ghost image

[Victor S]

It's got nothing to do with ME being "confused."
What it's got to do with is all the user posts here complaining that Win 7 system images failed them - for whatever reason.
Did they screw up and not follow exact procedures? Probably.
I already addressed the portability issue, and I just confirmed what I found when I tested this a couple years ago.
Here's how it went.
Clean system, no Win 7 generated images or backup sets.
Selected drive D: as backup destination.
Ran a backup letting Win choose (and I know what that means)
Uninstalled 2 programs, rebooted.
Ran another backup. Verified the incremental set was there (manage space/view backups)
Uninstalled 2 more programs, rebooted.
Ran another backup. Verified the incremental set was there (manage space/view backups)
Booted to recovery disk and verified 3 image sets there.
Didn't bother restoring. I know it works.
Booted back to Win 7.
Copied WindowsImageBackup folder to E:
Deleted WindowsImageBackup folder from D:
(This is basic portability, moving images around, failed HD's, etc.)
Booted to recovery disk.
ONLY THE LATEST IMAGE WAS FOUND.
That's a fail for me. Anybody can reproduce that.
I did get back to the original image - to before I uninstalled the 4 programs.
After I restored the unwanted image, and rebooted to the recovery disk.
Then it saw all image sets, though it misstated the drive letters.
I'm not going to get into the obvious weeds with this. Not my aim.
For the "common" non-business user here, who wants a simple user-named full image that can be found where ever he put it or moved it, IMO this isn't the tool.
Too much babysitting, like telling them to do a rename unless they want an incremental next time they hit the backup button.
For those needing incrementals, it might be fine, or might not be. I'm not going to test that more than I have, because I already found a deal-breaker - for me.
It's pretty slow too.

 

[karlsnooks]

Victor,
No one is forcing you to use any product.

We have given you the advantage of decades of experience dealing with operating systems and backup programs.

Incidentally, no matter how perfect the hardware or the software, you will always find people who have problems with the product. They will blame the product and not themselves.

Operator malfunction is the source of most problems with modern hardware and software.

There is no such thing as a computer system for the brainless.

 

[Night Hawk]

Alright people calm down here! When I get ticked I simply call the system a "mindless pc" or piece of... :roflmao:

The point is is that it does work! For multiple images there's a trick to that as far as the backup option in 7 or any other program of simply renaming the folder itself in order to see another image made which creates a brand new WindowsImageBackup folder of the exact same name. Adding a date like WindowsImageBackup_July 29 would prevent the automatic overwrite.

Moving images between drives also offsets the Windows information tucked away and can stall a restoration. That accounts for the restoration option while booted live not finding an image while the restoration option in the CP however can still use it to start it there.

With Macrium Reflect inbetween changing drive letters an image of Vista back in 2009 was seen as invalid following a swap around of RC installs. Acronic T.I. on the other hand was another 3rd party element that can still restore an image moved from one place to another once you browse to the main folder.

Different backup programs each have their advantages or disadvantages just like any other software type! You go by what works in your situation. Here the 7 option and Acronis do the job without problem. Acronis simply compresses images down in size and is able to mount images as a virtual C drive being a 3rd party full featured program you pay separately for.