HDD Imaging/backup software

[Collider]

Hi all,

I have an 160GB SSD as my main app/os drive with a 300gb secondary drive. What I would like to do is to take an image of the entire 160GB drive once a week as a backup, so in case my system crashes I can just copy the image and be back in business with in an hour or so. Any advices on the software choices available for such a task?

Thanks!

 

[RebateMonger]

What operating system are you using?

 

[FishAk]

You shouldn't need to image the entire drive- only the partition with your OS. Unless you have a huge amount of programs and games on your OS partition, it shouldn't be bigger than 40 or 50GB on the top side. All your data should be on another partition, and can simply be copied back from a backup. If you keep your swap file, internet cache, and other temporary files on a separate partition from your OS, that can save some room also, as they doesn't need to be backed up. The reason you want your image to be somewhat small, is that you need to keep several of them. You need to make sure your newest image actually works, by trying it before you delete the one you are replacing. If, when you test the new image, it doesn't work, you will be glad you have a couple others. Images are fragile, and might not work if they get disturbed, such as defragmented, or moved. And because of how much work they can save you, you should never have less than two on each drive you store them on.


I use Macrium Reflect, mostly because it's free, and it works just fine. For backups, I use SyncToy, for the same reasons. I don't think there is a program you can buy that's great for both imaging and backing up.

 

[capeconsultant]

I use Acronis Home 2010. Has always worked for me when I needed it to. Dave

 

[Collider]

What operating system are you using?

Win 7. The rest of the system: i7-860, Intel mobo, 8GB, 160GB x-25m main drive, 300GB backup.

 

[Collider]

You shouldn't need to image the entire drive- only the partition with your OS. Unless you have a huge amount of programs and games on your OS partition, it shouldn't be bigger than 40 or 50GB on the top side. All your data should be on another partition, and can simply be copied back from a backup. If you keep your swap file, internet cache, and other temporary files on a separate partition from your OS, that can save some room also, as they doesn't need to be backed up. The reason you want your image to be somewhat small, is that you need to keep several of them. You need to make sure your newest image actually works, by trying it before you delete the one you are replacing. If, when you test the new image, it doesn't work, you will be glad you have a couple others. Images are fragile, and might not work if they get disturbed, such as defragmented, or moved. And because of how much work they can save you, you should never have less than two on each drive you store them on.


I use Macrium Reflect, mostly because it's free, and it works just fine. For backups, I use SyncToy, for the same reasons. I don't think there is a program you can buy that's great for both imaging and backing up.

Thanks for your advice and explanation. Splitting the drive into partitions makes sense based on what you're saying - I haven't considered this before and always avoided them but def will for my future installs.

 

[RebateMonger]

The built-in Windows 7 Image backup works pretty well. Once you have the VHD backup file, you can use it to restore a whole volume or you can also just restore single files (by mounting the VHD file in Windows Disk Management.