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

 

[Brink]

Taiyoyuden,

Could your post a sceenshot of your Disk Management showing the drives layout? Maybe something there could show why it would be included in the backups by default.

 

[taiyoyuden]

Here is the Disk Management screenshot, and thanks for all the help Brink.

 

[Brink]

Taiyoyuden,

I must admit that I do not see why it would consider your W (Media) drive a system drive. There has got to be something that is being used on it by the system for this to happen. If you use Windows Media Center, you might also check to see if you have the HDD used by it as well.

As a workaround for now until you find out what is using the W: HDD, you could disconnect the W: drive when ready to do a backup, then backup to the V (Music) HDD instead. This way the W: drive will not be included.

 

[taiyoyuden]

I had some new programs and windows update installed but never restarted. After restarting, then installing new video drivers and restarting again, the problem appears fixed. Thanks Brink!

 

[Brink]

Ah, that's great news. Thank you for posting back with your results and findings.

 

[Tyrantt23]

Hi, first post here.

I am having the same issue that taiyoyuden is having. I tried running the system image backup yesterday for the first time, after doing a clean install and having all the essential drivers and software loaded. I took a few screenshots yesterday, they are listed below.

I had no idea why it would ever consider my media drive to be a system drive. However, Brink's made me remember something. I have my music library in windows pointing to my media drive. I also have some software pointing to the media drive for finding media files. Other than that, all the software is installed on the C:\ drive.

I will try unlinking the windows libraries when I get home today and see if it has any outcomes.

 

[SIW2]

Hi Tyrrant,

It's because drive M is the system drive.

You can make your C partition into the system drive very easily.

D/l this, and rt click and Run as Admin on sispar.cmd.

View attachment sisparV5.zip

Then go into Bios setup and set Disk 0 is the first HD in the Bios Boot order.

 

[Tyrantt23]

Thank you SIW2! I was starting to think a reformat would be the answer... haha. I will try this solution over this weekend.

Just out of curiosity, what does it mean to be a system drive? How did the M: drive end up being assigned this role?

Yesterday when I was meddling with the BIOS, I noticed that I didn't connect the two hard drives and the optical drive very well in the motherboard. 1 hard drive is Master in connection 1, then the Media hard drive is Master on connection 2, and the optical drive is slave on connection 2.

I'm assuming that I'll have to re-arrange the cables so that the hard drives are Master/Slave on the same connection, and the optical is Master. Should I do this before or after running this utility?

Thanks immensely for the help.

 

[SIW2]

Hi,

It means the boot critical files are on there.

You could switch the connections to the drives , or you can enter bios setup and change the order it looks at the drives. ( Typically under the heading "boot order" or similar )

Either way.

It doesn't matter if you do that before or after running the app.

 

[polycue]

Hi Tyrrant,

It's because drive M is the system drive.

You can make your C partition into the system drive very easily.

D/l this, and rt click and Run as Admin on sispar.cmd.

View attachment 63307

Then go into Bios setup and set Disk 0 is the first HD in the Bios Boot order.

Can we use this util to make any drive partition the system drive?

 

[SIW2]

Hi polycue,

Yes, as long as it is a Primary partition.

You can run it from within WinPe too.

 

[Tyrantt23]

Hi Tyrrant,

It's because drive M is the system drive.

You can make your C partition into the system drive very easily.

D/l this, and rt click and Run as Admin on sispar.cmd.

View attachment 63307

Then go into Bios setup and set Disk 0 is the first HD in the Bios Boot order.

That worked. Thank you so much! I am now able to select my Media drive as a system image destination. Thanks a bunch!

Now I just have to install a few more drivers before I do the definite system image backup, and complete reformat and install will be a thing of the past!

 

[robinb9]

Hi Mr Grim,

Can't see a way round that as it's a complete pc backup, and the 7 boot files are on the System partition, it wants to back that up too.

Backup size would be huge, also be interesting to know how long it would take!

3rd party apps. would be better for this - quicker and with compression, plus more flexibility.

I am using the free version of Macrium Reflect - it is unbelievably small and fast, also allows you to schedule and to mount a backup
and also to copy back any files you want - in addition to being able to restore the image.

It does all that for free and you can make a boot disc if you need to boot in to restore an image.

The paid version adds a few extra bells and whistles , but the freebie will be enough for many people.

Macrium Reflect Free Edition 4.2 build 2033 - Downloads - ZDNet Australia

Hope you like it

SIW2

i just installed Macrium free for xp pro sp3. I am not sure which bootable restore image need to make, do i need Accessing Macrium Reflect from BartPEThe BartPE Recovery Environment or Linux one. and if the bartpe can you please explain how to do this?
thanks
robin

 

[SIW2]

Hi Robin,

Use the Linux boot cd.

The Bartpe is there as an option for those who already have /would like to make one.

The Linux cd should be fine with any version of Windows.

 

[Greg S]

Hello Greg,

It's just easier to copy the entire folder to avoid accidentally not copying over a needed file, but yes you could still copy only the subfolder with the computer name on it instead though.

Are the other files in the user named folder relevant to a restore? On the other topic, I questioned and re-questioned all of this with the final verdict being that the only thing that needed to be saved and moved to another safe location was the folder mentioned above, example: Backup 2010-03-14 004647

At the time, I had the feeling that more was needed for a restore than just the example folder I just mentioned. It's possible I mis-understood,lol.

Well I guess to answer my own question, it appears for whatever reason that I should have been copying the entire WindowsImageBackup folder for safe keeping, at least according to the help file(see #2 of the second quote below). Here's what I don't understand from the help file

Keeping different versions of system images

1. 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. For more information, see
   

It states that one can keep several and even goes on to say one can delete some to conserve space.

Here's the part that I don't really understand, quoting from the help file

If you're saving your system images in a network location, you can only keep the most current system image for each computer. System images are saved in the format of drive\WindowsImageBackup\computer name\. 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. If you want to keep the existing system image, you can copy it to a different location before creating the new system image by following these steps:

1. Navigate to the location of the system image.
2. Copy the WindowsImageBackup folder to a new location.

Mine always overwrites the existing, I assume it does since I don't see multiple image backups in the folder unless they are there and kept by some catalog or something. Here's my question, if mine are being overwritten each time, then why? According to the help file, my saved images would have to be saved on network location.

1) I don't even know what a network location is??
2) If I have one, and I assume I do since my images are overwritten, how'd I get it??

 

[Brink]

Hello Greg,

A network location would be saving to say a hard drive on another computer on your network.




I always found doing the below the easiest way to keep mulitple copies of system images.

1. Navigate to the location of the system image.
2. Copy a older WindowsImageBackup folder into a new folder at a new location than where you are saving the new system image backup.

Hope this helps,
Shawn

 

[Greg S]

Hello Greg,

A network location would be saving to say a hard drive on another computer on your network.

Hope this helps,
Shawn

OK, but what is the criteria for the term "another computer"? I have one laptop, one internal HD partitioned with Win XP on one partition and Win 7 on the other partition of the same drive, two external USB HD's for storage. With those specs in mind and according to the Help file, I should be able to keep as many images as my storage drive will allow without having to copy/paste them, Correct? Here's the help file quote, maybe I am mis-understanding the help file,lol.

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.

On the other hand, I may be mis-understanding the term network location but with my little understanding, me thinks that I am not saving my images to a network location since I only have one laptop, but according to Win 7, I must be because I can only have one image which is overwritten each time a new image is made. Can you help me make sense of this? Thanks

 

[Brink]

Unless you select the network drive option at step 5 in the tutorial, you are not saving the system image to a network location.

To keep multiple system images on the same partition/drive you should copy a older WindowsImageBackup folder into a new folder at a new location than where you are saving the new system image at. It will not overwrite the old one this way.

 

[Greg S]

Unless you select the network drive option at step 3 in the tutorial, you are not saving the system image to a network location.

Hmm, me needs to go read step 3,lol. Probably be back here in a minute.


Brink, that would be step 5. No I'm not selecting this option. To be honest, I think it's grayed out. Let me see.... No it's not grayed out and I'm not selecting it


OK, here's the million dollar question, how can I tell for sure if I have multiple image backups since we know now for sure that I'm not saving to a network location? I've checked the WindowsSystemImage Folder and to the best of my know how, the image is being overwritten with each new image made. I can mount the VHD and I have in the past and to the best of my knowledge the images are being overwritten but according to the help file, they shouldn't be. But here again, I don't know for sure if there are multiple(about 6) images in the WindowsSystemImage Folder. Any more thoughts/help/advice? Thanks

 

[Brink]

Ooops, you're right, that's step 5 not 3. LOL


The only way that I know of for you to keep multiple system images on the same partition is to "move" or "Cut & Paste" the older WindowsImageBackup folder into a newly created folder, then create a new system image backup.