Solved Backup Program with Bare-Metal Install and Incremental Features

[monkeylove]

I am looking for a Win 7 backup and restore program that can do the ff.

1. Do an image backup which can be used for a recovery (in case the system won't load or some program won't run) or a bare-metal install (if the HD has to be replaced or reformatted);

2. Do a scheduled incremental file backup based on what was added or changed since the image backup or the previous incremental backup; in addition to the bare-metal install from the image backup, all incremental file backups can be restored, bringing the system back to the state from the last incremental backup;

3. If the backup disk is filled to a certain percentage (say, 80 pct), then the image backup is deleted and a new one is made. If the new image backup is successful, then all incremental backups are deleted. New incremental backups will be based on the new image backup.

4. One also has the option to schedule both the image backup (e.g., every month, every six months, every year, etc.) and the incremental backups (e.g., daily, weekly, etc.).

A free program that can use a network drive as a backup is preferable.

 

[karlsnooks]

Windows 7 Backup and Restore.

We have tutorials on its use.

 

[kado897]

Windows Backup does not have network capabilities on Home Premium.

 

[monkeylove]

Also, for the incremental backups, Win 7 backup filled up the storage for the backups, and I had to delete some sets manually to free up space.

I'm looking for something like a set-and-forget program, i.e., that will delete the scheduled full backup and incremental sets automatically after a certain period or after the backup storage has been filled to a certain extent. I'll settle for something that can't back up to network drives or that's not free.

 

[kado897]

If you wan't a full imaging and F&F backup system that is not free and can backup to the network with scheduling and space management try Macrium Reflect Standard edition.

 

[mjf]

Good advice from Kado again here.
I'm a bit wary of incremental backups.

Edit: I actually meant incremental (image) backups. Not file/folder backups!

 

[monkeylove]

Thanks! How about free or available programs? I read elsewhere that one is using Win 7 Backup (or Macrium Free) for the image backup and Synctoy for incrementals, but I'm not sure how the auto disk management works for the latter. Maybe Cobian can be used as an alternative.

Also, what do you think of the free version of Genie Timeline? It uses block level backups.

 

[karlsnooks]

I know what works:
Win 7 Backup and Restore for image backups.

SyncToy for incrementals.

SyncToy is a powerful, and a safe software.

Here is an excellent article, although dated, for scheduling your "syncs" using Task Manager and SyncToy:

Schedule SyncToy to Run Automatically With Task Scheduler in Windows 7 - How-To Geek

 

[kado897]

Good advice from Kado again here.
I'm a bit wary of incremental backups.

As am I. I prefer differential as the are fewer points of failure. Most free data backup programs such as SyncToy or FreeFileSync (which I prefer) don't have space management facilities so you probably need a paid program.

 

[monkeylove]

I found a comment about tweaks of the registry for Win 7 backup, but I do not know if it will partially manage disk space automatically. Please take a look at it here (it's the fourth comment after the web log entry):

Managing backup disk space - The Storage Team at Microsoft - File Cabinet Blog - Site Home - TechNet Blogs

I set Win 7 backup to back up as recommended and scheduled daily. The first backup is full with a system image created, and then the rest are incremental. I wait until the backup disk is full and the count the number of days until that happened. Say, the backup disk becomes almost full in 30 days.

From there, I enable AutomaticFullBackup Enabled to 1 and set TimePeriodInDays to 30 (for 30 days). Does this mean that every 30 days Win 7 backup will erase the previous full backup and incremental backups and start afresh with a full backup?

Finally, I don't understand what OlderFilesSizePercentage does.

 

[kado897]

It looks like those registry tweaks are for the way Windows controls the way in creates data (file and folder) backup sets. A backup set contains one full and 0 or more incremental backups. There doesn't seem to be a tweak there to control the total space used or the total number of backup sets held.

 

[monkeylove]

You're right!

What do you think of this free option?

Win 7 Backup (system image only) or Macrium Free Reflect (for network drives), scheduled monthly

Genie9 Timeline (free version), scheduled daily (with auto-purge feature)

 

[kado897]

Sounds good to me.