OS Win 7 Backup?

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  1. Posts : 211
    Acer Aspire 7738G Win 7 X64 bit Home Premium
       #1

    OS Win 7 Backup?


    Hi,
    if I want to do a back up of just my OS system, not any other data, can I use the Back Up facility in Windows? Will this copy all of the OS if I ever need to reinstall?

    I have done an Image before, but now the HD is nearly full and my Ext HD is too small.

    Sorry to ask but I just want to make sure I am copying the right thing?

    Any help or advice grateful.
      My Computer


  2. Posts : 17,796
    Windows 10, Home Clean Install
       #2

    System Restore is just the OS

    System Image will be the entire HD.

    Does this answer your question?
      My Computer


  3. Posts : 28,845
    Win 8 Release candidate 8400
       #3

    jonesnewton said:
    Hi,
    if I want to do a back up of just my OS system, not any other data, can I use the Back Up facility in Windows? Will this copy all of the OS if I ever need to reinstall?

    I have done an Image before, but now the HD is nearly full and my Ext HD is too small.

    Sorry to ask but I just want to make sure I am copying the right thing?

    Any help or advice grateful.
    That depends on whether the data is on the same partition as the OS. Is it?

    You can DO a partition instead of the entire drive but you cant just do OS folder and not date if it is on the same partition.

    Ken
      My Computer


  4. Posts : 211
    Acer Aspire 7738G Win 7 X64 bit Home Premium
    Thread Starter
       #4

    richc46 said:
    System Restore is just the OS

    System Image will be the entire HD.

    Does this answer your question?
    OK so if I do a Create new full back up that will just copy my OS?
    Then if I need I just do a restore?
    Can I send it to my Ext HD?
      My Computer


  5. Posts : 211
    Acer Aspire 7738G Win 7 X64 bit Home Premium
    Thread Starter
       #5

    zigzag3143 said:
    jonesnewton said:
    Hi,
    if I want to do a back up of just my OS system, not any other data, can I use the Back Up facility in Windows? Will this copy all of the OS if I ever need to reinstall?

    I have done an Image before, but now the HD is nearly full and my Ext HD is too small.

    Sorry to ask but I just want to make sure I am copying the right thing?

    Any help or advice grateful.
    That depends on whether the data is on the same partition as the OS. Is it?

    You can DO a partition instead of the entire drive but you cant just do OS folder and not date if it is on the same partition.

    Ken
    There is no partition.

    I just want peace of mind if I ever need to reinstall that I have it on hand.

    BTW, its an Acer and it has Acer Backup Manager, but I dont know which box(s) to tick as it says it cannot copy whole system, obviously.

    Any idea?
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails OS Win 7 Backup?-capture-acer-backup.png  
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  6.    #6

    Disk manager - vhd


    Don't forget, you can access the data in your IMAGE file via 'DISK MANAGER'.
    Just open DISK MANAGER, go to the menu: ACTIONS/ATTACH VHD and navigate to where your actual VHD image file is...Windows will load it as a drive. You can then enter that IMAGE and delete anything you want.

    Remember that when you boot up again, the VHD will not be mounted. You can also manually UNMOUNT the mounted VHD by right clicking on the drive tab on the far left of the listed VHD drive in DISK MANAGER...then selecting option to unmount.

    You can even fix it so that you can run an installer from that very IMAGE...but for that you will need some extra tools that Windows does not provide.

    harlemdrum@gmail.com,
    Sirius A Being
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  7. Posts : 10,200
    MS Windows 7 Ultimate SP1 64-bit
       #7

    jonesnewton said:
    Hi,
    if I want to do a back up of just my OS system, not any other data, can I use the Back Up facility in Windows? Will this copy all of the OS if I ever need to reinstall?

    I have done an Image before, but now the HD is nearly full and my Ext HD is too small.

    Sorry to ask but I just want to make sure I am copying the right thing?

    Any help or advice grateful.
    YES.

    Simply in the left-hand pane of Backup And Restore choose: System Image.

    Backup And Restore will list your Win 7 dirve and other drives that you might want to include. Simply check the ones you want.

    Extremely simple. Easy, Works.

    You can sleep easy.


    Be sure to perform the backup to an external drive.

    If you were to backup to your internal drive and the internal drive crashes then you have lost all.

    Always backup to an external drive.

    Also on that same Backup And Restore applet there is also an option for:
    Create a system repair disk


    Create that system repair disk. It's a CD which is bootable and which you can use when disaster strikes. Please create that disk.

    The last time I used mine was last night when I cloned the backup I had made with Backup And Restore on to a 128GB SSD.
      My Computer


  8. Posts : 211
    Acer Aspire 7738G Win 7 X64 bit Home Premium
    Thread Starter
       #8

    karlsnooks said:
    jonesnewton said:
    Hi,
    if I want to do a back up of just my OS system, not any other data, can I use the Back Up facility in Windows? Will this copy all of the OS if I ever need to reinstall?

    I have done an Image before, but now the HD is nearly full and my Ext HD is too small.

    Sorry to ask but I just want to make sure I am copying the right thing?

    Any help or advice grateful.
    YES.

    Simply in the left-hand pane of Backup And Restore choose: System Image.

    Backup And Restore will list your Win 7 dirve and other drives that you might want to include. Simply check the ones you want.

    Extremely simple. Easy, Works.

    You can sleep easy.


    Be sure to perform the backup to an external drive.

    If you were to backup to your internal drive and the internal drive crashes then you have lost all.

    Always backup to an external drive.

    Also on that same Backup And Restore applet there is also an option for:
    Create a system repair disk


    Create that system repair disk. It's a CD which is bootable and which you can use when disaster strikes. Please create that disk.

    The last time I used mine was last night when I cloned the backup I had made with Backup And Restore on to a 128GB SSD.
    I dont want to do an image, just copy the OS on C drive, but the thing is everything else in on C, so when I look there I have to select boxes?
    But I dont know which boxes to select to copy just the OS??

    And it will be to an Ext HD
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  9. Posts : 300
    Windows 7 Ultimate x64/x86 Windows 7 Pro x64/x86 Windows 7 Home Premium x64/x86
       #9

    You cannot "just" copy the OS. If you image you will get everything. System restore will restore your OS and leave your personal files untouched but will not copy the OS off the PC.

    You need a Windows 7 install disk to have a copy of the OS seperate from all your installed programs and files.

    Hope that settles it.
      My Computer


  10. Posts : 263
    Dual boot XP Pro SP3x86 and Win7 Pro x64
       #10

    @Jonesnewton: the answer to your question is, indeed, no. You can verify that by launching the system image option in the left pane and you will see that all drives containing data "necessary" for the OS will be checked and grayed out, i.e., you DO NOT have the option of selecting only OS components (in part because they are scattered all over the place).

    You can use system restore but, if you have done so in the past, you know that it DOES NOT necessarily exactly restore your system to a previous state - and - you have undoubtedly had instances when you chose a restore point only to have Windows tell you that point could not be restored.

    I accomplish what you want to do by creating an OS-only partition on which I only put the OS and "everyday" apps (utilities, Flash components, browser, Winamp, VLC, etc.). Everything else goes on different partitions and/or different HDDs.

    Of course, for you to do that now, you would have to copy/backup all of your non-system stuff (docs, MP3s, JPEGs, etc) to a secure location, delete your existing OS partition and create a new smaller partition for the OS/apps and a second (third, fourth, etc) partition for your data files. You would then reinstall windows, and your apps.

    It's a bit of a pain now but in the end, you get what you want and it is easier from then on to maintain your system.

    Monk
      My Computer


 
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