windows 7
if i backup windows/programfiles/and Users will that be a working copy of my windows system and programs. so if i copy back after any problem that would be sufficient for getting windows back and working??
Doubt that will work if your OS gets corrupted and will not boot.
I would create a NEW task, call it Windows OS, back up that OS partition (C Drive, not the entire disk) and once a month (or more) do a "Differential" backup using the same task. Create the task as Manual and make no more changes to the task. And, most important... If you have a spare drive, pull out your working drive, insert the "test" drive, boot with your recovery media and restore the OS partition and TEST.
Once you have tested the recovery and everything works, you can relax and adjust your backup methods to suit your personal taste. You will know that disaster recovery will actually work and that is the MOST IMPORTANT. Don;t rely on the fact that the "Backup Completed without errors". You never really know unless you test a real restore and the result is bootable and everything on the OS partition is there..
I have a "Data" partition on my boot drive that I use for data only... Web stuff, program development etc and I use a similar backup scheme for that partition. Doing this stops reliance on auto cleanups and numbers of backups etc...
Others, that are way more familiar with TIH and more informed may have other great ideas.
Steve
Thanks for you advice Steve what i don't understan in that is create the new taskto back up OS which i am after doing but not entire drive that is the part i am struggling with as i can only see see either back up the disk or files??
Perhaps the question that needs to be asked here is how many partitions does your system have?
If you have a new system such as a laptop computer fresh out of the box, then it will likely have 3 or 4 partitions but only one of these will be visible, the one hosting the Windows operating system, the other partitions will be hidden and contain such as diagnostics, recovery and on new systems, EFI system boot data.
If this is the case, then you would need to backup the whole disk to have a working recovery image, and the backup would need to be taken to an external drive or other storage media.
If you are wanting to create a backup image on the same physical hard drive, then you would need to 'shrink' the Windows partition size to create free space behind it and then create a new 'volume' in that free space. You can do this within Windows itself or else use such as the free Easeus Partition Manager software to do this resizing. It is recommended that you have a full backup of the drive BEFORE making such changes.
Hi my system hard drive has only one partition i fitted it i just find it oddd you cannot get something that will just back-up windows with full settings and programs for when you need it which you inveriable will. my windows now is fresh install lla programs done and i would like to keep just that as is...thanks again for your help
Hi Anthony, if you currently have a fresh, clean install of Windows that you want to preserve and be able to go back to should the worst case scenario happens, then image your drive as it is today to external media (hard drive or DVD media) - you can then use this for recovery back to your initial install state to a new / different hard drive as needed.
Windows installations are more complicated than being able to just copy the files, programs and settings, many of the system files are inaccessible while Windows is running and you either have to use the VSS service to copy these or boot from a CD or USB stick with an alternative rescue system to get at them. Windows 7 and upwards uses a hidden BCD system which may be stored in a separate 200MB hidden partition, and the latest systems use GPT formatting for disk drives and UEFI protection systems for allowing what can or cannot be booted. You have to copy all of this information in order to create a full recovery image.