Win 7 System Images - incremental or not?

[mjf]

This is more of a personal preference than anything else:
If I ever had problems in the distant past with Windows backup it was by giving it automatic control.
I always make one new image manually. If I want to keep it I rename it to say
WindowsImageBackup_12_5_11 or move it into a folder. Of course moving within partition boundaries is just a directory change and "instant". When I no longer want the image I shift delete it.
Maybe I'm lucky, but by following this approach I have never had a problem after many imaging operations.

 

[GeneO]

My experience as well with Acronis.

I believe the only thing Windows 7 lets you manage is the user area backups , not the image backups.

Macrium is an alternative. I am making both. I have successfully restored from Windows 7 backup, but have not tried a Macrium restore yet.

 

[mjf]

My Approach:

I manually manage windows image backups in as much as it lets you. Under the general "Backup & Restore" I use the let me choose option in backup settings and untick the automatic make an image option.
I select the manual "Create a system image" when I want to make an image. Windows will allow you to select any available partition with sufficient space to store the image except (system, active, boot). I always make fresh images by either deleting an old image beforehand or by renaming and/or moving an existing image.
Windows will force imaging of partition(s) containing (system active, Boot). If you have a separate 100-200MB system reserved partition this will be included along with the OS (MS call Boot) partition. You can add additional letter assigned partitions if you like.

My personal preference is to use Windows imaging for (system,active,Boot) plus the odd Macrium for safety. For non (system,active,boot) I use Macrium because of it's greater flexibility in choosing individual partitions.

 

[kado897]

Pretty much my approach as well except I use the paid Macrium for file and folder backups. It's much more flexible.

 

[hw360]

I did the tests with Windows 7 *scheduled* backup (not interactively) with system image, this morning, twice.
NO, system image backup IS NOT INCREMENTAL.

 

[kado897]

I agree, it's only the file and folder backup that's incremental and even then, I believe, it's only incremental at the file level not the block level.

 

[SIW2]

Which tests?

I did the tests with Windows 7 *scheduled* backup (not interactively) with system image, this morning, twice.
NO, system image backup IS NOT INCREMENTAL.

Also - no need to SHOUT. LOL

 

[hw360]

Which test?
C: Windows 7 Ultimate 32bit, 9GB.
E: Empty 100GB.

In Backup and Restore, set:
Backup Destination E:
What do you want to back up? Let Windows choose (Backup Summary: All users, System Image)

Capital words here means emphasis, not shout. LOL

 

[SIW2]

It still only offers 1 image to restore when you boot to system recovery options?

Dang - the storage team are telling porkies, then.

 

[SIW2]

Save a bit of time and at cmd type

wbadmin get versions -backuptarget:e:

see what it says

 

[hw360]

That command shows there are many versions available.
I don't have a DVD burner on this machine to burn the Recovery CD. I will find a way to boot into Recovery mode and try again.

 

[mjf]

I've always been under the impression that the image is overwritten.
A very simple test would be that a small change would require much less time to carry out the incremental change - this wasn't my (distant) experience.

I don't even have Windows overwrite images now. I delete, rename or move before creating a fresh image.
Although I use it, Windows imaging is a fledgling product.

 

[hw360]

My latest tests shows: SIW2 is right!

The Windows 7 System Image is incremental. It's not visible from Windows Backup & Restore application, it's visible if you boot from Recovery CD.

 

[SIW2]

Yes, it's misleading - looking at the backup folder makes you think there is only one.

Thanks for testing hw360.

 

[hw360]

I wonder where the incremental data are saved?

After above test, I copied the E:\WindowsImageBackup to another drive F:\, detached the E: drive, and attached F: drive to the machine.

Both Windows 7 Recover Disk and wpadmin command show there is only one system image in F: drive, no more previous versions.

 

[whs]

Larry, you are getting a lot of good input and also some conflicting advice. And if you like intellectual challenges, do experiment some more with Windows imaging - I do that too. But I would never trust my system to that facility.

If you want to make your life easy and be sure that you can recover one day, follow the advice of SIW2 and use Paragon or Macrium. I did not get around to write a Paragon tutorial yet, but for Macrium, have a look at this: http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/73828-imaging-free-macrium.html?ltr=I

Both programs are free, so you loose nothing. Acronis is probably also a good alternative. You get it for free with some disk drives.

 

[SIW2]

hw360,

Older files are moved into Shadow storage on the backup drive.

If that gets borked - and it may - then you only have the most recent image remaining.

 

[Frozenthunder]

Even the normal file backup doesn't work incremental....

 

[SIW2]

 

[mjf]

hw360,

Older files are moved into Shadow storage on the backup drive.

If that gets borked - and it may - then you only have the most recent image remaining.

It has been my practice for a while now to always to make one image only.
I delete, rename or move. I consider it a conservative but safe approach and I can spare 30 minutes once a week to make an image.

EXPERIMENT
1) Used "Create a System Image". Not scheduled imaging.
2) Made an image. Took ~34 minutes.
3) Deleted a folder from the imaged partition.
4) Sometime later made a second image "over" the first. Took ~3minutes.
5) Booted from system repair and searched for image. Found only one image.
6) Attached image under disk management. The deleted folder was missing.
7) 200MB folder added (next day)
8) Imaged next day. Took ~7min
9) Still only one image found
10) attached vhd shows added data
11) deleting shadow storage made no apparent difference to the contents of the attached image. However, the next image took the full time of a fresh image ~ 34 minutes.

CONCLUSION
It overwrites the image but in a "smart" fashion accounting for the much faster imaging time. Looks like some form of differential or incremental imaging to me but overwriting the original image not keeping a base image.
Shadow storage plays a role in speeding up subsequent imaging.