Making an image of an OS

[mike19902010]

hello,

I've recently got a laptop that doesn't have back up discs of the OS and the software on it. I really need to back this software up. I can only think of making an image of the entire OS and software on it. Then backing up if i need to reload it.

However, i have an external hard drive through USB i'd like to store the image but i was curious as to whether it would need to format the external hard drive first(got important data on my external hd) plus is there any good software that would be able to do this? preferably one i wouldnt need to install as i wouldnt want to include it on the backup image

 

[jsquareg]

Yes, there are at least three pieces of software the will do what you want, Acronis, Paragon and my all time favorite Macrium Reflex Free. I don't mind at all having the software included in the backup but if you really don't want that you can make a bootable rescue disk or usb to use whenever you want to do a backup. Either of those would be required to do a restore.

I had used Acronis and Paragon for years until Macrium came out. In my mind the interface is much better and easier to use than the others.

Go for it!

 

[mike19902010]

i'll go for the macrium, i'd have to install it on the OS wouldnt i? wouldnt that include the macrium software in the image file?

Also, if i have stuff on my external hard drive that i need, would macrium be able to just store the image in a folder on the external hd and not have to format the entire disc? just worried it will remove all my data on the disc before it puts the image to the hard drive

 

[samuria]

It will write the image to the folder you tell it. You need to create aMR boot disk in order to boot and restore the image. You can create several iamges so when you have a large up date you have an up todate copy and iamge is a lot smaller than the disk size if you use compression

 

[SIW2]

An Image is just a file, you can store it like any other file. It will be quite large.

There are several programs that will do the job, I suggest Aomei Backupper as the simplest to use ( standard version is free )

AOMEI Software: Data Backup & Restore, Hard Drive Partition, Disk Clone

 

[mike19902010]

okay thank you, i'll do the mr boot disc, i just don't understand how the software will create an image without the macrium software but with the other software i already have on the system(need those software backed up too)

 

[fireberd]

I use Macrium Reflect (Paid version). I have the Macrium Reflect program installed on my "C" (OS) drive. I make full drive backups (all partitions) to a SEPARATE drive(s). I have two USB connected hard drives and I alternate backups to the two drives. If one drive were to fail, I still have the other one.

You don't want to save the disc image (backup) to the same drive that you have the OS on, even if on a separate partition. If the drive were to fail, your backups are also gone.

 

[mike19902010]

Hi,

No my hard drive C is the one with the OS and the software(already installed) no cds so wanting to make an image back up of just the os and the software(without the backup software, macrium or backupper) so after i restore, the laptop has got the same os and the same software on it.

I'm backing up to my seagate 1tb external usb hard drive

 

[mjf]

so wanting to make an image back up of just the os and the software(without the backup software, macrium or backupper) so after i restore, the laptop has got the same os and the same software on it.

There may be some confusion here.
The Macrium imaging program will be installed on your OS partition (C) just like any other program. You want to have this software stored in the image like any other installed software and restored when you need to reimage. You normally make an image by running the installed software. The actual image itself is a separate large file that should be stored on your external HDD. When you make another image it just stores another image file on your external HDD. You can keep as many images as you want and restore an image back at a point in time that suites you.

You must create a rescue (restore) CD that you boot from, select an image on your external HDD and do a restore. I'd go for the pe5 rescue CD (or USB flash drive) option because it contains USB 3 drivers. The software guides you through the process of making the rescue CD/USB and it's simple.

Finally, you can actually make an image from the boot CD but you would rarely want to do this.

 

[SIW2]

You can use this boot media. It contains Aomei backupper. You can burn the iso as an image to cd or extract to usb. Boot it up. Start Aomei Backupper and image your system.

17514x64-v3.iso

 

[wizardwillow]

StorageCraft Recovery Environment 5.2.6 ISO File appromix - 500 MB, burn it into DVD, now u can create de backup easily and with ease. its functions also very GUI ... DONT download de TRIAL version (APPROMI -120MB), in this case, U NEED TO BUY FULL VERSION or go to ILLEGAL website - just like above (gigapurbalinga etc ) to get FULL version. THEY DID THE GREAT WORK.

GO AND TRY IT BEFORE u change ur mindset. it's surplus version.. these includes REPAIR BOOTLOADER or FORMAT or EVEN OFFLINE FILES BROWSING. those are actually contribute GREATLY during windows OS disaster!

ALL u need is just BURN IT and LOAD created DVD into ur computer and BOOT IT to perform BACKUP OR REPAIRINGS! adious smart!