How do I backup system files?
Hello,
How do I backup system files? I need only system files. I do not want to include photos, movies, music, email or any other user data. A full backup requires almost one TB of hard drive space. I think the registry is all that is needed and requires far less backup space. I also want to avoid re-activation should I need to re-install Windows 7. Not only Windows require activation, many other programs also require activation. It took me over a month to get all my software back when I re-installed W7 a year ago. The software list is very extensive and difficult to remember where all the activation files are.
Using Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit.
Help, suggestions are greatly appreciated.
Rob
If you want to be able to restore system in case of a crash or hardware failure, the backup the windows partitions. Windows is too complex to be able to just select some files for restore and hope that will work, you have boot sectors, registry files, system files, etc. all to take into account. It's a whole lot easier to back up the partition(s) that to spend all the time to try to avoid that to save time. Make separate partitions or use separate hdisks for data files if you really want to keep them separate and out of the system backups. You can drag and drop the data files from the system disk so that the system knows you've moved, for example, the Documents directory to a diff partition or hdisk.
If you want to be able to restore system in case of a crash or hardware failure, the backup the windows partitions.
Thank you Scott for your reply. You are correct, the files to backup may be more than registry files. I should have clarified my back up plan. I suspect a virus on my hard drive. I am not too concerned about a hard disk failure. My user stuff can be simply transferred form the old to the new drive. I need to make sure that no virus shall survive restoration.
1. Start with a new hard drive.
2. Re-install W7 and activate.
3. Re-install all my other software from original downloads located on the old hard drive or previously backed up. Also generate hash values (not to be confused with the hash tag or # pound sign) and crc bit sums and backup to a text file. A change is very easy to detect should a virus corrupt the file.
4. Restore registry from a virus free backup of the old hard drive. Hopefully this eliminates the need to re-activate. If not, than no back plan will work. The only safe way, to avoid a sneaky virus hiding in the hard drive, is to do a complete re-install and re-activation of all software. This takes me over one month to complete and I may have trouble activating my software. Some companies keep a count of activation attempts; typically 4 activations. I have already exceeded re-activation twice. I had to call tech support and fortunately they gave me an extra chance. I do not want to repeat this effort; especially when I am at risk for many thousands of dollars. Virus scanners may not work for all virus. A backup and restore will restore a virus also; it's not safe.
You can activate Windows as many times as you like so long as it's on the same machine. You might have to call instead of doing it on line (this makes it harder for the folks truing to sell a serial number many many times) but they legally cannot refuse you if you paid for a legitimate copy. And I've never known them to refuse. Run a good security program like Kaspersky if you want to find and root out a suspected virus. If you reload any files from the old disk image, then you cannot guaranty you aren't picking up some nefarious code. If using any old files, then use a good security program.
The only safe way, to avoid a sneaky virus hiding in the hard drive, is to do a complete re-install and re-activation of all software.
I advise booting from a CD or USB flash drive to run one of the many bootable anti-virus and anti-malware tools. That removes Windows from the equation, so viruses can't use their usual tricks to hide from Windows tools.
And yes, of course there is much more that needs to be backed up than just the registry. That's why I made the reply I did, and awaited your response so I could provide further detail depending on your answer and state of knowledge. Too many users here assume they know what's needed for a complete restore, so they backup only their believed minimum (e.g. only C: partition, or Windows folder, or as in your case just Registry). It's a bad approach, and I recommend a full disk mode Backup which captures everything, and is the simplest, safest backup method.