Solved Which backup & restore to use

[bbrose2]

New system using W7 Pro & IE11 with 1TB SATA hard drive (c drive) & an external drive (e) 250 GB Seagate One Touch Mini 4. Need help in deciding which backup & restore to use, Windows 7 Backup & Restore or Seagate 2 step programs or any suggestions. Want to be able to create whole system image & also backup of all users data files & programs. A couple of questions are: do I have to completely wipe my external drive clean before starting any new backup procedure, can I store both system image & data files on the external drive without creating paritions, is my external drive big enough to hold everything (I currently have space (approx 50 GB left on external drive when using XP). Thank you for any help you can provide.

 

[SIW2]

do I have to completely wipe my external drive clean before starting any new backup procedure

No, backup image is stored as a file.

can I store both system image & data files on the external drive without creating paritions

I think you mean extra partitions - you must already have at least one.

Yes, just store it like any other file.

is my external drive big enough to hold everything

Depends how much used space you have on the source partition. Also depends on what type of files you have on the used space, some will compress a lot, some file types compress very little.

Images will typically be 50-60% of the size of the original used space.




Aomei ( owmay ) Backupper is the best free imaging program, Standard version is free:

Windows 8.1, Windows 8, Windows 7 Free Backup and Restore Software

 

[Lady Fitzgerald]

Many people here prefer Macrium Reflect Free (here is a good tutorial on how to use Macrium Reflect). I use a paid version of Macrium Reflect to back up my C: drive (or partition, depending on the machine) but the free version will meet most peoples needs. I also use FreeFileSync to back up my data drives (or partition, depending on the machine). A folder/file syncing program, such as FreeFileSync is much faster for backing up data than imaging. The OS and programs, however, have to be backed up by imaging or cloning, imaging generally being the most practical.

 

[mjf]

For some redundancy, I use 2 system imaging programs; Windows inbuilt and (free) Macrium Reflect. Neither has let me down so far but Macrium has the edge. Macrium is more flexible and does provide compression of your image files. For hardware redundancy I keep current images on 2 separate external HDDs.

 

[bbrose2]

SIW2,

Would it benefit me more to start with a clean disc rather than all of the old stuff that I probably can not access anyway?

 

[SIW2]

Which disk do you mean - the one you intend to store your images on?

Up to you. If what you have on there is not accessible or not wanted, then you can do a quick format if you like. Or you could just delete anything you are certain you don't want. 50gb isn't a lot of space, so if you can clear some more, it is a good idea.

If you want to do regular file backups as well as an image, then aomei does that also. Schedule it if you like.

 

[bbrose2]

SIW2,

Yes, I am speaking of the drive I want to use as my external backup. I figured it would be best to start with a full 250GB rather than what is left on that drive from previous backups.

 

[SIW2]

Yes. good idea. Quick format will be fine to clear that if you don't need/want anything currently on there.

 

[AddRAM]

Macrium and Windows built in imaging.

 

[Lady Fitzgerald]

Even though I haven't used it myself (I found it too confusing when I first tried to) after seeing all the posts from people having problems with Windows Imaging, there is no way I would ever recommend it, especially since Macrium Reflect is so easy to use and is so reliable.

 

[bbrose2]

Lady Fitzgerald

Thank you for your info. It was very helpful. It seems most people prefer using Macrium Free version. A question I could not determine from going to Macrium web site is: If I download & use the free version can I do both an image backup & also backup my data files to the same external drive or do I have to purchase the paid version to do this?? Thanks again.

 

[Lady Fitzgerald]

Thank you for your info. It was very helpful. It seems most people prefer using Macrium Free version. A question I could not determine from going to Macrium web site is: If I download & use the free version can I do both an image backup & also backup my data files to the same external drive or do I have to purchase the paid version to do this?? Thanks again.

If your OS and programs are on their own drive or partition, you can make images of that drive or partition and save them to an external drive (you aren't limited to one image as long as you have room to store them). Images are a type of file and can be stored just like other files. Imaging is the best way to backup the OS and programs since merely copying the OS and programs will render them nonfunctional.

Data can also be backed up by imaging (and saved on the same drive as the OS/program images) but, for backing up data, imaging takes too long. An image of the entire volume has to made every time a backup can be made. A folder/file syncing program, such as FreeFileSync, is much faster. A folder/file syncing program copies data files from a designated folder on the source drive to an identical folder on the destination drive. When set for backing up data, once the initial backup has been done, the only files that get transferred from the source drive to data drive are the ones that have changed since the previous backup. Any files that have been deleted from the source drive will also be deleted from the destination drive. Since only new, changed, and deleted files are involved, backups are much faster once the initial backup has been done.

 

[mjf]

Even though I haven't used it myself (I found it too confusing when I first tried to) after seeing all the posts from people having problems with Windows Imaging, there is no way I would ever recommend it, especially since Macrium Reflect is so easy to use and is so reliable.

If you haven't used it how could recommend it or not.

I've used it for years (5+) on 3 very different PCs without a single problem. I'm talking many images and system restores including to new drives. In terms of use it couldn't be simpler - click on "Create a system image".
As I have said I also use Macrium when added flexibility is required and just in case.
If further guidance is needed Brink has 2 tutorials on making and restoring system images using Windows inbuilt system imaging.

 

[Lady Fitzgerald]

Even though I haven't used it myself (I found it too confusing when I first tried to) after seeing all the posts from people having problems with Windows Imaging, there is no way I would ever recommend it, especially since Macrium Reflect is so easy to use and is so reliable.

If you haven't used it how could recommend it or not. ...

Reread what I wrote, especially what I just bolded. The fact I found it too confusing to use yet had no trouble using Macrium Reflect is another. Another reason is, if one move the Users folders from the C: drive or partition to another drive or partition, Windows Imaging will image both.

 

[mjf]

Even though I haven't used it myself (I found it too confusing when I first tried to) after seeing all the posts from people having problems with Windows Imaging, there is no way I would ever recommend it, especially since Macrium Reflect is so easy to use and is so reliable.

If you haven't used it how could recommend it or not. ...

Reread what I wrote, especially what I just bolded. The fact I found it too confusing to use yet had no trouble using Macrium Reflect is another. Another reason is, if one move the Users folders from the C: drive or partition to another drive or partition, Windows Imaging will image both.

I can read. You are going on hearsay. I'm going on extensive first hand experience.
It may be ok to suggest some others appear to have had problems but that's all.

 

[bbrose2]

Lady Fitzgerald

I guess I did not make my question clear enough. My question was "If I download & use the free version, can I do both a image backup & also backup data files to the same external drive or do I have to purchase the paid version to do this?" To clarify, does the free version allow you to do an image of the complete system for a compete restore of the disk if needed & but also provide a way to backup data files (not an image of data files) but a copy of the new, changed, deleted file, etc.

 

[Lady Fitzgerald]

If you haven't used it how could recommend it or not. ...

Reread what I wrote, especially what I just bolded. The fact I found it too confusing to use yet had no trouble using Macrium Reflect is another. Another reason is, if one move the Users folders from the C: drive or partition to another drive or partition, Windows Imaging will image both.

I can read. You are going on hearsay. I'm going on extensive first hand experience.
It may be ok to suggest some others appear to have had problems but that's all.

That "hearsay" far outnumbers your own experience. Also, I did say from the word go that my opinion was based the problems others have said.

 

[Golden]

Lets drop the bitching and try help bbrose2 instead.

bbrose2 : the free version of Macrium will image everything and restore everything. For data backups, use either FreeFileSync or SyncToy which can backup incrementally.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/278866-synctoy-backup-user-data.html

 

[bbrose2]

Golden,

Thank you. I certainly did not want to get into the middle of that discussion! Do you happen to know if the paid version will allow you to incrementally backup data files in addition to doing a image backup only of the OS drive? I do not want to have to run 2 different program just to do backups. Is Aomei any better than Macrium.

Bud Rose

 

[Golden]

The paid verison of Macrium allows incremental imaging, but not backups as far as I know. I could be wrong there though. I use the the 2 x software approach myself.

AOEMI has a very good name, and is becoming very popular, but I don't know much about it. It has imaging as well as backup capability. I've asked SiW2 to drop by here....knows the software intimately and will offer his experience of it.

***Edit***
I've just looked at my paid version of Macrium Reflect, and it DOES indeed have a folder backup option.







It would be worth waiting for SiW2 to post about AOEMI first, then you can decide between Macrium or AOEMI (I suspect AOEMI might offer all this functionality in their free version)