Solved Windows 7 Home Premium Imaging Issue

[ijmolina]

Hello! I was trying to make an image of my pc using windows 7 image backup tool, and using DVDs.

The problem is that i keep getting the message asking me to format the DVD (+R). When i do that it then asks me to lable a dvd and insert it...and then... i am asked to format again..and label ( exactly the same label ), press continue...and format...and label..and so on... so the process gets like stuck in the burning of the first DVD.

The CD-DVD writer is ok.

Help please,
And thanks for your time

 

[Roderunner]

Windows back up in my experience is not totally trustworthy, even more so, if using DVD's. Their are many free & paid tools that do it better.

 

[samurusawyer]

Windows back up in my experience is not totally trustworthy, even more so, if using DVD's. Their are many free & paid tools that do it better.

Yes i am agree with Roderunne.

 

[kado897]

This is popular with a lot of people here Macrium Reflect FREE Edition - Information and download. I have not tried it with DVDs but it claims to support them.

 

[Bare Foot Kid]

This is popular with a lot of people here Macrium Reflect FREE Edition - Information and download. I have not tried it with DVDs but it claims to support them.

Hello samurusawyer, welcome to Seven Forums!


Have a look at this tutorial at the link below and be sure to post back with any further questions you may have and to keep us informed.

Imaging with free Macrium




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[ijmolina]

I installed the last driver for my CD-DVD writer, and it worked ... until the 5th DVD I inserted, it said the DVD had a problem..well...changed it for another one...same problem... change it again, and it worked , continued to the 7th DVD where i wasted 1 blank-DVD more cause of the same problem, but it seems the problem comes from the blank-DVDs (don't know why)

Windows back up in my experience is not totally trustworthy, even more so, if using DVD's. Their are many free & paid tools that do it better.

Why Windows Back-up software would not be trustworthy? And why even more when using DVDs? I find really easy to create an image with the Win-7 Backup tool But, i wonder... if you say it isn't trustworthy... maybe .. when i (in the future) want to recover with the DVDs, it maybe not work?

Thanks for your time ( to all the ones that have replied )

( Sorry for my english, i know it isn't perfect at all )

 

[kado897]

I have had many cases where Windows said it burned a DVD correctly (Video not backup) but the DVD was not playable. It uses the same burning engine for backup.

 

[ijmolina]

Then i wasted a lot of money buying blank-dvds ( need a lot, because i want to make an image of about 100 GB )

I'll think ill use that Macrium thing, thx

 

[mjf]

No matter what backup software you use, DVDs are not a good media except for occasional drag and drops you may want to distribute. Use a cheap external HDD (or two!).

I use Windows imaging extensively and have never experienced a problem. I suggest you make up your own mind.
I also use Macrium for specific jobs and as a secondary imaging software. Imaging is too important to put your faith in a single software package.

 

[bru]

I was also going to say why not image to an external drive. I don't know if Windows imaging is a problem or not but I use it and have the image on my external drive. And my image is larger than yours. I guess if I ever need to restore it I will find out if it works :huh: .

 

[ijmolina]

I wanted to image on an external USB HDD, but it wouldn't work because it appeared a sign saying my 400 GB External HDD doesn't have "NTFS" thing.

So... should i buy a new HDD with the NTFS system? or... well, i don't know too much about imaging, and i'm just starting now, because i formated my pc and i don't want to download all the programs i use in the future if i have to format again.

Thanks for your time and answers

 

[mjf]

you need to provide more details on your external HDD. Ideally a screen shot from windows "Disk Management". There is a tutorial on how to upload a screenshot using the windows snipping tool.

The NTFS reference is to how your external HDD needs to be formatted. If it's a free drive not used for other purposes (eg. with a Mac) then it's probably a very easy reformat job. We can help with that.

 

[ijmolina]

Here i have the screenshot of the disk management tool, sadly it is in spanish, but if you don't understand something just tell me, anyway i think the info appears in the same order than in english-language:



By the way, a doubt i have:

The NTFS reference is to how your external HDD needs to be formatted

That means i have to format my external HDD right? after doing that, i'm supposed to be able to:
1.- save an image of my pc
2.- store data (documents, music, back-ups, etc)

am I right?

Thanks for your time and answers

 

[mjf]

Yes and Yes. Formatting is very easy and someone has made a tutorial.
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/168358-format-hdd-usb.html

But remember all your data on the disk will be wiped. Apples/Macs do not support NTFS.

 

[kado897]

I think you may be able to back up to a FAT32 drive using Macrium Reflect FREE Edition - Information and download

 

[ijmolina]

Thanks!!! Now i have my ext. HDD with NTFS and i could store an image (coming from win7 backup tools)

Now, i'll store a Free-Macrium image, (if the win7-image doesn't work ).

Thanks again!

 

[Bare Foot Kid]

Good to see you found a solution and thanks for the update.

 

[kado897]

Don't forget to test whether you can see your backup drive from the recovery disks. The Macrium Linux based disk sometimes has problems depending on your device setup.

 

[ijmolina]

Don't forget to test whether you can see your backup drive from the recovery disks.

For checking that i should create a backup-disk from Macrium, boot with it, and see if i can find my ext. HDD?

am i right?

thx

 

[kado897]

Don't forget to test whether you can see your backup drive from the recovery disks.

For checking that i should create a backup-disk from Macrium, boot with it, and see if i can find my ext. HDD?

am i right?

thx

Yes you can even take it as far as finding the Macrium image you created on the drive but if you can find the drive there will not be any problem finding the file. One thing to remember your drives will be assigned different drive letters in the recovery environment which can sometimes be confusing.