Windows 7 System Repair disc: Should I make a new one after imaging the system?

[CZroe]

By default, Win7 prompts you to make a sys repair disc each time you make a system image (backup). A while back I wondered if the disc was generic, like the old floppy disks that Windows prepared or Format X: /S, or if it was specific to the system. I was told that it contained a snapshot of your system's registry, which means that my restore disc has some functions that are pretty specific to my system. The fact that it prompts me to make a new one every time I make a system image seems to imply that, but they should be clear. People are likely to opt-out if they already have one. Why waste another disc when you already have a disc by that name sitting on your desk and you don't know any different?

Now, assuming that it's true and it really is specific to your system in some way, why the holy heck does it not have an option to save the "disc" as a file so that I can avoid wasting discs, especially if I still have space left over on my backup media that I just saved the system image to?! For example, I saved an 18GB+ system image to a BD-R and have many GBs remaining which could easily hold an updated repair disc image. If the media containing my restore image is still good, I'd have the associated repair disc right there should I ever need it. Most people not backing up to an HDD backup to DVDs and the last one should usually have plenty of room for the repair disc, which fits onto a CD just fine.

Otherwise, why the holy heck does it prompt you to make a new one by default with every system image made?!

 

[tweakboy]

No just make it once..the repair disc. Will work on any PC just have to boot off CDROM gl,, Youll need to boot off CDROM and go through the reimage process

 

[SimMike2]

My Windows 7 backup program never asked me to make a repair disk every time I make a system image backup. I always backup to a secondary hard drive, not BD or DVD disks. The only time I made one of these repair disks was when I installed the OS for the first time. BTW, the install disk of Windows 7 has all the repair stuff on it.

 

[CZroe]

No just make it once..the repair disc. Will work on any PC just have to boot off CDROM gl,, Youll need to boot off CDROM and go through the reimage process

Got it. Thanks for correcting the nameless person on IRC's misinformation.

My Windows 7 backup program never asked me to make a repair disk every time I make a system image backup. I always backup to a secondary hard drive, not BD or DVD disks. The only time I made one of these repair disks was when I installed the OS for the first time. BTW, the install disk of Windows 7 has all the repair stuff on it.

It has a check box that you can check off to prevent it from asking every time, which you probably checked. I was saying that it was the default behavior which made me think that there may have been reason you might want to make a new one each time. I asked elsewhere and was misinformed. Thanks for the correction.