Lenovo R&r & Win7 Backups

This thread grows out of my other thread in this Software Forum, Rescue And Recovery Version For Windows 10?, but is really a separate issue.

I’m still running under Windows 7.

I had done a backup via Lenovo Rescue and Recovery v4.3, by following:

Start > Search programs and files > Lenova's Enhanced Backup and Restore (32-bit)

I had been told that Windows 7 had its own backup utility, which I found at:

Control Panel > Backup and Restore.

So I ran that. However, THAT backup ALSO identified itself as Lenovo. The user interface looked different, and it didn’t display the previous backup I had made, but it said "Lenovo" nonetheless.

It didn’t finish, as it said there was insufficient disk space for the full backup I had selected, but that’s irrelevant.

I don’t get it. Is this second backup process also Lenovo Rescue and Recovery v4.3, or what?

And if so, how do I run a Win7 backup that will be usable after I upgrade to Win10?

 

When you create a system image with Windows Backup and and Restore it creates two folders at the root of the backup drive, one named SystemImageBackup and the other having the same name as your PC. If your PC is named Lenovo then the backup folder will also be named Lenovo but has no connection at all with the backup you made with Lenovo R&R. Your new system image can only be restored using Windows or a Windows installation or repair disk. HERE is how in Win 10 though, as I explained in your other thread, Win 10 can do it for you with you creating a separate backup.

 

That should have read "Win 10 can do it for you without you creating a separate backup."

 

There are no folders anywhere on my hard drive either named after my computer or named SystemImageBackup, but of course that's just because I didn't actually create a backup with Windows Backup and and Restore because there wasn't room on the disk, as I described above.

At any rate, "Lenovo" doesn't appear in my computer's name, so I don't know why Windows Backup and and Restore would try to give that name to a backup.

And when Windows Backup and and Restore was running, it indicated that it would (attempt to) do the backup to the "Q drive" (partition of the C: drive), and I THINK it actually said the "Lenovo_Recovery (Q)" drive.

So I still don't understand all this.

Anyway, since I won't be able to use Lenova R&R in Windows 10, can I get rid of its backup to make room on the disk for Windows Backup and and Restore's backup? I didn't try that yet because I didn't want to "break" anything.

I'm sorry if I'm being dense, but perhaps you think I understand something that I actually don't. I don't know what you mean by a "separate" backup, and I don't see in my other thread "Rescue And Recovery Version For Windows 10?" where you mentioned a "separate backup".

 

As I understand it you are wanting to create a backup of your Win 7 system that you can use to restore Win 7 if you don't get on with Win 10, and all I'm saying is you don't actually need to make this separate backup because the upgrade process to Win 10 keeps a copy of your Win 7 system and will restore it for you in the first 30 days if you so wish.

As to how to create this backup if you want to do it anyway, you should forget Lenovo R&R because you won't have it after upgrading. You can use Windows Backup and Recovery, but there are such excellent free third party imaging programs available I strongly recommend using one of them. Have a look HERE. I would particularly recommend Macrium Reflect or Aomei Backupper.

 

Oh, OK, I've got it now.

There's no need to.

Will do.

So, can I delete Lenova R&R's backup to make room on the disk for Windows Backup and and Restore's backup? And if so, how exactly do I do that (assuming it's not done as an ordinary file delete).

 

Macrium Reflect and Aomei Backupper both look good, but I get the impression that although Aomei is probably easier to use, Macrium is considerably more robust, so I'm leaning that way. But I have the following questions about it:

• Browse the backup file as a virtual FAT32 hard drive in Windows Explorer.

Excellent! So I take it Aomei doesn't have this capabilty, right?

• Files in use by Windows (such as Outlook .pst files) are backed up even when locked!
• Disk image can be created whilst Windows is in use.

Wow, that's convenient. I take it Aomei doesn't have this capabilty either, right?

• Backup files can be saved to local or network drives or optical storage (CD, DVD)

Would that include a Google drive?

• AES 256 bit encryption for ultimate security.

Great! But is it in any way problematic to use?

 

*** FYI ***

I just successfully downloaded Macrium from the author's site, but attempts to download Aomei from the author's site or from either of GM's links all yielded the following error message:

"The signature of BackupperFull.exe is corrupt or invalid."

 

Never mind, I figured it out.

 

First, let me preface what follows by saying right up front that yes, I'm stumbling around in the dark here. So if all this is too much to deal with, maybe somebody could just point me to a clear, concise tutorial on what I need to know.

Now then:

In Win7's Control Panel, I see both Backup and Restore and Recovery.

I clicked on Backup and Restore, and the heading that came up was Back up or restore your files. I then clicked on Back up now. That actually launched Backup and Restore. But there didn't appear any way to select what files I want backed up. It appeared to be backing up all the user data on the C: drive. And that was a problem, because Backup and Restore then said that there wasn't not enough room on the disk to do the backup. That seemed odd to me, because there's 44 GB free on the disk. However, the backup location was reported as being "Lenovo_Recovery (Q)", and in that only about 7 MB of the total 9.7 BG was free. The name of the backup location also seemed odd to me, because the name of the computer doesn't include the word "Lenovo". However, it IS a Lenovo computer.

Anyway, then I went into Lenovo Rescue and Recovery and clicked on advanced Rescue and Recovery > View all backups. I selected the only backup there (which I had made just the previous day) and deleted it.

Then I went back into Backup and Restore, but there was still only about 3.49 GB free in the backup location. Naturally, that still wasn't enough room.

Incidentally, when I clicked on Control Panel > Recovery, the heading that came up was Restore this computer to an earlier point in time. When I then clicked on Open System Restore, the heading that came up was Restore system files and settings.

So I guess Backup and Restore pertains to user data files, and Control Panel > Recovery pertains to system files. But I was unable to determine how to SAVE system files (such as, I guess, registry items pertaining to software that had been installed by the user). For that matter, I couldn't determine where program files figured into all of this, either.

Regardless, I then figured that since Lenovo Rescue and Recovery isn't going to run after I upgrade from Win7 to Win10 anyway, I thought maybe I should uninstall it before upgrading so as to free up disk space that way. But Lenovo R&R doesn't appear in either Control Panel > Programs and Features or in IObit Uninstaller, and right-clicking on R&R doesn't yield a drop-down menu (in which I had hoped would appear an Uninstall option).

As if all that wasn't enough to make my head spin, I discovered Recuva is installed on the computer. I was about to uninstall it, but I decided to look it up online before doing so, just to play it safe. And I read that it can recover files that have been "permanently deleted and marked by the operating system as free space". I don't believe that I had read the same for either Macrium or Aomei, so I kept Recuva for that reason.

I throw myself upon the mercy of the court.

 

I have previously satisfied myself that Aomei Backupper works but I no longer have it installed so can't answer questions about it. mdonah here uses it, maybe he can help. With Macrium Reflect you cannot backup to the internet directly, you backup to a local or local network attached drive. But that could be your OneDrive folder from where OneDrive will sync it to your MS account, providing you have sufficient space and all the time in the world. Uploading GBs of data can be pretty slow and will count against any bandwidth allowance limits. I don't use Google drive so can't answer that but would assume it works similarly to OneDrive.

 

You need to clear your head a bit and start taking a closer look at the options available. In Windows Backup and Restore you get the option to create a system image, which is what you want I believe. It allows you to select the destination drive and that drive must have sufficient free space available to accommodate the backup file. Only you know how big your C drive is and how much data it has and you can expect the backup file to be about half as big as the used part of C. Don't backup to a partition on the same drive - use an external drive or, if you must, DVDs. As you are clearly struggling with Windows Backup and Restore I won't say any more about using preferred alternatives.

Forget System Restore - it has no place in what we are trying to do here. Same goes for Recuva.

Don't bother uninstalling Lenovo R&R - the space saved would be insignificant.

 

Agreed, I had worked for too many hours when I first started this thread.

What I really want to be able to do at the moment is run Win7's Backup and Restore, so in order to free up enough disk space to do so, I'd like to know what data in ProgramData that pertains to VirtualBox (or not) that I can safely delete. (See my thread "What Is Oracle Vm Virtualbox Really Doing?" .)