Are you ready to say goodbye to 3rd party back-up applications? Windows 7 makes this possible with it’s superb back-up and System Image features built into all versions of Windows 7. For me, I love a clean, fresh install of Windows. Not coincidently, right after a fresh install is the best time to make a system image. This is because making a system image is just like taking a snap-shop of the entire drive.
Creating a System Images will save everything on the drives you select, and then compress them into an image file which is good news since this means less space for backups! At a later time if you want to return the computer to it’s original condition when you bought or built it, you can just load up the image and presto! No more “reformat the computer” ritual, and no more worry about losing your entire system to a computer crash.
Sounds great right? How do you do it?
Create A System Image In Windows 7
1. Click the Start Menu, at the top of the menu Click Getting Started, then on the side Click Back up your Files.
Note: You can also just type Back Up and Windows 7 Search should find the application
2. In the Control Panel window that appears, Click the blue Create a system image link.
3. The Create a system image window should pop-up. Select which hard disk, dvd, or network location you are going to save your system image to. Click Next to continue.
4. On the next page we’ll keep with the basics for now, Check both your System and System Reserved drives. Once you have selected the drives Click Next to continue.
Note: You can select as many drives as you want, but the more you choose to include means the larger the image size will be.
5. The next window is just a review, make sure everything is correct then Click Start backup to start the process. This can take several minutes so patience is required.
6. After the backup completes, you’ll be prompted with the option to create a system repair disc. This is a good idea just in case your system has any problems in the future. Click Yes.
7. Choose which Disc Recording drive you’ll be using to burn the disc. Insert a blank CD or DVD to the physical drive and then Click Create disc.
All done!
Now you’re covered if your computer crashes, or if at some point you want a clean slate and return to the way your computer currently is.
Questions, Comments? Drop a comment below, or Join us in our Free Technical Support Community Forum by creating a new Discussion Topic!
Great post. I haven't used the win 7 imaging utility yet so this was informative. Have you compared it to Ghost or the Acronis product? I'd be interested in learning how it compares. Main question is does the MS imager gracefully recover and restore the entire drive if the drive fails completely and you have to install a new drive (bare metal recovery)?
How sad it is to be excited about being able to erase everything and starting over. Windows IS the virus. I'm not a Windows basher. I've used windows since 3.1. I switched to Linux in 2006 and have enjoyed every wonderful virus free, License free upgrade since. Sure I sacrifice a few windows apps that I can't get to run, but…It's a small price to pay. As far as eye candy…Google ubuntu compiz-fusion and watch the fun. I work in an environment with Windows all around me and I am fine. I'm not a “Blogger”, I write very few comments anywhere on the net. I couldn't help but express my feeling after ready the post.
Greetings and thanks for the perspective. I have to admit, for my home netbook where I sit on the couch and skin the net, respond to comments (like this one) and check email I'm a happy Ubuntu user. Honestly, that's all I really do anymore other than the photo, home movie and blogging thing. In the past Windows at home was a necessity mainly for the Total War – Shogun and Ultima Online… however those days are looong gone <kids>.
At work however, things are still an all Windows shop for file sharing, single signon etc… Now I will agree with you in that Windows does have a lot of issues from a Malware and Virus standpoint. Why do you think that is? Do you think it's because the OS is less secure than other operating systems or do you think there's a different reason?
Personally, I believe that all Operating Systems share 1 common flaw when it comes to security – They are all written by imperfect humans. With that in mind, I think it's all about the various variables which make a specific OS more or less secure.
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1009_3-10199652-83.html
Some of those variables = user behavior, 3rd party software and OS target. The 3rd is hard to explain but basically what I mean is which OS has the largest target on it's head? Or better said, if I'm a hacker and I want to infect the maximum number of machines out there, what OS should I target?
Take a look here: http://arstechnica.com/microsoft/news/2009/11/o...
According to Ars, Various flavors of Windows make up about ~90% of all computers in the world while MAC comes in ~6% then a small splash of other (including unix and linux).
In reality what we are seeing is that as the popularity grows for these platforms, the bad guys are starting to ramp up attacks on them as well. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/12/20/month_o...
For instance, earlier in the year during a security showdown, it was the MAC which fell first followed by the Vista machine however only because the MAC code exploit was also available on the Vista box. http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1009_22-187305.html
I guess my point is, nothing is secure and given enough time, all code will have it's exploits. Is one platform more secure than another, I really don't think so (however MS SQL probably has one of the best records to date). It all comes down to motivation AND, making the other guy's house more appealing
Apparently even Steve Jobs agrees: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/12/02/apple_m...
Hi Mike,
I've not used the Acronis product but I've been using GHOST for 10 years now. Ghost is great and I actually still use it for imaging systems over the network etc.. but for home users I don't think you can beat the simplicity of the new Windows 7 backup tools.
A few nice things is yes, you can restore bare metal systems (article almost done) but you can also image live systems since they are using shadow copy to copy the files into the image.
Pretty slick stuff and once I get time over the next few days I'll be posting a few more articles on the subject.
BTW – Welcome to the site!
The Windows 7 “Backup” process was a bit confusing so I opted to follow this guide and did the system image. Everything but an excel file I had open was backed up without issues.
The “image” size was 44gigs however my drive is only 50gigs so the compression they use (if any) is not very good. I'm going to guess they don't use compression because the ending file is a .vhd file. This is good and bad. Good because I can probably mount it and pull what I want at a later time. Bad bacause the compression is probably lame.
For now, I'm going to keep my good ole GHOST handy for my monthly images.
And yeah, if your system dies, you can use the Windows 7 system image to fully restore fram bare metal.
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Hey – I am awaiting the arrival of a new Win 7 box tonight. Should I install all my Apps (Office etc.) first, then do the image?
Many thanks in advance, Cindy
@Cindy – Probably not a bad idea. I would also fully patch the box as well with Microsoft updates and get everything else current.
Thankyou MrGroove – just unboxed a new HP Envy 15, so shall do as you suggest. I assume it would be better to do the image to a spare HDD rather than our NAS?
Cin
Yup, it’s best to create backups on a different HDD incase the one you are operating on goes haywire.
Hi Cindy,
Great to hear you have a new computer on the way!
With “when” to createa system image, it comes down to personal preference. If there are certain programs on your computer that you know you will ALWAYS use, then it can be handy to not worry about reinstalling them if you ever want to revert back to a clean slate. You’ll have to consider how often you’ll want to restore the image. You can also create multiple images, but this can quickly take up a lot of space.
For me, the first thing I do after installing Windows 7 is Windows Update, followed by installing Microsoft Security Essentials. Then immediately after those two I create the system image. Why? I would opt to install Office and other programs, except that newer versions of those software are about to be released (Office 2010). I like to start with a clean slate everytime I revert back to the image without worrying about uninstalling the old software (which could possibly leave stray files and registry keys floating around). Some people aren’t bothered by this but if I’m running an EXPENSIVE PC then it’s a comfort to know it’s clean and running at 100% efficiency. I’ll usually only restore system images about 3 times a year as a sort of “housekeeping” procedure.
You’ll also need to take into consideration that if you purchased a Dell, HP.. etc. The PC is going to come packaged with a ton of software that you most likely won’t want. Many of the software suites will be trial too, which can be frustrating however creating a system image and reverting back can be a way to extend some trial programs. such as ones that don’t rely on date expiration. I would recommend uninstalling all unwanted software then creating the system image before installing any new software.
There are other times to create a 2nd system image, such as:
-Right before installing a new unfamiliar software application
-If you have some good software installed but lost the CD or Product Key
-On a regular basis incase your system crashes
Hope this helps!
Dexter – my thoughts exactly. It’s the new HP Envy 15, and yes I am clearing the crap off it, and installing office, firefox, AVG etc., then I’ll do the image. I won’t be upgrading from Office 2003 Pro anytime soon, mainly because of compatability issues with other people. Nice to see someone has the same approach as me! I agree – we always buy the best we can afford, and are very PC savvy, so we like our boxes to run at 100% all the time, so hopefully this new imaging software win Win7 will allow us to do it more easily than the old Ghost (even V10 wouldn’t run correctly on our other Vista box), Macrium Reflect etc.
Just confirming – seperate HDD or NAS for the target of the backup do you think? The HDD connects via a USB, NAS is on our home network.
Thanks awfully for your suggestions! Cin
NAS Vs. External USB Drive… The NAS drive is nice because it’s your “storage in a cloud” so to speak. Depending on the size of your NAS, that might be the way to go since anytime you can cut a new image or push a backup to it.
That being said, the drawback is NAS is probably more expensive than you simple USB external drive and might be better used storing your images, files etc… rather than storing your PC image and regular Windows backups etc.. so that’s +1 for the External Drive on USB. Another Plus for the external drive is you can keep your System Image and Backup’s on it and keep it locked in a Fire safe ($200.00 from Costco etc..) or take it to work and lock it in your desk in case your house burns down.
Either way, might be worth cutting an image and storing it in both place
OK – yes I had not thought of burning two images – one to the spare HDD, one to the NAS (which is co-located), then store the HDD in our safe deposit box.
I am assuming that the boot DVD (“restore boot DVD” I guess as a description) can only be made once? Seems to be both an HP and a Compaq “issue”. Following on, have you ever tried using a standard DVD copy of a restore DVD and made it work? I am wondering if I should go to the effort?
As a supplemental question – on the Compaq, should I go for an Upgrade to Win 7 Home premium (no need for domains etc.) and install “over the top” or do a re-install from the Vista recovery partition, then upgrade?
Thanks heaps for your help – it’s really appreciated!!! Here’s three virtual beers for you!!!
Cindy.
Ahh – now hang on – NAS won’t work – it needs a directly connected (USB or other port) – It will NOT image to a NAS on a NETWORK drive. Hope this helps!
Cin.
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