• We’re currently investigating an issue related to the forum theme and styling that is impacting page layout and visual formatting. The problem has been identified, and we are actively working on a resolution. There is no impact to user data or functionality, this is strictly a front-end display issue. We’ll post an update once the fix has been deployed. Thanks for your patience while we get this sorted.

Making a back up of windows 7-x64.

William Gaatjes

William Gaatjes

Lifer
I have a few questions i hope someone can answer. 🙂
Is there still a program such as Norton Ghost to create a backup of my windows c partition ?
I want to make the step to an SSD but the process of having to reinstall windows and reinstalling all programs with correct settings is holding me off for months now.

My other question is, that i noticed that windows makes a backup in a backup folder. Currently the backup folder is a full 57,7GB in size. That should be around the size of my current windows installation.
Is there in windows a way to create a backup to an external HDD and then to put it on a SDD ?

I know i can google for it but some advice can always come in handy. 🙂
 
There are a few tools that will clone the old HD to the new SSD. Acronis works well and comes with some SSDs free of charge. My Crucial and Corsair drive came with Acronis for doing the cloning. I prefer a clean install but I don't have a lot of programs that I run on a regular basis.
 
I use Macrium Reflect on both Windows 7 and Windows 8.1. Works like a charm

The free version is exactly like the Pro version the only difference when you want to restore, you need to boot off the Macrium Reflect Rescue CD which you can create through the program

Much much better than Acronis which has become bloated after v2011 and it doesn't properly support GPT disks without an extra add on but Macrium Reflect supports everything
 
I just read that the windows install cd allows for a "repair" option to put the backup system image on another drive. If i understand correctly, then it should be possible to do this after i have installed an SDD in my pc. Then i would not need other imaging software.
I noticed that windows makes images with the *.vhd extension on the end.
Must be careful for that since VHDL files from the XILINX ISE are also named with a *.vhd extension.

Then i would have to take these steps ?
I install the SSD into the pc.
I start up my windows 7 install cd.
Then i would have some menu where i could select that i want to copy a system image to the SSD drive.


Will this work properly ?
 
nope.

you can create image of windows installation using windows backup utility, and then when you boot with the install dvd you could restore backup onto the new drive.
 
postmortemIA said:
nope.

you can create image of windows installation using windows backup utility, and then when you boot with the install dvd you could restore backup onto the new drive.
Click to expand...

I have a system image of around 60GB.
That backup utility is the one from windows 7 in the configuration panel yes ?

And restoring the system image backup to the SSD drive will work ?


This is what i could use :
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/restore-computer-from-system-image-backup#1TC=windows-7

You can use a system image to restore the contents of your computer if your hard disk or entire computer ever stops working. For more information about system images, see What is a system image?

You can create a system image, which contains a copy of Windows and copies of your programs, system settings, and files. The system image is then stored in a separate location from the original programs, settings, and files. You can use this image to restore the contents of your computer if your hard disk or entire computer ever stops working.

If you're using Windows Backup to back up your files, you can have a system image created each time your files are backed up. The files can be saved on a USB flash drive, CDs, DVDs, or a hard drive. The system image must be saved on a hard drive. By default, the system image only includes the drives required for Windows to run.

If you want to include additional drives in the system image, you can manually create a system image. If you manually create a system image, it can be saved on a USB flash drive, CDs, DVDs, or a hard drive. Follow the steps below to manually create a system image. For information about system images, see What is a system image?
Click to expand...

To create a system image of a drive, it must be formatted to use the NTFS file system. If you save the system image on a hard drive or USB flash drive, it must be formatted to use the NTFS file system. For more information about NTFS, see Convert a hard disk or partition to NTFS format.
Click to expand...

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows7/what-is-a-system-image

A system image is an exact copy of a drive. By default, a system image includes the drives required for Windows to run. It also includes Windows and your system settings, programs, and files. You can use a system image to restore the contents of your computer if your hard disk or computer ever stops working. When you restore your computer from a system image, it's a complete restoration—you can't choose individual items to restore, and all of your current programs, system settings, and files are replaced with the contents of the system image.
Click to expand...
 
Windows backup image is kind of slow and doesn't always work. For instance last time I tried to reinstall an image from a larger hard drive to smaller SSD, it would not work with my Windows 7 even though the size of the image would fit fine on the smaller drive. I use Aconis True Image 2013 or higher.
 
SimMike2 said:
Windows backup image is kind of slow and doesn't always work. For instance last time I tried to reinstall an image from a larger hard drive to smaller SSD, it would not work with my Windows 7 even though the size of the image would fit fine on the smaller drive. I use Aconis True Image 2013 or higher.
Click to expand...

I'll second those thoughts . . .

I've determined through a panicked experience that my WHS client backups will completely restore a client OS/boot-disk. Nice to know. But I had run into dead-ends trying to restore other image backups. For those, I have a pretty good idea where I went wrong.

For what the OP seems to want, though, his question's answer points toward cloning. I can't see what creating a backup image as intermediate step would do for replacing an HDD with an SSD.

I've looked into this for my own purposes. Either Acronis Disk Director Home 11 and "Update 2" or Acronis True Image 2014 will clone from HDD to SSD with no worries about alignment or anything else. Either choice would work flawlessly. I can't be sure how the "free" versions might have limitations -- someone else would know better. I bought the software and TI14 is the "premium."

But cloning as a cumbersome way to do regular backups of an OS. While I always maintain a (dated) clone of my system in a hot-swap HDD caddy, the image backups wouldn't likely be dated, and don't waste useable storage space. Thus you would preserve your recent software installations and data file updates.

Acronis True Image has its first purpose as offering a backup alternative to Windows Backup. It's nice in the sense that it allows you to store several backups -- maybe from several PCs -- on the same drive and volume. The files and folders are named with dates, and can reside on the same logical volume.

My best inclination with this is to choose an overall backup method and stick to it, or your life will be complicated when it least needs to be. I'm still probing the limitations of Windows Backup before I resort to Acronis as a "final solution."
 
The idea is sort of the same as cloning. I do not really want to clone my windows installation partition (my c drive) for another pc. What i want is to make a complete copy and then write that copy to my SSD and make my SSD the default c drive.

I think a temporary option to verify that everything works is to make a dualboot option. I boot either from my current c drive or from my SSD as c drive. That way i would not loose any functionality if copying the system image to the SSD fails for whatever reason. My C partition is 128GB in raw size (before formatting)
So a 128GB SSD should work. The amount of data on my c partition is around 60GB. I could also buy an 256GB model and be done with it.
 
I like Windows 7/8 built in imaging software, I find it very fast and reliable. The one draw back is the target drive needs to be the same size or larger than the original partition. But if the new drive is smaller, it can still be done fairly easily.

I put a 128GB SSD in my wife's laptop which was originally 320GB. I simply went into disk management, shrunk the existing partition to less than 100GB, takes about 10 seconds. Then image it to an external drive. Restore the image to the SSD, go back into disk management and expand the partition to use up the 20GB or so that was unallocated. Another 10 seconds.

Since I didn't have a USB to sata adapter, it was really the easiest way to do it, as there was no way to connect 2 sata drives and do a clone. I suppose I could have attached both drives to my desktop if I had wanted to go to the trouble. I didn't.
 
G73S said:
I use Macrium Reflect on both Windows 7 and Windows 8.1. Works like a charm
Click to expand...

Macrium Reflect free version is my favorite backup and disk cloning tool. I've used it to transfer among HDs and SSDs on Windows XP, 7, and 8. Smooth as silk, and understands SSDs and alignment, etc.
 
WilliamM2 said:
I like Windows 7/8 built in imaging software, I find it very fast and reliable. The one draw back is the target drive needs to be the same size or larger than the original partition. But if the new drive is smaller, it can still be done fairly easily.

I put a 128GB SSD in my wife's laptop which was originally 320GB. I simply went into disk management, shrunk the existing partition to less than 100GB, takes about 10 seconds. Then image it to an external drive. Restore the image to the SSD, go back into disk management and expand the partition to use up the 20GB or so that was unallocated. Another 10 seconds.

Since I didn't have a USB to sata adapter, it was really the easiest way to do it, as there was no way to connect 2 sata drives and do a clone. I suppose I could have attached both drives to my desktop if I had wanted to go to the trouble. I didn't.
Click to expand...

Thank you all for the reply. 🙂
I see that multiple people mention that the destination drive should be of equal size or larger compared to the source drive.
I will keep this in mind, i should buy a 256GB SSD then to be on the save side.
the M500 240GB SSD from crucial seems to be a good choice for the price vs reliability vs speed.

But i read about alignment. Is this an issue for an SSD ? And does the windows system image software not keep track of this ?
I will make the SSD into one partition. Alignment should not be an issue then ?

EDIT:

I found this tutorial :
http://lifehacker.com/5837543/how-to-migrate-to-a-solid-state-drive-without-reinstalling-windows

I have to read it when i get back from jogging.
 
Last edited:
William Gaatjes said:
Thank you all for the reply. 🙂
I see that multiple people mention that the destination drive should be of equal size or larger compared to the source drive.
I will keep this in mind, i should buy a 256GB SSD then to be on the save side.
the M500 240GB SSD from crucial seems to be a good choice for the price vs reliability vs speed.

But i read about alignment. Is this an issue for an SSD ? And does the windows system image software not keep track of this ?
Click to expand...


Once you clone an HDD to a fresh SSD with the right software to assure "proper alignment", alignment wouldn't figure in making image backups of the SSD. Restoring the image, you might want to assure yourself by established means that any new SSD is properly aligned before the restoration, or you could generate that assurance after the fact.

Here's a link I found without looking very much:

http://www.overclock.net/t/1226963/how-to-properly-re-align-your-ssd-hdd-partitions
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Back
Top