Magic Back Up.

i recently had a bad scare and nearly lost the hd on my system. it would have been a disaster but a local geek infinitely smarter than me saved it and im fine now but it was a real wake up call. in the past i have tried all manner of back ups....most recently the dell back up which , when i went to restore it gave me some sort of crazy ass error message and failed. i need a method by which i can simply periodically clone my hd to another such that if the primary failed, i can simply unplug it and plug in the new one and be ready to go. does such a system or software exist to do this ? im not just talking data files... i mean plug this thing in and have all the executables and files work exactly like the one that failed. i run win 7 on desktops and lap tops...

 

Cloning your disk is one way but the clone gets progressively more out of date, however there is a much better way - disk imaging. A disk image is a compressed file that stores an exact image of your entire system or of selected partitions which is quick and simple to restore when needed. The image can also be easily updated as necessary. Image files are typically about half the size of the used space on your disk and can be stored on an external drive.

The software is free and there are several to choose from. I only recommend Macrium Reflect but that's because I've been using it for years and never had a problem with it. It can be a real life saver.

 

ill take a whack and thx.... but in a nut shell , how does it work ? do i put the image on a cd or an external drive or something ?

 

Yep, the image is best stored on an external drive but can also be stored on any suitably sized usb storage device or on a networked computer, NAS, second internal drive or online file storage website. My images are 30GB+ so over a network can be a bit slow. To restore an image you use a bootable usb which you create within the program and you can also edit the Windows boot manager to boot a freestanding version of the program. Images can be restored to your existing drive or, if it has failed, to a replacement.

Plodr and I have been trying to get this message across for twenty years but people only get really interested after they have suffered a drive problem, by which time it's often too late!

 

Hi! I make backups of my code using 7Zip and a batch file periodically and when I am about to make a big change, but the backups are on my SSD drive. I have a flash drive at my mother's house that I use for backups, but I haven't been there for a while. I have a few 32GB flash drives here to store compressed disk images. I also have a computer at a day program to store backups. If my computers fail, I want to be prepared. I don't want to back up everything, just what I can't replace from the internet. What is the best way to back up just some data?

 

i tried the acronis a while ago and never made it work. i have downloaded the macrium and i have 5gb external drive. ill screw around with it later and report back and thx.

 

5Gb won't do it. Your Win7 OS alone would need more than that, let alone your software and any data.

 

so.... hypothetically .... i make this macrium image on a usb external drive. then space aliens come down and kill my machine. so i get another machine. two scenarios.... first , new machine has a naked formatted hardrive... will my macrium backup just install on that and get me up and running or two... do i reinstall an op sys and THEN do a " restore" or whatever macrium calls it ? im looking for a " worst case " solution ... thats why i was thinking of the cloned hd...

 

You like batch files - why not write one to back up a few folders with c&p?

 

You are stretching things a bit now I don't think the free version can restore to dissimilar hardware. The problem is your image would have all the drivers for your old system and probably none of those required by the new system. I do believe some of the free alternatives, for instance Aomei, do claim to do that but I've never tested it. It's important to understand that when you restore a disk image everything currently on the disk is removed and only your image will be there. If you had preinstalled Windows the image would completely overwrite it.

EDIT - a cloned drive would have exactly the same problem - unsuitable drivers.

 

Just checked Aomei - that doesn't do it either. You would need the professional version to cope with your scenario.

 

understood... at least to the limit of my ability to understand. lets say for the sake of discussion, like i have done many times in the past, scrubbed old hardware naked, installed a new op sys and then gone to the hardware guys website and downloaded the nec drivers for the hardware... is that what you are talking about ? and ignoring free vs paid.... is there a software system available that you are aware of that will simply clone my machine and allow me to reinstall it on any other hardware ? my assumption being that if it can do that then it can do anything less than that just as easily... maybe thats the problem i had with the acronis... that i was trying to restore on dif hardware... can't remember now.

 

Yes, that's exactly it - wrong drivers. Any clone, no matter how created, will have the same issue with drivers. Imaging is designed to keep your present computer fully operational. If you buy a new computer then OS and software have to be reinstalled but, as long as your own data has been backed up, that really isn't a serious consideration.

 

great. and thank you all VERY much. it all gives me a path now.

 

ok... so i created a clone hd.... tried to do an image but couldn't get it to do it but that was my mistake and i know what i did wrong but in the meantime i made the clone which did work... so.... if i was going to test this and simulate a hd failure , i swap out the existing hd for a naked one, then what ? re-install op sys and drivers and THEN do a restore or whatever the command will be ?

 

Earthling: I do like batch files. If you want, I can post the two files I use to back up my code. They remove rebuildable files then compress the rest with 7Zip. You will need to replace the destination folder, though. Also, it doesn't support incremental backups. The current date will be added to the filename.

 

No, not right. To restore an image you first plug in the disk containing the image file and boot the machine using the rescue media you previously created. Use the Restore feature to navigate to your image file and hit Finish. Providing the system disk is still working ok it will clear the system disk and restore your image in its place. If the system disk has failed just replace it and follow the same procedure.

Once you have created the rescue media it is essential to test it by going through this restore procedure up to the point where you could hit Finish but not actually doing so. There is no point in any of this unless you are certain you understand the restore procedure.

 

Thanks Harry but I don't do any coding these days. Your post is way off topic - you should have created a new thread

 

You're welcome, and I'm sorry about the off-topic post. I posted this here because it was about backing up things.

 

and where do i create the rescue media from ?

 

You do it within the Macrium program - Other Tasks. You need a blank flash drive or, if you have a CD writer you could use that. Even better, use the program to edit your Windows boot menu so you can boot straight into it. I covered this in #5.

 

understood and again.... thx. i have flash drives and cd writers etc so i have the material... thx again

 

Good. It's donkeys years since I last used Win 7 but in anticipation of the questions you will likely have as you go on I'm currently reviving an old Win 7 virtual machine and quickly realising I've entirely forgotten how to use it (using Win 11)).
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