Backup Complete Computer - Create an Image Backup

Ah, I see...I needed to click that link on the left to get to the full backup. Thanks for your help.

Brink

I have read a great deal of documentation on Windows backup but I am still not sure if I understand something very basic correctly. It has been my impression that when I select "Create a System Image" from the "Backup and restore screeen" that absolutly every file on my local hard drive ( my boot drive) is being backed up. I say, this has been my understanding, but I'm beginning to wonder if my understanding is correct.

My hope would be that if I create a system image, and needed to do a restore, and had not added any files since creating the image (of course this is a hypothetical scenario), I say, my hope is that if I did the restore I would have every file on my boot hard drive, not just files related to the registry, but every file, data, installed programs, the whole hard drive. Is this correct?

Hi,

I don't use the Windows System Image - but 3rd party imaging apps. do exactly what you say .

Some allow you to exclude things if you wish - you need to specifically choose to do so.


Windows Image is of the complete boot partition - and the system partition by default - you can add others if you like.

If you are concerned about your image backups - you may find 3rd party apps. ( including many free ones ) will suit you better.

Thank you for responding, but if you don't use system image...

I have used both Ghost and Acronis. I am beginning to think they are no longer needed for what I do. Windows 7 system image does indeed seem to back up everything. I mean a total clone. I just proved this to myself by attaching to the VHD file after doing a system image and all files are there.

The reason I doubted was because Windows system image is so fast. It took me about 20 minutes to backup my entire C drive. The same thing a few days ago in Acronis 2010 took an hour and 10 minutes.

It is beginning to appear that a periodic system image backup is about all I need. I changed a couple of files, deleted some others and did a second system image backup. This time it only took three minutes. When I reattached, the files I had changed were there with the latest time stamps, and the file I deleted was gone.

It sounds too good to be true but these are my findings. I'm hoping something doesn't come along to dampen my hopes about a tool that seems very good at present.

I have looked into it - decided against it . Hence I am not using it.

Wow - there's something wrong your copy of Acronis, maybe.

I don't use Acronis - again - tried it - others are better imo.

How much Used space was on the partition you backed up - 20gb ?

To my knowledge there's nothing wrong with my Acronis. I used to get similar times with Acronis 9. I am backing up 33.5 GB on my C drive.

Best Regards

There is something wrong if it takes that long. If your previous Acronis also took that long - there may be some incompatibility with your system . It happens .

Depending how big your pagefile and hibernation file are - and restore points - that may only be around 20gb - Acronis would be expected to do that in 20 mins or so .

Paragon does. Macrium would do it in 10.

From the sound of it - you may be better with Windows backup than the Acronis one - no extra charge - you already paid for it with the o/s.

Sounds good.

BTW - it won't be a clone - that requires backing up all sectors . System Image only backs up used sectors.

It seems to be very good for what you want - go for it.

I have different requirements from my imaging apps. - so I use Paragon and Macrium - I have tried a lot - those two are the best imo. You might not need that extra flexibility and functionality - stick with the Windows one.

Shawn to be crystal clear,

My W7 hard drive contains 3 partitions. If I create an image backup of "C"-drive (W7 partition) and do a restore later on, will it wipe/delete the other partitions? In short will an image restore delete the other partitions. I'm still a little fuzzy about this issue.

Thanks.

To SIW2, Acronis is a little slow in creating backups, even on incrimentals. Don't know why, but it is. I have Acronis True Image Home 2009 that I used under Vista Ultimate x64 and it usually took about an hour to do an initial backup. Incrimentals usually took about 20-30 minutes.