Backup Complete Computer - Create an Image Backup

How to Create a System Image Backup in Windows 7​

   Information

A system image is an exact copy of a drive. By default, a system image includes the drives required for Windows to run. A system image would include all NTFS formatted partitions with an operating system installed on it (ex: C ), as well as the System Reserved partition. These system partitions cannot be unselected. It also includes Windows and your system settings, programs, and files. You can use a system image to restore the contents of your computer if your hard disk or computer ever stops working. When you restore your computer from a system image, it's a complete restoration—you can't choose individual items to restore, and all of your current programs, system settings, and files are replaced with the contents of the system image.

This tutorial will show you how to create a system image (clone) backup of the entire hard drive or partition that Windows 7 is on, and any other selected drive or partition. You can use this image to be able to do a system image recovery to restore the hard drive or partition at boot back to the way it was at the time the backup image was created.

If you want to include additional drives in the system image, you can manually create a system image. If you manually create a system image, it can be saved on a USB flash drive, CDs, DVDs, or a hard drive.

If a system image was created through Windows Backup instead with the Include a System Image of Drives box checked, you can set Windows to retain as many system images as it has space for on the backup disk or to only keep the most recent system image.

   Note

Keeping different versions of system images

If you're saving your system images on an internal or external drive, or on CDs or DVDs, you can keep several versions of system images. On internal and external hard drives, older system images will be deleted when the drive runs out of space. To help conserve disk space, you can manually delete older system images.

Backup images are saved as backup periods in this format at the selected saved to location like the example below.

drive letter:\WindowsImageBackup\computer name\Backup YYYY-MM-DD HHMMSS

For example, if your computer name is Computer, your backup image location is on hard disk or partition (network or local) D: , and you backed up on 11/22/2008 at 1:00:50 PM (It uses 24 hour time), then that backup image would be located in the folder below.
D:\WindowsImageBackup\Computer\Backup 2008-11-22 130050
If you're saving your system images in a network location, you can only keep the most current system image for each computer. If you have an existing system image for a computer and are creating a new one for the same computer, the new system image will overwrite the existing one.

   Tip

If you want to keep multiple system image versions on the same drive or partition, then you can use either method below to do so.

METHOD ONE:
Change the maximum space used for system images on the drive letter you are saving the Windows Backup to by changing the maximum space used by System Protection for the same drive letter. This is the same setting.

You do not have to have System Protection turned on for the drive letter, but do need to adjust the maximum space to what you like.

The size of a system image can be quite large since it will include all system drives in the image by default plus any drives you have included. If you want to keep multiple system images, be sure to increase the max size accordingly.

METHOD TWO:

1. Navigate to the backup location above for where you saved a system image that you want to keep before creating a new system image.

2. Right click, or press and hold, on the WindowsImageBackup folder, and click/tap on Rename.

3. Rename it to something like WindowsImageBackup-Copy-1, press Enter, and click//tap on Yes if prompted by UAC.
NOTE: This way you can just easily change the 1 an the end of the name to 2, 3, 4, etc... for each new system image that you make a copy of.

4. You now have a different system image version that you can leave at this location to be able to keep multiple versions.

NOTE: When you want to restore a system image in a renamed WindowsImageBackup-Copy-1 folder in the future, then you must rename the current WindowsImageBackup folder first, then rename the WindowsImageBackup-Copy-1 folder back to WindowsImageBackup in order to be able to restore it. The WindowsImageBackup folder must be in the root directory of the drive, and not within another folder.

   Warning

• Windows 7 can only include drives formatted with the NTFS file system in the system image.
• Windows 7 cannot include the partition or drive that you are saving the backup image to in the image.
• All "system" or "boot" drives/partitions are included in the system image by default, so you will not be able to save the system image to a system or boot drive/partition.
• If you are saving the system image to a HDD or partition, then you can only save the system image on a separate hard drive (recommended) or partition than what Windows 7 is installed on. It cannot be saved to the C: drive.
• Only the Windows 7 Professional, Ultimate, and Enterprise editions can backup to a network location.
• You cannot restore a 64-bit Windows 7 backup image on a 32-bit system.
• You cannot restore a 64-bit Windows 7 backup image with a 32 bit Windows 7 installation DVD or recovery partition, or the other way around. You must use the same 32-bit or 64-bit Windows 7 installation DVD or recovery partition as the backup image is.
• A system image that was created on a computer using EFI cannot be restored on a computer using BIOS. It can only be restored on a computer using EFI.
• When restoring a system image from a dynamic volume, the disks on your computer cannot be formatted to match the layout of the disks on the backup. To have full functionality, select a volume (partition) on a basic disk as your backup location instead.
• I would recommend to create a system image on a separate HDD, or a separate partition on a separate HDD, for the best reliability to restore from it. CDs or DVDs are just not as reliable. A scratch one just one of them could ruin the whole image.

Here's How:
1. Open the Control Panel (icons view).

2. Click on the Backup and Restore icon.

3. Click on the Create a system image link. (See screenshot below)

4. If prompted by UAC, click on Yes.

5. Select the location to where you would like to save the backup image at, and click on the Next button. (See screenshot below)
NOTE: See the Warning box at the top of the tutorial. Only the Windows 7 Professional, Ultimate, and Enterprise editions can backup to a network location.

6. If available, check any additional hard drives or partitions (ex: Vista) that you would like to include in the backup image with the Windows 7 (System and C: ) partition or hard drive, and click on the Next button. (See screenshot below)
NOTE: See the WARNING box at the top of the tutorial. If you do not want to add any additional hard drives or partitions, then just leave the others unchecked. You will not see this, if you do not have any other OS installed other than Windows 7.

7. Click on the Start backup button. (See screenshot below)

8. You will now see this window. (See screenshot below)
NOTE: If you wish to stop creating the backup image during this point, click on the Stop backup, Stop, and Close buttons.

9. When it is finished you will see this create a System Repair disc pop-up window. Click on No. (See screenshot below)
NOTE: For how to always hide or show this message, see this tutorial.

10. Click on the Close button. (See screenshot below)

11. Close the Backup and Restore window. (See screenshot below step 3)
That's it,
Shawn

Related Tutorials

---

• How to Backup User and System Files in Windows 7
• How to Do a System Image Recovery in Windows 7
• How to Backup and Restore the Windows 7 Registry
• How to Enable or Disable the Ability to Create a System Image in Windows 7
• How to Extract Files from Windows 7 System Image using Virtual PC
• How to Extract Windows 7 System Image Files Using Disk Management
• Imaging with free Macrium
• How to Restore your System with a Broken Windows 7 System Image
• How to Manually Extract Files from a Backup in Vista and Windows 7
• How to Enable or Disable Backing up to a CD or DVD in Windows 7
• How to Enable or Disable Backing up to Local Hard Disks in Windows 7
• How to Delete Windows 7 User Data and System Image Backup Files
• How to Create a "Create a System Image" Shortcut in Windows 7
• How to Hide or Show "Do you want to create a system repair disc?" Message
• How to Fix Backup Error 0x81000019 in Windows 7
• New Installation: How to Create a General System Image in Audit Mode

 

[apb]

Warning re external 3TB and above

Sorry if this was mentioned before -- I was too lazy to read all 62 screens of this thread...

I suggest the "Warning" box for the tutorial be amended to point out that system backup will almost surely fail on an external drive of 3TB or larger, as noted in this thread: http://www.sevenforums.com/backup-r...iled-error-0x8078002a-external-3tb-drive.html

...as I just discovered trying to use a 3TB WD MyBook.

(This applies to win 7, not win 8.)

--p.

 

[malvoglio]

The second sentence in this tutorial --

This would be all NTFS formatted partitions or drives with an operating system installed on it (ex: C ) and the System Reserved partition are selected (checked) to be included in the backup and cannot be unselected.

is ungrammatical and I find it confusing. Can it be fixed?

 

[ignatzatsonic]

The second sentence in this tutorial --

This would be all NTFS formatted partitions or drives with an operating system installed on it (ex: C ) and the System Reserved partition are selected (checked) to be included in the backup and cannot be unselected.

is ungrammatical and I find it confusing. Can it be fixed?

I can't re-write it, but I'd say it means this:

This would include all NTFS formatted partitions containing an operating system, as well as the System Reserved partition. They cannot be unselected.

 

[malvoglio]

Tip
If you want to keep multiple system image versions on the same drive or partition, then you can use either method below to do so.

METHOD ONE:
Change the maximum space used for system images on the drive letter you are saving the Windows Backup to by changing the maximum space used by System Protection for the same drive letter. This is the same setting.

You do not have to have System Protection turned on for the drive letter, but do need to adjust the maximum space to what you like.

The size of a system image can be quite large since it will include all system drives in the image by default plus any drives you have included. If you want to keep multiple system images, be sure to increase the max size accordingly.

I do a full image backup once a week to an external 465 GB hard disk drive (drive letter H: ).

There is only ever one image on that drive -- the most recent one -- but not older sets.

Entering

vssadmin list shadowstorage

into an elevated command prompt, I get (for the H: drive):

Used Shadow Copy Storage Space: 19.616 GB (4%)
Allocated Shadow Copy Storage Space: 22.538 GB (4%)
Maximum Shadow Copy Storage Space: 139.728 GB (30%)

Currently, Explorer shows the H: drive to have free space of 386 GB out of a total 465 GB.

My C: drive is 394 GB free out of 450 GB total, D: drive is 1,36 GB free out of 11.8 GB total, E: drive [not NTFS] is 1.91 GB free out of 1.99 GB total.

For SYSTEM drive, not visible in Explorer, the values are

Used Shadow Copy Storage Space: 7.625 MB (0%)
Allocated Shadow Copy Storage Space: 320 MB (21%)
Maximum Shadow Copy Storage Space: 461.248 MB (45%)

and for C: drive the values are 9.183 GB (2%), 9.594 GB (2%), and 10 GB (2%), respectively.

So am I interpreting the above-quoted instructions correctly to mean that in order to keep two full image backups on H:, I should keep System Protection turned off for H: (it's Off now) but increase its slider to a higher value, say 200 GB?

 

[malvoglio]

I can't re-write it, but I'd say it means this:

This would include all NTFS formatted partitions containing an operating system, as well as the System Reserved partition. They cannot be unselected.

Thank you for clarifying. So in my system (please see my other message in this thread), Windows Backup images the C: drive (labeled WINDOWS) and the SYSTEM drive, but not the E: drive (labeled HP_TOOLS) because it is not NTFS formatted. How about the D: drive (labeled HP_RECOVERY) then?

P.S.: Would it be more accurate if I called C:, D: and E: "volumes" instead of "drives"?

 

[ignatzatsonic]

I can't re-write it, but I'd say it means this:

This would include all NTFS formatted partitions containing an operating system, as well as the System Reserved partition. They cannot be unselected.

Thank you for clarifying. So in my system (please see my other message in this thread), Windows Backup images the C: drive (labeled WINDOWS) and the SYSTEM drive, but not the E: drive (labeled HP_TOOLS) because it is not NTFS formatted. How about the D: drive (labeled HP_RECOVERY) then?

Yes, drives is inaccurate. Partitions is the better term. A drive contains one or more partitions when in a usable state. If you buy a new drive, it won't contain any partitions. Partitions are made after the purchase.

I don't use Windows Backup precisely because it is confusing, as you are finding out.

It has its own ideas of what shall be included in a so-called Backup. If it thinks that a given partition contains anything related to Windows, that partition will be included. That would typically include C, System Reserved, and any other partition that may contain Windows boot files. So, the resulting backup may be larger than anticipated.

OEM builders, such as HP, have a way of putting boot files on odd partitions. I haven't kept up with that, but HP might put boot files on the HP_Recovery partition or elsewhere. In such a case, you would want to include that partition in a backup. The HP_Recovery partition's primary purpose is to help you restore your PC to the state it was in as manufactured, but that doesn't mean HP may not have also put some additional files on that partition.

So--I have no idea if Windows Backup will attempt to include HP_Recovery. Or the Tools partition, for that matter. You'd have to experiment and find out.

You could of course copy your boot files to C itself and/or use something other than Windows Backup to make images, but I assume you are committed to Windows Backup.

You could even just do a clean Windows install and get rid of all of those smaller partitions and have only a single partition (C) on your drive. That partition would include all boot files and would be the ONLY partition necessary to include in a system backup. Most here would probably tell you to do a clean install, but I could understand your reluctance.

 

[malvoglio]

I'm fearful of wiping my hard disk and doing a Windows Clean Install. For one thing, I don't know how that would allow me to keep the HP software, in particular Drive Encrypt which encrypts the hard disk.

Windows Backup already saved my bacon once when a Windows patch trashed my system. All the partitions including D: and E: were there as before, although to be honest I don't know if D: and E: were actually restored from the image or if they merely became accessible again after C: was restored. If I understand the tutorial correctly, E: would not have been backed up anyway as it is not NTFS.

D: (HP_RECOVERY) indeed contains more now than it did originally. When I created a HP Recovery Disk, it wrote a 10 GB large FPP.WIM file to D:.

 

[malvoglio]

Re-asking the question in case it got overlooked

So am I interpreting the above-quoted instructions correctly to mean that in order to keep two full image backups on H:, I should keep System Protection turned off for H: (it's Off now) but increase its slider to a higher value, say 200 GB?

 

[kado897]

I don't think it matters. Windows backup will only use up to 30% of your backup disk to store images. If you allow it to (Don't select the single image option in manage space) it will store a full image and as many incremental images as it can fit in. When the space is used up it will drop the oldest to make room for more. You have no control over this process.

If you chose to use the single image option you can only store a second image by renaming the first. If you then need to restore the first one you have to rename it back to WindowsImageBackup.

 

[Brink]

Hello Malvoglio,

The easiest way to keep multiple full system images is to rename the WindowsImageBackup folder like in the note box at the top of the tutorial.

 

[apb]

Re-asking the question in case it got overlooked

So am I interpreting the above-quoted instructions correctly to mean that in order to keep two full image backups on H:, I should keep System Protection turned off for H: (it's Off now) but increase its slider to a higher value, say 200 GB?

I don't know if this will help, but it's my understanding that Windows only keeps one of these at a time, at least on any one backup "drive" (i.e. something that gets a drive letter, which usually means a partition somewhere, but I guess it could be a remotely shared dir.). If you want more than one, you will need to rename the existing one. If you later need to use the one you renamed, you have to rename it back to what Windows likes to call it (the original name), which will involve renaming the current one unless you want to clobber it.

 

[mjf]

Hello Malvoglio,

The easiest way to keep multiple full system images is to rename the WindowsImageBackup folder like in the note box at the top of the tutorial.

Ditto. I've being doing it for a number of years now. Also, you can move WindowsImageBackup (or a renamed version) into a folder called say "MyImages" if you like tidiness then move the one you want to restore back to the root to restore. Just don't move across partition boundaries because this involves a physical move of the large image files- slow and risky.

You can of course also consider (free) Macrium Reflect. I keep Macrium and Windows inbuilt system images on a number of external drives.

 

[Brink]

Agreed. Macrium Reflect is a great option as well.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/73828-imaging-free-macrium.html

 

[malvoglio]

Thank you all for replies. But my question was specifically about the first method suggested in the tutorial. That is, not the renaming, but the increasing of space using the System Protect slider. Is this deprecated now?

 

[kado897]

No, it will increase space available but if you chose to let windows automatically save multiple copies, as I posted earlier, then a maximum of 30% of your drive can be used for images. This is a Windows imposed limit and you cannot change it. If you use the renaming technique then you can use all of the available space.

 

[malvoglio]

No, it will increase space available but if you chose to let windows automatically save multiple copies, as I posted earlier, then a maximum of 30% of your drive can be used for images. This is a Windows imposed limit and you cannot change it. If you use the renaming technique then you can use all of the available space.

Sorry, I guess I did not read carefully enough what you wrote earlier.

I don't think it matters. Windows backup will only use up to 30% of your backup disk to store images. If you allow it to (Don't select the single image option in manage space) it will store a full image and as many incremental images as it can fit in. When the space is used up it will drop the oldest to make room for more. You have no control over this process.

So it actually isn't possible to tell Windows to make more than one full image, only one full image plus incremental images?

If so, then the renaming method would appear to be the superior of the two options.

 

[kado897]

So it actually isn't possible to tell Windows to make more than one full image, only one full image plus incremental images?

If so, then the renaming method would appear to be the superior of the two options.

This is the preferred route of many here that still use Windows imaging.

 

[PatrickRobinson]

clarification please

Will using system image effect other files, etc on the external hard drive? What do I need to do to make sure the computer will boot from the USB device?

 

[ignatzatsonic]

Will using system image effect other files, etc on the external hard drive? What do I need to do to make sure the computer will boot from the USB device?

Images shouldn't affect any other file. They are just a file of another type.

Regarding booting. Are you talking about booting from the image file on the external? No, you can't do that. Image files are not bootable. They aren't very useful UNTIL they are RESTORED to the internal drive.

 

[PatrickRobinson]

What am I missing? I make the image, then aren't I essentially formatting the computer and putting the OS etc from the image back on the computer?