Disk backup in win7 fail

[Briteyes]

I have bought a 3TB external hard drive ( Seagate) and tried to do a system image in Win7 to this drive. the folders created include a folder called WindowsImageBackup, with approx 15GB ( hidden no doubt although I do have show all files allowed on my pc.)
and an icon called (my pc name) grannies-PC.
On the 3TB Seagate the My PC icon shows no files and a read only box applied to it.
The Windows Image folder (WIF)shows a folder called "Backup 2012.12.15 083152" and in this a VHD ( Virtual hard drive,file of 47,119KB
The WIF also has another folder called Catalog with 2 files of 17KB each being global catalog files.
The WIF has one last file called Medial of 1KB.

My question is although there seems to be data in this backup I get the msg " One of the backup files could not be created.
Details: The request could not be performed because of an ISO device error.

I have downloaded the Discwizardsetup-143....exe file from Seagate (recommended) and thought to use this to do a backup of my main hard drive, all data and all applications currently on C & E drives of my desktop:I do not want to replace my current hard just just make sure I have a copy(clone is this the same thing?) of my current system that I can lock in the cupboard for security.The tutorial I saw talks of replacing the main hard drive but this is not what I want really. Do I have to do the "bootable" part of this tutorial or not please.
Is there a simple answer to this please.
Any constructive help would be most appreciated. Thank you.

 

[Briteyes]

Sorry , I have also checked all disks, Maxtor x1GB, Seagate x3GB and my main hard drives C:&E: with no disk errors showing.
Thank you for considering this request.

 

[TrainableMan]

Alright, I find some of your post confusing or lacking in details so I am answering with "some information" which hopefully helps in some way...

Larger harddrives (primarily 2TB and up) use a different block structure and are not supported by Windows 7 built-in back-up software. You will need to find a smaller external hard drive which is supported or find a different back-up software. Seagate diskwizard is good alternative software.

A clone is an exact image copy, it not only stores your data but the all the system files, etc so if your harddrive ever crashes you can buy a new harddrive the same size or larger, replace the damaged one in your computer, and simply restore your external backup, then pop in a W7 DVD to restore the W7 boot sector and you are right back in business, generally in about 30 minutes.

I'm curious as to WHAT tutorial you are talking about? URL to the tutorial please? And your question, "do you need to do the "bootable" part" I can only answer if I know to what you are referring so I must look it over myself.

 

[Briteyes]

My apologies TrainableMan.
The tutorial I was viewing was in regard to a laptop but I thought it would be the same for the desktop ( http://support.seagate.com/kbimg/flash/laptop/laptop.html )
I did try this win7 backup on my Maxtor 1XGB ext drive with the same error msg.
When I put the 3XTB Seagate on my pc I found it automatically allowed me to copy across all my data files without doing a setup at all.
Sorry if it is confusing but I have now downloaded the Discwizard file from Seagate.
So I should be able to install Discwizard in my C;drive and save the backup to my Seagate 3TB, is this correct please and does the Discwizard doing a clone image please.
Thank you for your patience.

 

[TrainableMan]

First, yes cloning a desktop hard drive is essentially the same as cloning a laptop hard drive. Physical access and the physical size of the hard drives would be different in a desktop vs laptop but software procedure-wise, they would be identical.

OK, so your old harddrive actually is storing a W7 back-up that was taken before you started this hard drive replacement and you want to move that file across, (I misunderstood and thought you were trying to actually run W7 back-up and store the brand new output onto the new 3TB HD right now).

From what I've read you can't simply copy a VHD, you need to export the files on the old drive, then import them on the new drive. If this is true then it wouldn't work any better cloning it. So I don't know for certain but I suspect you can't.