Backing up EVERYTHING

[geezawolf]

Hi

I've bought an external hard drive and I'm wondering if there's any way of backing up everything on my hard drive? By everything I mean all of the programmes that are installed as well. If something went wrong with the laptop or it was stolen etc, I'd be able to drag everything off the external hard drive back over to a machine again.

If there is a way of doing this, can I then do it once a month or so, so that it would just update what has been changed rather than doing the whole thing again?

(Sorry, I'm not too clever on these things as you can probably guess).

Thanks for looking.

 

[Orbital Shark]

Hi geezawolf, welcome to the forums

Have a look at This tutorial from Brink. It should answer your question.

Hope it helps


OS

 

[Bare Foot Kid]

Hello geezawolf, welcome to Seven Forums!





Most agree that Macrium is a lot more dependable than the Windows backup utility, have a look at this tutorial at the link below.


Imaging with free Macrium

 

[Hopalong X]

I did both the Macrium and the Win7.
I already ran into a glitch with the Win7 System Image. I probably caused the mess up being new to Win7.
So this time I have both with the Macrium Boot CD along with the Win7 repair disk.

With 640GB of internal storage why not.

Mike

 

[geezawolf]

Imaging and cloning

OK, I've found lots of articles on this topic, but they are all full of jargon. I need this explaining in lamens terms. What's the difference between the 2? I'll give you a clue to the sort of information I want:

If my laptop were to need reformatting or got stolen, I'd like to be able to plug in my external hard drive and restore all my programmes, files, settings etc. I basically want to be able to get up and running again asap. Which is the best option for me?

Thanks for looking.

C (Running Windows 7)

 

[Bare Foot Kid]

This is still the best option.

Hello geezawolf, welcome to Seven Forums!


Most agree that Macrium is a lot more dependable than the Windows backup utility, have a look at this tutorial at the link below.


Imaging with free Macrium

 

[geezawolf]

Thanks, but I'm still not getting the information I want. What I'd like is some info (i.e. based on the scenario I gave) and reasons why one would be better than the other. I can't seem to get a clear answer on the differences and am starting to wonder if all the long winded answers are a smokescreen because actually no one actually knows!!!

 

[Wishmaster]

The differences between the Imaging Programs?

Basically, features. But theres also other things such as how well the compress the Image.


For example, Lets say all your DATA is on 1 single Hard drive, and you have your images on a external, or even a secondary Internal.

If you were to accidently delete something, (lets say the entire My Pictures folder) you may be required to completely restore the entire Image to get them back.
I think this is how Win7s will behave. (Please correct me if wrong)


Others, that offer more features and are more flexible will allow you to browse the contents of the Image, and restore selective files or folders. In this case the entire Pictures folder, or just a Image.

Im not that familiar with macrium so Im unsure if it allows this.

Some are only capable of Imaging partitions, others can do, not only partitions, but the entire disc (including the reserved 100MB partition) and restore it all in 1 go including the disk signature.

Additionally, some may offer other features such as Incremental, Differential backups, Automatic Scheduling.

Also, you will not be limited to just creating Images of a drive, but can also set schedules for Backups of target areas. Perhaps just the documents folder or Videos etc.

 

[Bare Foot Kid]

Thanks, but I'm still not getting the information I want. What I'd like is some info (i.e. based on the scenario I gave) and reasons why one would be better than the other. I can't seem to get a clear answer on the differences and am starting to wonder if all the long winded answers are a smokescreen because actually no one actually knows!!!

Most of us have answered all these same questions 100 times and you won't get much help being insulting.

Get in there and learn it as the rest of us have done.

 

[geezawolf]

I wasn't being insulting. (Or certainly didn't mean to be). I just can't find a simple answer. Getting in there and learning is what I'm trying to do. Isn't that what these forums are for? Sorry if I've caused offense. Just been trawling through pages of this stuff without getting the answer I'm looking for.

 

[Bare Foot Kid]

My apologies mate.



Did you see the excellent info Wishmaster posted above.

 

[geezawolf]

No worries. Yep thanks - saw Wishmasters post. Cheers.

 

[pparks1]

I just can't find a simple answer. Getting in there and learning is what I'm trying to do. Isn't that what these forums are for?

Perhaps there isn't a simple answer. I've used the built-in systems image utility dozens of times with hardly any issues. However, I don't like it because you cannot copy the folders to other places and you cannot easily store multiple backups. So, while these things don't make it bad, and it may be just fine for 1 individual, it's not great for me.

With regards to your scenario...doing an image is great when a machine needs a format and a reinstall. If however, your machine is stolen, and you get a new machine that is similar but not the same...the image might not restore. For something like that, you might need a more powerful product or something with more features. For me personally, if my machine is stolen and I get a new one..I can just reinstall my OS and my apps and then image again. This is no big deal at all. But for some, it could be a show stopper.

 

[Bare Foot Kid]

Just get the Macrium and start 'playing' around with it for a start and be sure to create the recovery disk that MUST be used to use the recovery option.

That is a good video posted at the link I put up and will give you most of the basics to get you started.



Here is another excellent program.

Partition Manager Free Edition

 

[geezawolf]

Thanks guys. Quick question to pparks1. I'm just wondering why the image might not restore if it was a new machine? Excuse my ignorance.

 

[Bare Foot Kid]

Thanks guys. Quick question to pparks1. I'm just wondering why the image might not restore if it was a new machine? Excuse my ignorance.

The drivers differ from one machine to another.

Most of the time Windows 7 can handle that with a couple re-starts but sometime it can't.

 

[geezawolf]

So would the same apply if I did do a clone? I know you're saying that imaging is the better option but just want to clarify the cloning thing.

 

[Bare Foot Kid]

You really need a paid version for what you are asking; have a look around the link below for a deal, they have some good ones right now; Paragon is arguably the best program for it.



It you are going to learn to do this just get a good one to start with and learn that one instead of several, a lot less confusing that way.

Look around their site for useful info.


Paragon System Backup 2010

 

[mikedl]

Too bad he just missed the Give Away of the Day that featured Paragon Drive Copy. It is prefect for what he wants to do.


It's a really cool program and one of the better offerings as of late from GOTD.

 

[gregrocker]

To make a backup image failsafe use two different imaging apps like Win7 and Macrium, or Macrium and free Paragon 10. http://www.paragon-software.com/home/db-express/download.html

I would put your User folders on a separate partition or HD so that they are backed up separately more often: http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/18629-user-folders-change-default-location.html

This way you can capture the image of the OS and programs partition when it is running best, then reimage it without worrying about how current the files are on it, or whether the files will bloat up the image unnecessarily.