Win7 Backup Program

[charliec]

I'm a bit new to Win7 and am trying to get use to some of it's
features. I was looking into Backup Programs and decided to try the
backup program that comes with Win7. I'm mainly interested in backing
up all my files and folders. I setup the Win7 backup (and included an
Image Backup as well) to an External Harddrive, and it appeared to go
very well. I went to Restore and Restored a couple of files to a temp
location to see how it worked - with just fine.

Two questions - one, I would like to save a couple of copies of the
backup, but do not see an option in Settings to set the number of
backup to maintain - is there a setting for this or are you restricted
to just one back.

Second, I do not see a way to add the Backup Icon to the All Program
list - or do I have to go to Control Panel each time I want to run it
(I have it set for Manual start, not scheduled)?

Thanks for any insights.
charliec

 

[Yousuf Khan]

Two questions - one, I would like to save a couple of copies of the
backup, but do not see an option in Settings to set the number of
backup to maintain - is there a setting for this or are you restricted
to just one back.

That is one of the deficiencies of the free backup program that
Microsoft includes with Windows 7. You will need to get a 3rd party
backup utility to set maximum retentions and other such goodies.

Second, I do not see a way to add the Backup Icon to the All Program
list - or do I have to go to Control Panel each time I want to run it
(I have it set for Manual start, not scheduled)?

Description of Control Panel Files in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/313808

Yousuf Khan

 

[Ken Blake]

I'm a bit new to Win7 and am trying to get use to some of it's
features. I was looking into Backup Programs and decided to try the
backup program that comes with Win7. I'm mainly interested in backing
up all my files and folders. I setup the Win7 backup (and included an
Image Backup as well) to an External Harddrive, and it appeared to go
very well. I went to Restore and Restored a couple of files to a temp
location to see how it worked - with just fine.

Two questions - one, I would like to save a couple of copies of the
backup, but do not see an option in Settings to set the number of
backup to maintain - is there a setting for this or are you restricted
to just one back.

Second, I do not see a way to add the Backup Icon to the All Program
list - or do I have to go to Control Panel each time I want to run it
(I have it set for Manual start, not scheduled)?

I'll add my voice to Yousuf Khan's, even more emphatically. The backup
program that comes with Windows is perhaps the poorest choice
available. There are lots of better third-party choices, such as
Acronis True Image.

 

[Andy]

might be i prefer nortion ghost one of the best around

 

[choro]

might be i prefer nortion ghost one of the best around

Hey, what about Macrium Reflect? What do others think of Macrium
Reflect, both the free version and the paid version?--
choro
*****

 

[s|b]

Hey, what about Macrium Reflect? What do others think of Macrium
Reflect, both the free version and the paid version?--

+1 on Macrium Reflect Free

I use it to make a copy of my C: (Windows) drive. Other important data
is on D: (Data) which I copy with FBBackup and LaCie Backup (Karen's
Replicator can do this too).

Not only can you make an image (on the same partition if I'm not
mistaken), but you can also mount that image, same way you can use Ghost
Explorer, but then for *free*.

 

[Ken Blake]

might be i prefer nortion ghost one of the best around

Not according to me. Norton *anything* is one of the worst around!

 

[pjp]

Not according to me. Norton *anything* is one of the worst around!

Well I recently had my laptop do the bluescreen thingie for no apparent
reason and no amount of coaxing could get it back so I went to my backup
images (had a Trueimage and a Reflect image) expecting it to go
smoothly.

One of them would not accept it's "image" for one reason escapes me now
and the other seemed to "demand" the hard disk I was restoring to had to
be larger than it is even though it was the exact same disk as when the
image was made.

Disgusted, I did a clean reinstall from original OEM disks and stopped
thinking of the image backups as any more reliable than the old days of
tape cartridges and original floppies. I just make sure I always have
more than one copy of everything important and not on same media. Only
reliable way, least seems to me now, is to take a 2nd hard disk and
image the first once it's "stabilized" with installed software etc. then
remove it until needed and replace with the other when time comes. Don't
count on "restoring" at all. The stuff you "create" insure gets copied
onto other media at the time it's created/edited etc. That's trivial,
batch file will easily do it if one is organized at all.

 

[Dave \Crash\ Dummy]

Not according to me. Norton *anything* is one of the worst around!

When Symantec bought him out, Norton got richer and the rest of us got
poorer. :-(

 

[...winston]

Having used all compatible versions of Ghost and Acronis for over a decade neither has ever failed to backup or restore on any o/s
(95, 98, ME, Vista, XP, Win7, and recently on Win8).



--
....winston
msft mvp mail


"Andy" wrote in message
might be i prefer nortion ghost one of the best around

 

[Jake]

Hey, what about Macrium Reflect? What do others think of Macrium
Reflect, both the free version and the paid version?--
choro

I've been using MR free version to image a 100G C:\partition. Not
incremental, I create a new image every night, deleting an older one.

I have tested the restore with no problems.

 

[Gene E. Bloch]

Hey, what about Macrium Reflect? What do others think of Macrium
Reflect, both the free version and the paid version?--
choro
*****

I use the paid version for both images (which can be incremental) and
cloning (which can't be incremental[1], AFAICT).

However, I find that the user interface is weird.

Sometimes they forget about their existing users. One example: when they
upgraded to version 5, the scripts from Version 4 were not longer
compatible. They couldn't even be edited...

[1] Incremental is not quite the right word for clones. I mean a scheme
that writes only those allocation units that have changed since the
prior clone. What they call smart cloning seems to write all of the
clusters that have data, whether they have changed or not. That could be
my fault - I might have cloned on top of a previous non-Macrium clone,
and maybe that matters.

 

[Don Phillipson]

Having used all compatible versions of Ghost and Acronis for over a decade
neither has ever failed to backup or restore on any o/s (95, 98, ME,
Vista, XP, Win7, and recently on Win8).

The point remains that backup software was created to save
disk space when it was expense -- which is no loner the case,
but the tradition still influences all backup software I have
seen.

Actual need seems to be:
1. Cloning C: with an app that can truly copy a bootable disk
(and can restore one on demand.)
2. For all non-booting drives, any reliable file copier suffices.

 

[...winston]

"Don Phillipson" wrote in message
The point remains that backup software was created to save
disk space when it was expense -- which is no loner the case,
but the tradition still influences all backup software I have
seen.

Actual need seems to be:
1. Cloning C: with an app that can truly copy a bootable disk
(and can restore one on demand.)
2. For all non-booting drives, any reliable file copier suffices.
Yes, tradition still has an influence (image creation and cloning continue to be features and possibly the most used).

I think the point(s) was/were (from the op):
1. Backing up the system with Win7 included backup for files and folders and an image to an external drive
- apparently worked fine relative to being able to restore a couple of files but image restoration not tested
2. Desire to save more than one backup
3. Desire to add the Backup icon (?) to All Programs menu

Re. #1:
Windows 7 program works for what it was intended (files, folders and image) but is not as full featured as other 3rd party
applications (raised numerous times by respondents)
Re. #2
If saving system images to an internal/external drive or on CD/DVD's (CD's would be chore) one can keep several versions. On
internal and external drives the oldest system images will be deleted when the drive runs out of space.
Re: #3
Assuming the op meant the Backup icon in Control Panel it can be added to the All Programs menu by creating a shortcut and saving
or moving the shortcut to a desired All Programs subfolder (e.g. System Tools). Additionally, once the shortcut is added to a
'Programs' subfolder it can be pinned to the Start Menu by dragging it to the orb (unlike other shortcuts which can be pinned via
rt click/Pin to Start Menu)

Based on the op's need, it appears Win7 will do what he needs (but not necessarily respondents' favorite choice). Likewise full
featured apps such as Ghost and Acronis will meet the same intent. Finally as you've noted (without an application recommendation)
anything that can clone (copy a bootable disk and reliably restore) would suffice in conjunction with any tool capable of copying
files (for non bootable drives or even data).

 

[Andy]

Then you haven't used nortion ghost version 14 or 15 mine has run full back
ups on its own for 5 years .
I did a full back up and restore to one identical system and it worked first
boot with a 10 min restore now that's a good back up program.

 

[Andy]

Same with me


--
AL'S COMPUTERS
Having used all compatible versions of Ghost and Acronis for over a decade
neither has ever failed to backup or restore on any o/s
(95, 98, ME, Vista, XP, Win7, and recently on Win8).



--
....winston
msft mvp mail


"Andy" wrote in message

might be i prefer nortion ghost one of the best around

 

[Ken Blake]

Then you haven't used nortion ghost version 14 or 15 mine has run full back
ups on its own for 5 years .

Your choice, of course. As I said, it wouldn't be mine.

 

[Emrys Davies]

Ref. your second question, go to 'Computer' and use the 'Create shortcut'
facility.

 

[charliec]

Ref. your second question, go to 'Computer' and use the 'Create shortcut'
facility.

Thanks for the reply, but am a bit confused. When I go to Control
Panel/Backup & Restore, I do not see any option to create a shortcut,
just options to run the backup or restore files, but nothing to allow
me to create a shortcut. What am I missing?
Thanks again.

 

[Dave-UK]

Thanks for the reply, but am a bit confused. When I go to Control
Panel/Backup & Restore, I do not see any option to create a shortcut,
just options to run the backup or restore files, but nothing to allow
me to create a shortcut. What am I missing?
Thanks again.

If you want a shortcut to the Backup and Restore function:
Control Panel(iconview) > Right-click backup and Restore icon > Create shortcut.
This will put the shortcut onto your Desktop.
Select the shortcut and drag it over the Start orb to pin it to the start menu.