Solved Question About Using an External Hard Drive for Image Backup

[Efdy]

Hello. I have a WD My Passport Ultra external hard drive connected to my desktop computer that has Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit and Windows XP installed. That WD My Passport Ultra external hard drive is connected by USB to this computer all the time, and it does nightly backups of the files on my C drive (where Windows 7 Ultimate is installed). Could I purchase another WD My Passport Ultra, or another external hard drive, and connect it by USB to this same desktop computer to use exclusively for storing System Image Backups on? I would like to try to do what it says in this tutorial: Backup Complete Computer - Create an Image Backup - Windows 7 Help Forums

This would be to backup everything, I guess, including the Windows XP installation on the F drive (on the same hard drive disk as the C drive).

Thank you for reading this.

 

[samuria]

That would be no problem the only thing with backups is only connect when doing the image if it's connected all the time and you get malware/ransomware it would be infected as sell

 

[Efdy]

Hey, thank you. You even answered the question I deleted from my post. I don't know why I deleted my question about if one should keep the hard drive with the images connected. Thank you very much.

Is it okay to ask before I mark this solved if the process of creating system images is basically the same when using the Windows tools referred to in the above mentioned tutorial by Brink as it is when using tools such as those offered by AOMEI which others have mentioned using? Is there any particular advantage to using one method instead of the other?

 

[RolandJS]

Have you tested the computer and software's ability to boot USB and/or DVD and actually restore something?

 

[DavidE]

What RolandJS says is most important.
I wouldn't use/trust any program unless i know i can restore the system.

MS/Windows backup does not allow choosing specific partition(s) to include in a system backup.
It includes everything it sees as a "system" partition.
It does not use compression, so backup images are larger than other programs.
It is simpler, less to learn and configure.
I haven't played with MS backup since 2009, so maybe things have changed.

Macrium uses compression, images are smaller.
You can choose specific partition(s) to include in a system backup.
I have multi-boot pc's, so i can choose to backup/restore any specific OS partition(s), separately.
You can exclude specific files from the backup.
I exclude hibernate and page files, they are not needed for a restore.
It is more complicated and more to learn.

I'm most concerned with reliability and image size.
I keep a lot of backup images, to me backups are the most important thing.
I'm not concerned with the time it takes to create/restore a backup.
I don't care if it takes 10, 15, 20, ... minutes.
I do other things when doing a backup.

I've used/tested MS, Norton, Acronis, AOMEI, Macrium, and several others.
For me, Macrium (free) is the best and does everything i need/want.

 

[Paul Black]

Hi Efdy,

I agree with both RolandJS and DavidE.

You need to go with the one that best suits your requirements and needs and that you feel comfortable with.
I personally use AOMEI which accommodates everything I need from creating and restoring an image.

I hope this helps!

 

[Efdy]

Have you tested the computer and software's ability to boot USB and/or DVD and actually restore something?

No, I didn't know about that or maybe it didn't sink in when I read it if I did or something. Thank you for making sure I was aware of the need to make such a determination.

And many thanks to the others who replied. I appreciate your help.