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Clonezilla Open-Source Image Backup
I need to back-up my Windows 7 Home Premium retail upgrade as soon as I have completed its setup.
I will be using the RC (Release Candidate) I downloaded from Microsoft as the OS I upgrade from. The problem is, as has been reported here on Windows Seven Forums, that if the hard drive crashes and I am unable to recover my Windows 7 OS, after June 2010 (hourly reboots start March 2010), I will no longer be able to install the RC, activate it, and upgrade to the retail 7.
To avoid this issue I want a backup that will install without any activation issues. One solution is to create an "image" of the hard drive with the complete Windows 7 OS that can be restored. I plan to do this with the open-source software "Clonezilla" as an alternative to the Windows 7 Imaging Utility.
Before posting here, I took an old orphaned computer,Specs:installed 7 RC, imaged the OS with "Clonezilla", and restored the OS successfully.
Custom
Windows 7 x64 RC
AMD Athlon 64 3400+
Gigabyte GA-K8N Pro-SLI
4 X 1GB OCZ Platinum DDR 400
2 X BFG GeForce 6800GT 256MB PCIe x16 SLI
WD 1600LS 149GB
Enermax EG565AX-VEFMA2.0-SLI
Lian Li PC-7 B Plus Aluminum Case
As there are already tutorials on using "Clonezilla", I only want to describe how I accomplished this step by step, not all the possibilities. Here are the steps I took to get my image:1. Prepare a place for the image. What is the size of the data on the partition to be imaged? Clonezilla does not save empty space. If you are saving an activated install of a RC or retail upgrade, 12GB to 13GB, then 10GB (or less) will hold the image you create. If you are saving your current working computer, 60GB to 80GB, then you will need 50GB to 70GB for your image. Moving files like pictures and video to a seperate storage device and backing up seperately will reduce the size needed for the image. You can use (create) a seperate partition on your internal hard drive, a second internal hard drive, or an external or USB drive to hold the image.Restoring the Image to a New Hard Drive
As I anticipate installing the Windows 7 Home Premium Upgrade, I want a separate 20GB partition (NTFS) to hold the "image". After it has been created there, I can choose to store the "image" externally to my home network or another storage device. On my experimental computer, I left 20 GB of space unused when creating the partition to install Windows 7. It is possible to "shrink" the "C" drive in Windows 7 to create the "unallocated" space that can then be turned into your "backup" partition.
After installing 7 RC, Windows Live, and all my other programs I had used 12.5GB. I then used the Windows built-in "Disk Management" utility to create and format the 20GB NTFS partition.
2. Download Clonezilla from the website and burn the iso to a CD. Reboot the computer to the CD. It is a "live" CD in that the program runs off of the CD and does not install anything to the hard drive.
3. Select the screen resolution you wish to use.4. Select your language.5. Keep or change your keyboard layout.6. Start Clonezilla7. Select "device-image" to save the image, "device-device" to move a partition to another drive.8. Select to use a local device (hard drive) or a network source.NOTE: After selecting "local_dev" you are given the option of inserting a USB drive.9. Press Enter to continueLinux names hard drives "hda#" or in my case "sda1, 2, and 3". The 105MB boot partition is sda1, the Windows partition is sda2. Clonezilla wants to mount the partition where it is going to put the image, in my case sda3, a backup partition I created.10. Select: sda311. Select Top_directory12. Now you get to see some info, press enter to continue.13. Select Beginner for Default options14. Select "saveparts" to image your boot and windows partitions.NOTE: It is at this point that you would also choose to restore the partitions (restore parts) later.15. Accept the default file name or create one of your choice.16. Select: both sda1 and sda2. When you restore to a new hard drive, you will have your boot partition as well.17. You will get a message about using command line. Press ENTER to continue, then type "y" and ENTER.18. You will see a message when the image is finished, press enter to continue19. Make a selection from the menu and press enter.20. The CD tray will open so you can remove the CD, then close the CD tray, press enter, and reboot into Windows.Clonezilla saved my 12.5GB Windows partition to 6.78GB and the 105MB boot partition to 9.75MB. As Windows grows so will the size of the saved image and the partition to save it in.
It is not reccommended to keep backup files or images on the internal hard drive with the Operating System. Should the hard drive crash, you will have lost the files needed to restore your computer. However, even if you initially save the image to an internal partition on your C: drive, like I have, you can now move the "image" files to the external media of your choice.
You can easily restore your computer with a new hard drive, your 7 DVD, and Clonezilla. Put the new hard drive in the computer. Use the 7 DVD to install 7 but do not activate. Use 7 to create the internal partition if that is how you saved your image. Use Clonezilla to restore the saved image to the partitions 7 created during the install. Boot to Windows 7.
I will most likely use another computer in my home network to create the needed partitions and copy the saved image, then use Clonezilla to restore my activated copy of Windows 7 Home Premium. As part of a regular backup strategy, I intend to create a new image monthly.
Conclusion:
Windows 7 users have many choices on how to backup their systems. How you decide to do so depends on your circumstances. All computer users should back-up their computers regularly; however few actually do.
Last edited by iseeuu; 28 Aug 2009 at 13:49. Reason: added screenshots