Can you schedule disk imaging like you can with backup?

[Celeras]

Just wondering if this can be done in the background on a regular schedule, either via Windows Backup or a third party program. And if it can be does it require a deletion/re-imaging of the old file, or can it just tack on whatevers changed/added to it? This part is important, as I would'nt have room to hold 2x images on the harddrive im planning to use to backup.. and deleting the old image first could potentially lead to something heartbreaking :shock:

Thanks

 

[pbcopter]

Acronis True Image can do this.

 

[Celeras]

I looked at their website and was unable to find out whether or not this was done by making a new file+deleting old, or by adding to the existing backup. Do you know?

 

[RustyFalcon]

Windows Backup gives you the option to image the drive as well. Not tried it myself so I can't answer whether it 'adds to', 'deletes', or 'replaces' when it creates a new image.

 

[Blongs]

I looked at their website and was unable to find out whether or not this was done by making a new file+deleting old, or by adding to the existing backup. Do you know?

Acronis True Image will do what you want. It will let you schedule images at what ever intervals you like and give you a choice of doing a full image or just files that changed since last image. Hope this helps.

 

[SIW2]

Hi Celers,

I don't use Windows Pc Backup - the compression level is poor - so the image is large.

There are numerous reports of people being unable to locate the previously backed image as well.

You may like to consider a 3rd party app. for flexibility and reliability.

You could try the Macrium free Edition - it backs up and restores partition/ drives and allows scheduling. Worth trying to see if you like the way it works.

You would need the Macrium paid version for incremental/differential, file and folder backup, and disk space management.

Acronis is another and has also been mentioned.

I find the Paragon Backup apps. very good.

They do a free "Express" version on their website - but it is quite limited in what it does.

They often do free "Special Edition" versions - those will do all you are asking.


You might have a look:

Paragon Drive Backup 2009 SE - Google Search

 

[Celeras]

Are these third party programs already working correctly with 7?

 

[SIW2]

I use Macrium and Paragon on 7 x64 - they work perfectly.

The "Special Edition" Paragon won't have quite as many functions as the fancy version I use.

You will probably find E.G. restore needs to be done using the bootable disc - probably not so many include/exclude options either.

The fancier version I have allows restore to be done from the boot disc, or the Windows GUI. That's no big deal - many people prefer to use the boot disc anyway.

 

[Celeras]

Ive read that Acronis has issues with 7, so I'll avoid that I guess. Found a free promotion for Paragon here:

Free Paragon Drive Backup 9.0 Personal Edition Download with Product Key and Serial Number » My Digital Life

Went to give that one a try, but the serial they emailed me didn't even work x.x Got impatient and just used Windows 7 to create the system image. I don't see how compression is an issue, as images are just a 1:1 copy right? The image came out to the exact size as the drive.

Seemed fine to me, I can't schedule it.. but I found out that it isnt possible to "add" new files to an existing image(you have to just create a new image), so I wouldnt be able to schedule it anyway as the drive im using to hold backups is rather small and doesnt have room to hold more than 1 copy at a time.

 

[SIW2]

3rd party apps. like Paragon , will produce an image half the size of the original on the normal compression setting - more compression is possble on the high setting, but it means the backup takes longer.

You can also set schedules.

The My digital Life page is wrong - as you discovered.

Why do you think I posted a link to a google page in my earlier post?

 

[Kari]

I use windows 7 Backup to create a system image once a week. It is the only backup I make from my system drive C:. Scheduled backup excludes the C: drive completely to save space because the system image is enough; mounting the system image (a vhd-file) to a virtual machine as a second hard drive, I can always retrieve and extract the files / folders I need to restore. Backing it up would only mean double the space backup needs.

This way I always have a complete backup, containing absolutely everything from my system. C: drive backed up as a system image, mounted as a second HD to a virtual machine whenever I need to restore files, and normal backup from other drives.

I am very satisfied with Windows 7 Backup and Restore. Always worked perfect, never had a problem.

Kari

 

[stevecn70]

Most imaging programs have a command line version with command line options. You can just put these in a batch file and then set up a scheduled task to run it. You can tell the task to run by the system in the background, whether logged in or off, etc.