Jun 2010

I was prompted to create a "backup" disk as well, but I chose not to create one.

I suspect that this is to create a backup of your system from the recovery partition. It would allow you later to reinstall the OS at the level as it came out of the box. This disk (usually 2 DVDs) is bootable and that's what the geek squad people seem to refer to.
The 6GB Image Backup is something else. It is an image of your system and if you want to use it, you need the recovery CD which you can create from the Win7 imaging facility. The fact that it is smaller than your system is a matter of compression.
But as Richard already said, if you want to go into imaging, Paragon is a better option although I prefer Free Macrium. Here is my video tutorial for it if you want to use it.

dzmephisto · 22 Jun 2010

whs said:

I was prompted to create a "backup" disk as well, but I chose not to create one.

I suspect that this is to create a backup of your system from the recovery partition. It would allow you later to reinstall the OS at the level as it came out of the box. This disk (usually 2 DVDs) is bootable and that's what the geek squad people seem to refer to.
The 6GB Image Backup is something else. It is an image of your system and if you want to use it, you need the recovery CD which you can create from the Win7 imaging facility. The fact that it is smaller than your system is a matter of compression.
But as Richard already said, if you want to go into imaging, Paragon is a better option although I prefer Free Macrium. Here is my video tutorial for it if you want to use it.

So "imaging" would be the best way to recover my HD to a previous phase if i were to get a virus that screws everything up?

dzmephisto · 22 Jun 2010

theog said:

Is this what you were doing Backup Complete Computer - Create an Image Backup

https://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/675-system-image-recovery.html?ltr=S

Yes....shoulda found this and read it earlier XD