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Backing Up Clean Windows Install

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On May 25, 2016, Microsoft upgraded my Laptop to Windows 10 without my knowledge. It's an older laptop with Windows 7 that wasn't entirely compatible with Windows 10. It caused a lot of problems and I ended up doing a clean install of Windows 7. I've finished installing Windows, the driver's from the Dell Support website, Office, and the updated for both Windows and Office. Before installing all of the other applications I'd like to make a backup of the the C partition so that if there are any problems in the future I can just restore from that backup without having to go through all of the hastle of reinstalling Windows, drivers, Office and updates. Windows is installed on my C partition and I have my files on the D partition. I've gone through the tutorial and knowledge base articles and I'm more confused that ever. How to I make an image of the C partition onto either DVDs or an external portable drive that I can restore from directly by booting up using the Acronis DVD?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Hello & welcome to these user forums.

First point, I would recommend that you download a copy of the GWX Control Panel which will prevent Microsoft from automatically upgrading your clean install of Windows 7 back to 10 again, at least until they stop doing this after July 29th!  I use this on several machines which are not capable of running Windows 10 but which Microsoft still insist on downloading GBytes of data to for Windows 10.

Next point, you haven't given us any information on which version of Acronis True Image Home you are intending to use to backup your clean install of Windows 7, so it is difficult to guide you as there are differences in the versions that would only confuse you more if we tell you about the options for a version you don't have.

Steve Smith wrote:

Hello & welcome to these user forums.

First point, I would recommend that you download a copy of the GWX Control Panel which will prevent Microsoft from automatically upgrading your clean install of Windows 7 back to 10 again, at least until they stop doing this after July 29th!  I use this on several machines which are not capable of running Windows 10 but which Microsoft still insist on downloading GBytes of data to for Windows 10.

Next point, you haven't given us any information on which version of Acronis True Image Home you are intending to use to backup your clean install of Windows 7, so it is difficult to guide you as there are differences in the versions that would only confuse you more if we tell you about the options for a version you don't have.

Hi Steve,

Thanks for getting back to me. I'm using Acronis True Image 2013.

 

 

 

Thank you for the further information.

Given your initial statement that this is an older laptop and that you have two partitions with drive letters C: for OS and D: for Data, I would recommend following the ATIH 2013 User Guide section for Backing up partitions and disks as I would strongly recommend making a full disk backup, not just a backup of your C: OS drive.

If your laptop disk drive fails, you will lose all partitions on the drive and all data.

The key benefit for doing a full disk backup is that it will also include the hidden System Reserved partition that Windows 7 creates when you install it, and which is essential to boot your system into Windows 7.

I would recommend using an external USB hard disk drive to store your full disk backup image that ATIH 2013 will create - and advice against using DVD's as these will present a number of problems, not least of which is the number of DVD's you will need, the need to protect these from any damage, scratches etc, as well as the lower speed to recover from DVDs should it ever be necessary.

If you follow the User Guide page referenced above, take the option to 'Switch to disk mode' as described in step 1 of the guide and then select your entire disk drive in the laptop.

In step 2 of the guide, select your external USB hard disk drive as the destination for your backup image.

You can do the whole backup process from within Windows 7 using the ATIH 2013 GUI interface, or alternatively, if you have created the Acronis bootable recovery media, you can boot from this and test that it will work should you ever need to recovery your laptop from the backup.

Initially, I would suggest making the first backup from within Windows, but please do test the recovery media (DVD, CD or USB stick), as it is best to discover now if you are going to encounter any issues using it and not when the chips are down.

Hi Steve,

Thanks reply.

I'm not overly concerned  about the data on my D Drive since that is backed up once a week to a network drive and every month or so to a USB drive.

My concern with backing up the full disk instead of just the C partition is that I don't have enough room on my portable hd to do it. My D partition is 200gb so I would have to purchase a new drive which would be costly. Are there any other options?

George

 

 

 

 

George, no problem, in step 1 of the guide, take the option to 'Switch to partition mode' then and ensure that you select all partitions except your D: data partition so that you include the System Reserved and your C: OS partition at a minimum. You may also have a diagnostic partition or a recovery partition depending on whether you initialised the whole drive when you did the clean install of Windows 7 or not.

Steve Smith wrote:

George, no problem, in step 1 of the guide, take the option to 'Switch to partition mode' then and ensure that you select all partitions except your D: data partition so that you include the System Reserved and your C: OS partition at a minimum. You may also have a diagnostic partition or a recovery partition depending on whether you initialised the whole drive when you did the clean install of Windows 7 or not.

Great thanks.

 

 

Steve,

I'm reading through the user giude link that you provided and I have a couple of questions:

1. For my purposes am I ok to make the backup through Windows since it is the OS that I'm trying to back up or am I better to boot using the Acronis 2013 DVD and do the back up that way?
2. If I make the backup to my portable HD or to a USB thumb drive will I be able to recover the backup file by booting using the Acronis DVD or would I need to reload Windows first in the event of a failure? The option to make the media bootable doesn't seem to be an option.
3. Can I make the backup now to my portable HD and then copy the files to a thumb drive later on when I buy one with enough space?

George

 

 

 

 

 

George, you are fine backing up Windows OS from within Windows with the Acronis GUI as it will create a snapshot of the OS files (much in the same way that Windows Backup can do).

USB hard drives are normally a lot faster to use than the USB thumb drives in my personal experience, plus I have had thumb drives go bad for no obvious reason, so better to have both rather than rely only one one backup store.  USB hard drives have reduced in price a lot these days and even a 250GB or 500GB drive should store multiple copies of your Windows 7 OS backup image files.  I would anticipate a backup size of upto 25GB for a normal Windows 7 install, depending on what else you have installed and not including any Windows 10 upgrade files in hidden folders on your drive C: root folder.

In the event of a future failure or need to recover, the normal process would be to boot from the Acronis rescue CD / DVD or USB stick and restore back you image using that. The restore process will overwrite anything that is on the drive or partition where you are restoring to.