Tech: Windows Vista Backup

Subject: Tech - Windows Vista Backup
From: Bonecruncher
Date: 10 Jul 07 - 11:50 PM

Just bought a new computer with Windows Vista pre-loaded. No disks provided by manufacturers. On enquiry I was told that disks are "not required as all operating systems are pre-loaded".
Having difficulty in understanding how to take a copy of the operating system on to DVD or CD in case of calamity.
Otherwise, it appears that the hard disk can be partitioned via Windows, so should I allocate a part of the hard drive to a duplicate Windows Vista system?
Any help would be appreciated.

Colyn.

Subject: RE: Tech - Windows Vista Backup
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 11 Jul 07 - 12:43 AM

Microsoft doesn't return any knowledge base articles on how to do a backup, but it's detailed in an article for what to do when what looks like how to do it doesn't work – sort of.

Try:

KB934172

[quote]
"Method 1
Create a backup with Windows Complete PC Backup. Use the Back up computer option in the Backup and Restore Center.
To do this, follow these steps:
1. Click Start , type backup in the Start Search box, and then click Backup and Restore Center in the Programs list.
2. In the Backup and Restore Center window, click Back up computer.

Note When you run Back up computer the second time and successive times, only an incremental backup image of the computer is created.

[end quote]

Since I don't have Vista to look at, I have to guess that it allows you to do a backup to DVD, assuming you have a DVD burner. You may be able to do an incremental backup to several CDs, but I don't think the bare system will fit on one CD(?).

John

Subject: RE: Tech - Windows Vista Backup
From: Joe Offer
Date: 11 Jul 07 - 02:16 AM

Hi, Colyn - go to Help and search for Recovery Disk. That should give you the instructions you need to create a set of disks for system recovery.
About two weeks after I bought my computer, I got an automatic message on my screen, prompting me to create recovery disks. Good think I did it. I crashed the computer when I tried to install something that wouldn't work in Vista. The recovery disk worked well.
-Joe-

Subject: RE: Tech - Windows Vista Backup
From: Geoff the Duck
Date: 11 Jul 07 - 05:47 AM

I would always advise using something which is not dependent on your Windows operating system working. I use Acronis True Image, which has to initially be installed under Windows, but once that is done, you create a Rescue CD which can operate by booting up before Windows loads. The programme makes "Mirror" copies of your hard drive, which can be stored on a separate partition or burned to CD/DVD and kept safe.
When your computer goes belly up, you just restore an earlier working backup image.
Quack!
GtD.

Subject: RE: Tech - Windows Vista Backup
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 11 Jul 07 - 06:50 AM

Using a separate partition on the same drive as the system is not generally recommended, as a very common, if not the most common reason, for needing a backup is the mechanical failure of the drive. When this happens, quite frequently nothing on the drive is usable.

If one buys a new hard drive, it should come with software that allows you to "mirror" the existing drive onto the new one, thereby making an exact copy of the existing installation. My experience has been that the computer doesn't know anything at all has happened if you swap drives between an original and a true mirror.

The backup (or backup and recovery) system built into recent Windows versions has placed on a "Recovery Disk" all the "program" needed to boot from the disk and transfer the whole program back to the same drive it came from or to a new hard drive. If your Windows installation isn't working, there's little rationale for making a backup; and if it is working there should be no problem with using the properly created backup for a reinstallation.

A rational procedure would be to follow the Microsoft instructions for making a "Recovery Disk" just in case they might actually know what works. If you really want to "do a little extra," after you've done the RTFM and made a recovery disk, using third party products for whatever suits you is fine.

While I didn't easily find instructions for making a backup, the inserted instructions within the KB article linked above should take one to exactly the same place in Vista suggested by Joe O.

What I did find in my brief search at Microsoft was a long list of individual articles on "how to recover from failure to reinstall from backups made using other methods¹ or products."

¹ One problem is that a few Vista system files apparently are encrypted and self-destruct if just "copied." A second is that many third-party "backup" utilities ignore and don't automatically backup temp files. At least one such temp is documented as being required for a successful system restore, and as being frequently "lost" by a couple of popular third-party "backup" programs.

Do note that the Backup system built-in in Vista allows several different kinds of backups and/or "backup modes," only one of which apparently will be useful for a "full system restore." Reading the instructions when you get there should make it reasonably straightforward to choose the right one.

John

Subject: RE: Tech - Windows Vista Backup
From: Joe Offer
Date: 11 Jul 07 - 01:45 PM

Apparently, Windows Vista allows you to create only one set of Recovery Disks. Mine filled up three CDs. I also have a full Vista-generated backup on an external hard drive.
I had a crash a while back, when I was installing a program that didn't like Vista. I was reluctant to use the recovery disks because I was afraid they might restore my computer without the programs I've added, but I was desperate and decided to use the recovery disks anyhow. They worked like a charm, and I don't think I lost anything in the restoration.
-Joe-

Subject: RE: Tech - Windows Vista Backup
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 11 Jul 07 - 03:01 PM

A potential problem with recovery disks in general is probably about the same, or will be soon, in Vista as in WinXP. The recovery disk can only recover you to the system that was current at the time it was made, and with the steady stream of "updates" and "patches," any time you "recover" your system you will need to immediately go to the update sites and get the current patches.

Both WinXP, and from what Joe O indicates, Vista, will do a good job of reinstalling the OS without disrupting programs installed later (although backup is still recommended, and when there's a problem reinstalling programs from original disks is best).

For the paranoid, even though Vista allows only one "System Restore Backup" copy to be made from the installed Vista, once that copy is made it should be possible to do a "copy a CD" in most burner programs to duplicate (i.e. mirror) the one Vista lets you burn to make a backup backup. I can't guarantee that will work, but I've seen no indication (yet) that it shouldn't. (We might expect that they're probably working on a way to prevent it, since Microsoft is a little bit paranoid about copies too.)

John

Subject: RE: Tech - Windows Vista Backup
From: Bonecruncher
Date: 11 Jul 07 - 11:07 PM

Many thanks to you all for the above advice.

Colyn.