I used Windows 7 image feature to my external HD. Is this enough?

I've got Linux boot disks and a Paragon Pe sitting around from the XP machine as well as the Windows 7 OEM. Will the boot disks work or do I need to make a new one? Thank you!

 

You need to make the Win 7 rescue disk in order to restore a Win 7 image...

 

Kerodo, i think that the Win7 disc also have the option to restore win7 images.

edit: i've just confirmed that is possible. And It´s also possible to press F8 during the boot and select repair computer, although using the cd is more reliable.

 

Yeah, Windows 7 does have an imaging tool.
I've used it on my laptop before but it's kinda slow.

 

Ok, didn't know that. Thanks....

 

You're welcome. Just a detail, in order to do that, the win7 disc must be the same version that the installed O.S. (premium=premium, ultimate=ultimate...etc.)

 

Thank you for the replies!

 

this hasn't been my experience.
it's one of the fastest imager i have tested.

matter of fact, i used Windows 7 imaging to compare seped with other imagers.

only a very few are as fast or faster than Windows 7 own imager.

 

Maybe it was due to my laptop specs. (Netbook specs)
I've never used any other imaging software in my laptop.

 

It's fast because it doesn't use compression. The higher the compression, the longer the image creation time.

 

Hmmm, that sounds about right.

 

In my experience, Windows 7 backup is rather slow to create the images (slower than Paragon programs), fast to restore them. I stopped using it because images are too big and usually the last image created overwrites the previous one.

 

Win 7 built in image tool has some limitations though its way better than nothing.

1) It only keeps one image of your disk. You cannot easily keep historical images.

2) It does not do incremental or differential images. All images are full.

3) No restore to dissimilar hardware. Must be restored to same hardware.

 

claykin,

I used Win7 imaging a few times and I had a somewhat different experience from what you reported. I could create incremental images. Here is my summary....

It doesn't image FAT/FAT32/Linux partitions. Since most (? all) Dell computers have a OEM Diagnostic partition (FAT16) this won't be included in the image and if you have to restore the image to a new HD (due to HD failure), the Dell Diagnostic partition will be missing.

The images aren't compressed and are roughly double the size of images created by other imaging software.

It can create differential or incremental images but no-one is sure of which type. Probably incremental. The extra image is added automatically to the base image and you only find out about it when you try to restore as you see a series of dates.

There is no option for scheduling image creation. Images must be created manually.

There is no option for resizing the restored partition.

You can't restore into a smaller partition (eg if you want to transfer your OS to a SSD).

The images can't be Validated/Verified.

 

Brian K

If MS is using incrementals or diffs for back ups then something is wrong with their algorithms. In the few times I tested, subsequent image backups took just as long as the original, and when inspecting the destiantion drive only a single image was stored.

I really hardly ever use or recommend it. Maybe you have more experience or MS upgraded it in SP1?

Note: I just used the magic educational tool (Google) and found Wikipedia's entry on this. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Backup_and_Restore

Seems that maybe MS is using System Restore to keep tabs on incremental changes. Or am I reading this wrong? What happens for SSD users who disable System Restore?

And, regarding restore to another motherboard...As I understand and recall, you cannot inject drivers. The only option is if MS has the driver in its database. That likely means restore to brand new hardware (i.e. ivy bridge) is not gonna work.

I had one experience with Windows 7 imaging where a user's PC was fried by lightning but the harddisk amazingly survived. He bought a new tower but wanted to restore his backup image. I couldn't get system to boot. However I used a different imaging app on the original harddisk and was able to restore the disk OK.

 

claykin,

I think I noticed that too. But when you run the restore you are presented with the dates of your various "incremental images". I don't like it either but it's better than not imaging at all.

 

Agreed. Like anything from MS, it's a bare bones solution that third party vendors simply do better. Is it better than nothing? Absolutely. Would I only use that to protect my data? No.

 

i used F8 in over a couple of hundreds imaging/restore.
it never failed.
and it's much faster than to wait for the CD to load.

of course, one should keep a bootable cd just in case the machine won't boot.

 

1. you can rename the folder where the image was saved.
then create another image after.

2. it does incremental.

3. right you are