Backup Disc

[blacksnowe]

when i originally backed up windows to my seperate partition, where windows is installed, it was 20gb. Then i backed up to dvd disc to be safe and it seemed to complete backup on one 4.7gb disc. I expected to use about 5 disc's.
Is this correct or have i done something wrong?
any info can be helpful.

thx

 

[si8mon]

What back up program were you using?

I presume you were using the inbuilt windows back up tools.

 

[joel406]

Yes! I would say something went wrong.

 

[Lordbob75]

Assuming it made a DISK IMAGE and NOT just backed up the FILES, then something went wrong.

Otherwise, it might be correct. You could always put it in the drive and see what is on it.

~Lordbob

 

[blacksnowe]

yes used the Windows Control Panel/System Security/Back up and Restore... Feature. I inserted disc and it wanted to format it. It did take way longer than I expected, almost 2 hours. So I assume something went wrong.. I'll try again..
Can someone tell me how many DVD discs it should take to back up Windows 7?

 

[joel406]

If your backing up your OS, programs and files it could be quit a few. Do you have a extra HD that would be much better.

 

[gregrocker]

The way to go with this is an external HD. DVD image backup is not reliable.

Until you get an external, send it over the network to the C: drive of any other network computer, or put it in a primary partition on your HD or, better yet, another HD you add for that purpose.

 

[whs]

On various occasions I found the native Windows backup/recovery facilities in Vista and Windows7 to be capricious - to say the least. I therefore am only using free Macrium for this task. It works well with DVDs, external or internal disks. For a one time backup, DVDs are a valid option. For frequent imaging I suggest to use an external disk. The standard compresiion produces an image that is about 55 to 60% of the data that is being imaged. Macrium can be used for both the system partition and data partitions.
If you image the system partition and your MBR does not reside on that partition (recent installations often have a seperate 100 or 200MB partition for the MBR), then you should follow the Warning at the beginning of the tutorial that's linked above.

 

[HMonk]

The way to go with this is an external HD. DVD image backup is not reliable.

Until you get an external, send it over the network to the C: drive of any other network computer, or put it in a primary partition on your HD or, better yet, another HD you add for that purpose.

Cannot agree more with multiple HDDs; placing backups on the same disk that you are backing up invites pain (you are protected against OS crashes but not disk crashes). Secondary storage (additional HDD/mem sticks) today is dirt cheap and, given the importance of backups, essential. If image backup size is an issue, consider a partition on which you place ONLY the OS and apps. Two reasons: it is, almost exclusively, the OS that is going to become corrupt or attacked and, therefore, require periodic attention. Secondly, by limiting the amount of data on the OS partition, image backups will not be so large as to require extraordinary storage space.

I also agree that optical storage is not a good idea due to degradation or read-write errors. I store supercritical data on mem sticks, in addition to storing it on secondary HDDs. Dedicated mem sticks for docs, MP3s, JEPGs (if those are supercritical data) fit nicely on 16GB sticks that cost $30 bucks a stick.

Monk

 

[Capalbo]

The way to go with this is an external HD. DVD image backup is not reliable.

Until you get an external, send it over the network to the C: drive of any other network computer, or put it in a primary partition on your HD or, better yet, another HD you add for that purpose.

Cannot agree more with multiple HDDs; placing backups on the same disk that you are backing up invites pain (you are protected against OS crashes but not disk crashes). Secondary storage (additional HDD/mem sticks) today is dirt cheap and, given the importance of backups, essential. If image backup size is an issue, consider a partition on which you place ONLY the OS and apps. Two reasons: it is, almost exclusively, the OS that is going to become corrupt or attacked and, therefore, require periodic attention. Secondly, by limiting the amount of data on the OS partition, image backups will not be so large as to require extraordinary storage space.

I also agree that optical storage is not a good idea due to degradation or read-write errors. I store supercritical data on mem sticks, in addition to storing it on secondary HDDs. Dedicated mem sticks for docs, MP3s, JEPGs (if those are supercritical data) fit nicely on 16GB sticks that cost $30 bucks a stick.

Monk

Couldn't agree more. I use a multi-pronged backup strategy.

I use Win 7 native backup to back up system state to an external drive. Doesn't make sense to back up to a disk that is inside the PC. I never had any problems with system state.

As for the data files (mp3s, docs, etc.) I use a third party app that also backs up to an external drive. The reason I chose for this 3rd pary app is that it just focuses on the user's data files and these are the most important for me. It takes me a couple of hours to re-install windows and the app but some of the work I create with my pc .. well .. would take me ages The app is called Oops Backup ( Time Machine Backup Software for Windows 7, Vista & XP - Includes Desktop Continuous Data Protection and Version Control. Recover Deleted Files and go back in time to recover documents and files ) and is an automatic CDP that automatically detects my changes and keeps versions - I have it set up at 15 mins and i dont feel it running. Its a fantastic little hem that i found a month ago