Image for Windows-Differential Restore

I just started making Differential Images with Image for Windows.

What is the recommended procedure for doing a Restore of a Full/Differential Backup?

I know that you would restore the Full Backup first followed by the Differential Backup. But would you allow the PC to load Windows after installing the Full Backup or would you not let Windows load and go ahead with the Differential Image Restore?

Thank you.

 

TheKid7,

It's a single restore procedure. The menu prompts make it easy. You first choose the location of the differential backup. Then IFW/IFD/IFL prompts you for the location of the full backup, etc.

Try it out. Go as far as the final screen and abort. It is simple.

 

Thanks Brian,

I checked it out as you recommended. I thought that I had seen that before when I first tried out an IFD Full Backup File Restore a few months ago. Yesterday, I "skimmed" through both the IFW and IFD pdf manuals and did not notice a detailed procedure for Differential Backup Restores so I got concerned.

I have two Windows XP Pro home PC's with IFW installed. When I tried out IFW/IFD before I made the purchase in 11/2008, I made two Full Backups (Bootable DVD & File to Internal SATA HD) on one PC. I restored the PC with the bootable DVD and restored the PC with IFD using the Full File Backup. Everything went well so I made the purchase along with BING (which I have not yet used). I have been making monthly Bootable DVD backups on both PC's and monthly Full File Backups. Now I plan to go with Differential File Backups every two weeks for a month or two before going with the next full File Backup.

 

TheKid7,

Can you write your backup images to a HD. You could do daily differentials. Remember, don't defrag your HD while you are doing differentials. Wait until your full backup day.

 

Yes, I do write the backup images to HD (Non System Partition on HD containing the System Partition. Then I copy the image file to another Internal SATA HD).

Is this what you are saying?: I should defrag the System Partition just before I do each full backup and make sure that I do not defrag the System Partition between the full backups.

What would happen if I did degrag one or more times between the full backups?

Thank you.

 

Yes.

Because you change sector locations by defragging, this will result in much larger differential backups. That's all.

 

I´ve got a question about differential Backups. With IFW, the time for a differential backup and a regular new backup is about the same. Shouldnt it be a lot faster after the initial Backup was made? Is it because i often defrag? Thx

 

rolarocka,

Writing the differential backup may only take seconds but analysing the partition to see what has changed since the full backup is time consuming. This applies to all backup imaging apps that make differential backups.

As a percentage of the full backup, what size are your diff backups?

 

Ok made an full image again. It took 18 minutes with a size of 17,5 GB. Right after that i made a differential backup, this time 15 minutes with a size of 9,13 MB. It seems, that its not worth for me to make differential backups. I guess with a bit more changes on my system, the time would be the same as a full backup. Thx

 

rolarocka,

Thanks for the numbers. Those times sound reasonable. It's not time which is the concern with differential backups. The advantage is the small file size of the differential compared with the full image.

You current diff is 9 MB. Let's say you make a lot of changes to your computer tonight and decide you need another backup tomorrow. If you create a diff it might be 100 to 200 MB. If you create a full backup it will be 17.5 GB. So you can store a lot of diffs but if you store a lot of full backups you will soon run out of HD space.

I create daily diffs and I'm not concerned about their creation time as they are done on a schedule and I don't see IFW working. Even after a month, my diffs are only 5% the size of the full backup. I keep the most recent 15 diffs but I could keep a lot more as I have plenty of HD space. But if you had minimal HD space, diffs would be very handy.

 

Ah ok. I didnt see that logic behind the differentials backup. Sure if you want to keep different system "snapshots", differentials come in handy because of their small size. Thx Brian

 

Glad I could help. Redundancy is safety with backups. Make sure you keep at least two full backups in case one has a problem. For example, you may have just imaged a virus infected OS. The full backup made a month ago will save you. Or recent diffs will save you too.