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But what happens in case the C: partition fails and I have to format it, then how do I use the image made using Win7.

See Restore your computer from a system image backup & Windows 7 System Restore from Backup Image.

Joe

--Joe

Hi Clive,

I have a question about the Win 7 built-in imaging utility that I am hoping you or perhaps someone else can answer. Specifically, is it possible to create a bootable image disk in Win 7? In other words, if the OS fails completely will I be able to re-install my system from the image without having to reinstall the OS first?

Thanks in Advance,
Doug

Do you have the Win 7 DVD???? I created a System Image of my Windows 7 Pro using my Maxtor OneTouch 4 Mini EHD. All I did was open Control Panel and clicked Create a System Image and the screen brought up my E: drive and I clicked next and it saved 60 GB in 18 minutes. This is the handy portable HD which a friend told me about a year or so ago. I can take with me when I travel in the event I have any malfunction issues.

You boot from your Win 7 installation disk. When you get to Install or Repair, choose Repair. It will ask you which installation you want to repair, then you get a screen with five options. Choose the third, System Image Recovery, give it about 30 minutes to do its thing, and you’re good to go.

Hey Jude

Thank you guys, Clint, Ted, and Bob. I was worried about a bad install. I am making a set of the system repair disc and system image now, and looking at different virus protection.

Is Sunbelt Software’s Vipre really one of the best? I never heard of it until now. Te website shows a number f awards, but the other Windows recommended virus protections all look the same in utilities and about in price.

Bob do you recommend this software over CA 2010?
This is the list Microsoft shows for possible protection

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/antivirus-partners/windows-7.aspx

I’m still a little lost in choosing one. I liked Zone Alarm, but I don’t have the 2gigahertz processor, only have 1.7 gigahertz.

If any advice on which one really is best,

I have 1.7 gigahertz processor duo core and 3Gb ram

Ted,

I know you asked June Bug, but until he responds I’ll tell you I used the program built right into Win 7. It worked slick as a whistle and I was impressed with how easy it was.

I created a System Image of my Windows 7 Pro using my Maxtor OneTouch 4 Mini All I did was open Control Panel and clicked Create a System Image and the screen brought up my E: drive and I clicked next and it saved 60 GB in 18 minutes. This is the handy portable HD which a friend told me about a year or so ago. I have Win 7 Pro along with the Maxtor drive in my laptop bag.

To use you boot from your Win 7 installation disk. When you get to Install or Repair, choose Repair. It will ask you which installation you want to repair, then you get a screen with five options. Choose the third, System Image Recovery, give it about 30 minutes to do its thing, and you’re good to go.

Here is what System Image is described as in the Control Panel/Backup and Restore

“What is a system image?

A system image is an exact copy of a drive. By default, a system image includes the drives required for Windows to run. It also includes Windows and your system settings, programs, and files. You can use a system image to restore the contents of your computer if your hard drive or computer ever stops working. When you restore your computer from a system image, it’s a complete restoration; you can’t choose individual items to restore, and all of your current programs, system settings, and files are replaced with the contents of the system image.”

I also know some of my friends swear by Acronis. They say it takes 30 minutes to back up and about 8 to restore. My method took 18 minutes to backup and should take about 30 min to restore.

Hey Jude

”Bare metal backup” usually means the ability to boot from a CD or DVD and restore a complete system image. This is included in the basic Acronis product. You only need the Plus pack if you want to be able to restore to different hardware, for example if you replace your motherboard.

This is confusing! I use Shadow Protect and I am not familiar with ATI. I don’t understand why I would need extra S/W to restore an image if I have replaced the motherboard. Why would ATI even care? Could you elaborate?

… for bare metal backup, then Acronis would need the plus pack, which would then be a similar price to ShadowProtect…

“Bare metal backup” usually means the ability to boot from a CD or DVD and restore a complete system image. This is included in the basic Acronis product. You only need the Plus pack if you want to be able to restore to different hardware, for example if you replace your motherboard.

Reading this thread reminded me I needed to do a system image. Have added several programs since the last image. My actual usage on the HD is 25.89GB. Just finished an image backup and the wizard estimated 26GB would be needed. The actual image was 14GB. That is about 54% of the estimate. BTW, the image was saved to an external hard drive.

Your figures indicate your actual image is about 31% of the estimate. Considerably different than my image percentages but the type of programs installed might make a difference.

JB

It’s highly unlikely that you made an actual drive image, more like a “system restore” image. Go back and check your settings.
I don’t know exactly what level of compression the prog offers but it is not very likely at all that you could fit an entire drives image on one DVD.

Thanks – I created another system image using the same program on the same system – this time the program advised me that it may take up to 16GB (I had loaded up more porgrams) however in practice the end result was 1.25 DVDs.

The original image processed advised me of a potential 11GB requirement however I fitted that onto a single DVD as outlined in my original post. So in some way the degree of proportionality is the same (?).

Would appreciate hearing about the experiences of other users when employing the image program.

Regards (and happy new year).

Also why are you restoring from a recovery disk?

If your win 7 is working ok then you should be restoring an image from the recovery control panel which is the method recommended by win 7

If your computer is still working and you can access Control Panel, or if you want to restore your system image backup onto a different computer, follow these steps:

Click to open Recovery. (control panel applet)

Click Advanced recovery methods.

Click Use a system image you created earlier to recover your computer, and then follow the steps.

The problem began as soon as Adobe Photoshop Elements 7 was installed. Prior to this, no problems at all. An uninstall of adobe photoshop elements 7 did not fix the problem. A system restore to just prior to the Adobe photoshop Elents 7 install also did not fix the problem. I was going to restore from an System Image that I burned to a brand new WD External HDD, but after loading my System Repair Disk I burned when creating the Image, my system does not reconize my External HDD. In checking on the WD site they do not provide drivers as the drivers are native in the OS, but they are not found and loaded by the repair disk. This is frustrating because if I were able to access my Image on the WD Ext drive, I could put the entire system back where I was a couple of weeks ago.

If you are interested in other imaging programs, Macruim Reflect offers a free version which works well – the only caveat is that the free will only do complete images, not incremental (or allow exclusions)…a system image can be restored by booting from a CD ( it will prompt you to make the boot CD)…the paid version is fairly reasonable at $39.99 – was using it with Vista and now Win 7 and works just fine – it will also back up to CD, DVD or external drive which is nice…info is here: http://www.macrium.com/reflectfree.asp

No I have not tried a diff. brand of disk. I’m using TDK which is considered a good brand. The problem, or perhaps difference is that The version that have the problem are the Home Premium versions. My Ultimate version works fine as well. I see you are using the PRO edition which also works well. Supposedly full system images are also enabled on the Home Premium version, but I continually have the looping problem I described above. I’m wondering if there is a setting I need to change, or perhaps a registry setting. Who knows. Tha’s why I’m hoping someone smarter than me has already solved this problem. Thanks for your response.
Ted

For what it’s worth, I have done several system image backups using MS since installing Win 7 Pro 64-bit. The difference is I’m backing up to an ext. HD. I have had no problems whatsoever.

Have you tried using a different brand of DVD?

I understand we should be able to create a full system image using Windows 7 built in back up system. In my Windows 7 Ultimate laptop (Sony Vaio VGN-FW model) this worked fine. In all my Home Premium versions (2 PCs – also both are Sony Vaio VGN-FW models) when I attempt to create backup disks (DVDs) the backup starts, it asks me to insert a disk of 1 gb or larger (I’m using 4.7 GB disks), it formats the disk, it starts the backup, it states it is preparing the disk, then it loops back to insert a disk larger than 1 gb, format, etc. It somehow gets caught in an endless loop. Is there something else I should be doing with my Home Premium versions to allow this full system Image??? I’m at a loss. Thanks for any help anyone can provide.

Remaining question after reading everyone’s feedback: MS image, Acronis 2010 or freebie Macrium Reflect?

Thanks everyone for your response!

Ken: You are so right, backup is important. I have a backup for files, but do not have enough backup space to image the entire system. I’ll work on that!

Kevin: Yeah – no ActiveSync! That’s great. Although a bit sad as it’s one of the few things everyone looks to me for as an expert in helping them to fix their sync :0 I sure hope the HPLJ4 works. It’s great for quantity b&w printing.

DaveA: As long as Works doesn’t take up much space I guess it won’t hurt to leave it there. Thanks for the referral to Acronis – I’ll check it out. I need to buy a bigger external USB HD though. Mine is only 250 gig. I might as well go for a terabyte now so I can include a system image, file backup, and ever growing digi needs.

Richard: Free – woo hoo. Full back up is all I want for now. I keep two redundant backups and one current at all times. I used to have lots of tapes and kept many backups – I’m over it : ) Thanks for the referral to Macrium Reflect. I’ll look into it.

Rich: I usually partition my HD into 3 partitions, keeping C for program and system files. But this time I’m living on the wild side and going with just a C drive. After all these years of partitioning, I’ve never had anything goober up the partition it lived in. Now let’s hope that stays true going foward! So, since I dont’ intend on having another directory I could give MS image a try.

D: Silly me, I should have listed it in that order so you all would know I intended to do that instead of putting software at the bottom of my list including Norton. I’ve used Norton for years and watched it become a system hog, granting less versatility to the user, and more – but I know it and it works. I bought another 3 years of it when buying the laptop.

I looked up drivers for you 8500 and it looks like HP has them for 32 bit adn 64 bit. Did you download them from the HP site?

32-bit (basic and full feature drivers available): http://tinyurl.com/yd9mn8m
64-bit (basic and full feature drivers available): http://tinyurl.com/yjp7qm8