How much space does a system image require?

[GTraymond2820]

Is it big and if it is can i save it on a 16gb usb flash drive?

 

[ignatzatsonic]

Depends on what program you use to create it, the chosen compression level, and how much space on C is actually occupied.

I have an 80 gig C drive, with about 28 GB occupied. Images of that partition created with Macrium take up about 13 GB.

You could save it on a USB drive, but I'm not sure your imaging program will necessarily see it when crunch time comes. A hard drive is preferable.

 

[whs]

If you use free Macrium, it takes about 60% of the amount of data that is on your C partition. If you have something like 27GB of data in C, it might fit - the total size of the C partition does not matter, only the data within counts. But don't forget the little 100MB system partition.

For Windows imaging (which I really would not recommend), I do not know the exact compression rate.

 

[whs]

Ignatz, with Macrium, USB sticks are no problem. They work. I have tried it.

 

[ignatzatsonic]

Ignatz, with Macrium, USB sticks are no problem. They work. I have tried it.

Thanks for that tidbit. I'll try to commit it to memory for future help requests---although I never use USB sticks for image files personally.

 

[whs]

Ignatz, with Macrium, USB sticks are no problem. They work. I have tried it.

Thanks for that tidbit. I'll try to commit it to memory for future help requests---although I never use USB sticks for image files personally.

I agree, a USB stick is not ideal for images. But it beats CDs or DVDs any time. Best is still an addidional disk - internal or external.

 

[GTraymond2820]

Well actually i want to use the regular windows 7 utility but if it cant save to a flash drive i have a my hp recovery partition i could format and use it has 13.1gb

 

[GTraymond2820]

If windows one isnt a good choice then what is the best option to use

 

[4wd]

Free download EaseUS Todo Backup Freeware to complete backup & restore Windows system - EaseUS Todo Backup Free at max compression results in an image of approx. 8GB from the 17GB on the C: drive here.

Other programs surely do a good job as well, but am very satisfied with the easeus stuff, have been flawless through years of use here. & got some nice functions, like built-in alignment for HD to SSD cloning. I also like that any individual file or folder inside an image file can be navigated to, accessed and restored to any location using only windows explorer. Some info and screenshots from a previous post.

 

[ignatzatsonic]

Well actually i want to use the regular windows 7 utility but if it cant save to a flash drive i have a my hp recovery partition i could format and use it has 13.1gb

Not the best idea for 2 reasons:

You may some day need to do a recovery using that partition.

The HP recovery partition is on the same drive as C. If that drive fails, you lose both C and your image.

I'd say Macrium Reflect is the easiest to use.

EaseUS works well too, but as I recall the installed application takes up close to 300 MB on C, more than I would like. My Macrium installation takes up 48 MB.

 

[chris1neji]

Macrium Reflect is also free and easy to use.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/73828-imaging-free-macrium.html?ltr=I
Someone on our forum has taken their precious time out of their life to make a wonderful tutorial for us Any questions don't hesitate to ask.

 

[GTraymond2820]

So all in all it isnt worth it?

 

[ignatzatsonic]

So all in all it isnt worth it?

It costs nothing to do make an image.

Only a little time.

An image saved on the same drive is likely better than no image at all, but I wouldn't feel particularly secure about it.

But understand---even if you saved the image on another drive, it could fail to restore for whatever reason.

Images are designed to save you time---if they work, you don't have to take the time to install and configure a new installation. If they fail or you don't have one, you have to expend the time on a new install---hardly the end of the world.

It's a personal decision entirely.

 

[chris1neji]

I have a system image, my main reason is I tend to always screw up somehow and what do you know here i am reformatting. Time to reinstall programs that total up to over 100GB's. Personally i found myself reformatting about 3 times a year. I decided to buy an internal HDD 1TB for backup purposes. It has an image file saved on it. However system images don't always work. Sometimes i just recommend people to just do simple backups and not system images.
Backing up emails, pictures, documents and more.

NO matter how much one knows about computers problems never end

 

[whs]

Download the Macrium WinPE .iso from my Skydrive and burn it to a CD - e.g. with ImgBurn. If you load from that CD, you can make images and need not even install free Macrium. It also serves as recovery CD.

https://skydrive.live.com/?cid=475a...cid=475A0A48CA6D4035&id=475A0A48CA6D4035!1812

 

[GTraymond2820]

ok so im gonna have to do a system image soon, do i need any special software or would windows 7 one be good enough, and how much space should i put into it? that software some of you showed me looks good but i read some bad review of it

 

[mjf]

I would recommend you:
1) use an external USB HDD for backups (even a 500GB)
2) use 2 different imaging programs so if one fails you have another. I use Windows inbuilt and Macrium Reflect free. Neither have caused me problems, however, Macrium is more flexible and receives less flak than Windows inbuilt. Also, with Macrium you can play around a little to get comfortable with imaging:
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/73828-imaging-free-macrium.html

In the end you never have confidence until you do a full system restore.

 

[ignatzatsonic]

how much space should i put into it? that software some of you showed me looks good but i read some bad review of it

You haven't mentioned how much space is occupied on the partition to be imaged, so we have no idea how much space is needed.

You will find bad reviews of any imaging software, just as you will find bad reviews of any software.

Imaging is not foolproof and can fail. You need to know what you will do if it fails----before you begin the process.

After the image is made, you won't know for sure if it will restore properly.