On Tue, 13 Jul 2010 14:56:51 +0100, Andy wrote:
> "Ricky Jimenez" <rickyjim@bestweb.net> wrote in message
> news:apmo361l2290di91u7f9lk8f2belmq5ne3@4ax.com...
>> On Tue, 13 Jul 2010 07:59:41 +0100, "Andy" <andy@NOSPAMmanyplay.com>
>> wrote:
>>
>>>
>>>
>>>"Ricky Jimenez" <rickyjim@bestweb.net> wrote in message
>>>news:um4m36po1ief6h728n5frqtthotr71fqq6@4ax.com...
>>>> Windows 7 has a new feature not on Vista: The ability to restore your
>>>> entire system from a system image without having to reinstall
>>>> programs.
>>>>
>>>> If your hard drive fails and you have both prepared a boot disc (DVD)
>>>> and have a system image saved on an external hard drive, install a new
>>>> clean internal hard drive, boot using the disc and follow instructions
>>>> on retrieving the system image and you are up and running.
>>>>
>>>
>>>Yes it's true, but only on Win7 Premium or above.
>>>
>>>The Windows Backup software will create a system image (once or every
>>>time)
>>>and then create daily updates to that initial image. If you have the
>>>original installation disc then you don't need to create the separate
>>>restore disc as the same options are available if you select the recovery
>>>option during disc boot.
>>>
>>>Hope this helps
>>>
>>>
>>>Andy
>>
>> I have a somewhat different understanding so please correct me if I am
>> mistaken. System images are stored as such and are not modified by
>> regular "Windows Backup" which only saves user files and not programs.
>> So after you restore the latest system image you have saved, you still
>> may have to separately restore user data that were saved after the
>> last system image and are kept separately from it.
>>
>> That is how I interpret the following,
>>
>> "Windows Backup won't back up the following items:
>>
>> Program files (files that define themselves as part of a program in
>> the registry when the program is installed)..."
>>
>>
>>
>
> You can pick and choose what to backup. I backup my entire C: drive minus
> the "library" directories (which on my pc link to huge directories like my
> mp3 collection so it would backup those too).
>
> I chose settings that create one master image only (saves space) and then to
> make daily updates which it stores in directories. Win-backup also manages
> the size/amount of these updates to save space.
>
> If/When you have to do a complete image restore (eg new drive), Windows
> gives you a list of the last/latest save-points (very similar to System
> Restore) and then restores everything back to that date using the master
> image and updates.
>
> The restore process is complete, no reinstalls required provided you have
> selected all/enough of the files/dirs on your C: drive (and/or other drives
> if you wish) to be backed up.
>
> It can use up a lot of space making all those backups though. For example,
> my C: drive contains about 40GB of data so initially I gave Win-backup a
> whole 50GB partition to play with but it kept running out of space, you'd
> get one master and about 2 days of updates before you had to wipe it all and
> start again. I now let Win-backup have an entire 150GB drive (139GB usable)
> and right now it has used around 100GB! There must be a sweet-spot whereby
> you don't have to constantly delete updates and don't waste space... I'm
> guessing double the size of your data to be kept safe.
>
> Hope this helps
>
> Andy
You can also from time to time start over, i.e., create a new master backup
instead of an incremental backup.
I like to do that on a second disk, i.e, keep two drives, and back up to
one until it's close to full, then switch to a second with a fresh backup
and put the first aside. When the second one gets full, swap the two
drives, rinse, and repeat.
--
Gene E. Bloch (Stumbling Bloch)