Win System Image

Any tricks to get this to work?
Back Up Your Computer. Create A System Image

I want to create a System Image on a specified folder on drive, either
on the same laptop or on a NAS drive. But it won't let me.

For the NAS it demands a Username and Password BUT I do not use that
same for visible drives on other PC on my home LAN.

It seems not to allow me to select a folder on a local drive.

What am I missing?

Per OldGuy:
Any tricks to get this to work?
Back Up Your Computer. Create A System Image

I use something called "ShadowProtect". Backs up to the NAS box, no
problem. Restores an image to partition with a different size.... has
all sorts of bells and whistles.

But it costs an arm and a leg (over $100...)

Hopefully Somebody Who Knows will chime in with one of the several
cheaper or free alternatives with similar functionality.
--
Pete Cresswell

OldGuy wrote:
Any tricks to get this to work?
Back Up Your Computer. Create A System Image

I want to create a System Image on a specified folder on drive, either
on the same laptop or on a NAS drive. But it won't let me.

For the NAS it demands a Username and Password BUT I do not use that
same for visible drives on other PC on my home LAN.

It seems not to allow me to select a folder on a local drive.

What am I missing?

I have used System Image, to make a backup of C: and System Reserved,
to another partition on the same drive (call it the Data partition).
That is not a recommended endpoint for the backup, but I do that so
that I can transfer the folder containing the .vhd file(s) to
another computer (to this desktop). Once the data is safely on
my desktop system, I can delete the staging folder on the Data
partition.

I have no idea how easy it would be, to make a share somewhere,
into a target.

*******

The System Image feature, is a GUI front end for "wbadmin".

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/l.../cc754015.aspx

The "Wbadmin start backup" mentions -backupTarget \\servername\sharename\
implying some form of network backup capability. Is \\servername\sharename\
a mapped folder, or a partition on a NAS ? I don't know for sure.

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/l.../cc742083.aspx

Paul

On my laptop, the NAS can appear as both a Drive Letter (as I assigned
it through the Buffalo NAS Application) or under "Network" along with
other PCs on my LAN that have shared folders.

At first using the Win application the "Network" names appeared. Later
when I was trying again those names did not appear. Network never
shows drive letters.

I did not follow through on System Image to drive. I have the (now)
SSD partitioned with a data area (F and was going to slave the image
there but there was no option to select or create a folder. There are
several folders on the F: drive.

I need to have a rapid way to restore C: completely and would prefer to
have it local rather than on a NAS.

I want to write software and be certain I can restore the laptop to
"pristine" state after working. I am also trying to understand virtual
stuff but right now that is beyond my knowledge base. With virtual I
need to install Win XP or Win 7 and create a complete machine that I
can work with and restart again with all the apps I install on that
virtual machine in a state I left them. Hopefully I can figure that
out. My laptop has 400G SSD free and 8G RAM total. I have USB3 ports
for speedy I/O. I have proven that the USB3 ports with a pen dirive is
indeed lightning fast, getting close to the specified 190 MB/s read and
110MB/s write (Sandisk Extreme Flash Drive)

OldGuy has written on 2/4/2014 3:13 PM:
On my laptop, the NAS can appear as both a Drive Letter (as I assigned
it through the Buffalo NAS Application) or under "Network" along with
other PCs on my LAN that have shared folders.

At first using the Win application the "Network" names appeared. Later
when I was trying again those names did not appear. Network never
shows drive letters.

I did not follow through on System Image to drive. I have the (now)
SSD partitioned with a data area (F and was going to slave the image
there but there was no option to select or create a folder. There are
several folders on the F: drive.

I need to have a rapid way to restore C: completely and would prefer to
have it local rather than on a NAS.

I want to write software and be certain I can restore the laptop to
"pristine" state after working. I am also trying to understand virtual
stuff but right now that is beyond my knowledge base. With virtual I
need to install Win XP or Win 7 and create a complete machine that I
can work with and restart again with all the apps I install on that
virtual machine in a state I left them. Hopefully I can figure that
out. My laptop has 400G SSD free and 8G RAM total. I have USB3 ports
for speedy I/O. I have proven that the USB3 ports with a pen dirive is
indeed lightning fast, getting close to the specified 190 MB/s read and
110MB/s write (Sandisk Extreme Flash Drive)

How about an external USB HD that is not part of your NAS?

On 2/04/2014, OldGuy posted:
On my laptop, the NAS can appear as both a Drive Letter (as I
assigned it through the Buffalo NAS Application) or under "Network"
along with other PCs on my LAN that have shared folders.

At first using the Win application the "Network" names appeared.
Later when I was trying again those names did not appear. Network
never shows drive letters.

I did not follow through on System Image to drive. I have the (now)
SSD partitioned with a data area (F and was going to slave the
image there but there was no option to select or create a folder.
There are several folders on the F: drive.

I need to have a rapid way to restore C: completely and would prefer
to have it local rather than on a NAS.

I want to write software and be certain I can restore the laptop to
"pristine" state after working. I am also trying to understand
virtual stuff but right now that is beyond my knowledge base. With
virtual I need to install Win XP or Win 7 and create a complete
machine that I can work with and restart again with all the apps I
install on that virtual machine in a state I left them. Hopefully I
can figure that out. My laptop has 400G SSD free and 8G RAM total.
I have USB3 ports for speedy I/O. I have proven that the USB3 ports
with a pen dirive is indeed lightning fast, getting close to the
specified 190 MB/s read and 110MB/s write (Sandisk Extreme Flash
Drive)

It doesn't make sense to me to back up to the same drive, even if it's
a different partition. Too risky.

I agree with Juan Wei's idea of a USB drive.

I would recommend in addition either to clone the partition to that
drive, or to use an imaging program that lets you make a boot CD to
restore from.

--
Gene E. Bloch (Stumbling Bloch)

On 2/4/14 4:28 PM, Gene E. Bloch wrote:
On 2/04/2014, OldGuy posted:
On my laptop, the NAS can appear as both a Drive Letter (as I
assigned it through the Buffalo NAS Application) or under "Network"
along with other PCs on my LAN that have shared folders.

At first using the Win application the "Network" names appeared.
Later when I was trying again those names did not appear. Network
never shows drive letters.

I did not follow through on System Image to drive. I have the (now)
SSD partitioned with a data area (F and was going to slave the
image there but there was no option to select or create a folder.
There are several folders on the F: drive.

I need to have a rapid way to restore C: completely and would prefer
to have it local rather than on a NAS.

I want to write software and be certain I can restore the laptop to
"pristine" state after working. I am also trying to understand
virtual stuff but right now that is beyond my knowledge base. With
virtual I need to install Win XP or Win 7 and create a complete
machine that I can work with and restart again with all the apps I
install on that virtual machine in a state I left them. Hopefully I
can figure that out. My laptop has 400G SSD free and 8G RAM total.
I have USB3 ports for speedy I/O. I have proven that the USB3 ports
with a pen dirive is indeed lightning fast, getting close to the
specified 190 MB/s read and 110MB/s write (Sandisk Extreme Flash
Drive)

It doesn't make sense to me to back up to the same drive, even if it's
a different partition. Too risky.

IMO, better than nothing. :-)

I agree with Juan Wei's idea of a USB drive.

I would recommend in addition either to clone the partition to that
drive, or to use an imaging program that lets you make a boot CD to
restore from.



--
Ken

Mac OS X 10.8.5
Firefox 24.0
Thunderbird 24.0

You are all missing the point.
I was probably not as clear as I should have been. Sorry.

Of course I will backup on an external device. I have already done so
to DVDs. But reloading from DVDs is not conducive to NOT pulling more
hair out. Too many manual operations ... DVD in, DVD out for three low
loading DVDs. I want to hit the button and go get a cup of coffee and
come back with it all done.

But I want the capability to rapidly reload Win 7 from the other
partition on the SSD or as a last resort on a fast USB3.

But I see no way to do this with Windows features since
Win System Image does not let me select a folder to image to, it only
lets me select a drive. I have not done this yet. What does it do,
wipe out what is on the drive? create a file at root on the drive?
what?

If I have to use a 3rd party sw (Macrium Reflect Free or EaseUS Backup,
etc) it will probably be slower and more complicated, yes? Or
suggestions please.

On 2/4/2014 3:13 PM, OldGuy wrote:
On my laptop, the NAS can appear as both a Drive Letter (as I assigned
it through the Buffalo NAS Application) or under "Network" along with
other PCs on my LAN that have shared folders.

At first using the Win application the "Network" names appeared. Later
when I was trying again those names did not appear. Network never shows
drive letters.

I did not follow through on System Image to drive. I have the (now) SSD
partitioned with a data area (F and was going to slave the image there
but there was no option to select or create a folder. There are several
folders on the F: drive.

I need to have a rapid way to restore C: completely and would prefer to
have it local rather than on a NAS.

I want to write software and be certain I can restore the laptop to
"pristine" state after working. I am also trying to understand virtual
stuff but right now that is beyond my knowledge base. With virtual I
need to install Win XP or Win 7 and create a complete machine that I can
work with and restart again with all the apps I install on that virtual
machine in a state I left them. Hopefully I can figure that out. My
laptop has 400G SSD free and 8G RAM total. I have USB3 ports for
speedy I/O. I have proven that the USB3 ports with a pen dirive is
indeed lightning fast, getting close to the specified 190 MB/s read and
110MB/s write (Sandisk Extreme Flash Drive)

Instead of using the NAS's drive letter or finding it on the Network use
the NAS IP address directly wiht added Share folder if required
192.168.xx.xx\shanre

OldGuy wrote:
You are all missing the point.
I was probably not as clear as I should have been. Sorry.

Of course I will backup on an external device. I have already done so
to DVDs. But reloading from DVDs is not conducive to NOT pulling more
hair out. Too many manual operations ... DVD in, DVD out for three low
loading DVDs. I want to hit the button and go get a cup of coffee and
come back with it all done.

But I want the capability to rapidly reload Win 7 from the other
partition on the SSD or as a last resort on a fast USB3.

But I see no way to do this with Windows features since
Win System Image does not let me select a folder to image to, it only
lets me select a drive. I have not done this yet. What does it do,
wipe out what is on the drive? create a file at root on the drive? what?

If I have to use a 3rd party sw (Macrium Reflect Free or EaseUS Backup,
etc) it will probably be slower and more complicated, yes? Or
suggestions please.


File History backs up to a user designated location/
folder. System Image backs up to the root of the selected drive.
- Each create their own subfolder structure.
- Neither impact the other folders/subfolders and data on the
destination location.

--
....winston
msft mvp consumer apps

On Tue, 04 Feb 2014 15:28:09 -0800, Gene E. Bloch
wrote:


It doesn't make sense to me to back up to the same drive, even if it's
a different partition. Too risky.


Ditto! A very strong ditto!

On Tue, 04 Feb 2014 17:51:03 -0700, Ken Springer
wrote:


It doesn't make sense to me to back up to the same drive, even if it's
a different partition. Too risky.

IMO, better than nothing. :-)


Sure. But barely.

Having a helmet on if you're riding a motorcycle is also better than
nothing, but as far as I'm concerned, it's still too risky.

In message , Gene E. Bloch
writes:
[]
It doesn't make sense to me to back up to the same drive, even if it's
a different partition. Too risky.
[]
Certainly one _should_ back up to an external drive.

However, that does not mean you shouldn't _also_ back up to another
partition on the same drive, if you want to. Restoring from there is
easier (and quicker), and if your user is of the type that is likely to
"break" the system, with a probability much higher than that of drive
failure, then imaging to a partition does no harm and can do a lot of
good.

Basically, it depends what the "risk" you're trying to protect against
is.
--
J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/1985 MB++G()AL-IS-Ch++(p)Ar@T+H+Sh0!:`)DNAf

resentment is like drinking poison and expecting the other person to die -
attributed to Carrie Fisher by Gareth McLean, in Radio Times 28 January-3
February 2012

On Thu, 6 Feb 2014 23:01:37 +0000, "J. P. Gilliver (John)"
wrote:

In message , Gene E. Bloch
writes:
[]
It doesn't make sense to me to back up to the same drive, even if it's
a different partition. Too risky.
[]
Certainly one _should_ back up to an external drive.

However, that does not mean you shouldn't _also_ back up to another
partition on the same drive, if you want to.



Considering the emphasis on "also," I can't disagree with you. As far
as I'm concerned, doing so is unnecessary and foolish, but as long as
you have a *real* backup I can't object to it.

But I doubt that very many people do both. Or worse, if they do both,
they do the backup to another partition on the same drive much more
frequently than the external backup.

In message , Ken Blake
writes:
On Thu, 6 Feb 2014 23:01:37 +0000, "J. P. Gilliver (John)"
wrote:

In message , Gene E. Bloch
writes:
[]
It doesn't make sense to me to back up to the same drive, even if it's
a different partition. Too risky.
[]
Certainly one _should_ back up to an external drive.

However, that does not mean you shouldn't _also_ back up to another
partition on the same drive, if you want to.



Considering the emphasis on "also," I can't disagree with you. As far
as I'm concerned, doing so is unnecessary and foolish, but as long as
you have a *real* backup I can't object to it.

I object to the "unnecessary and foolish". The user I have in mind is
far more likely to corrupt her system than have a hardware disc failure
(in fact I don't think she's ever in over 10 years). Having said that,
she _does_ do external ones too.

But I doubt that very many people do both. Or worse, if they do both,
they do the backup to another partition on the same drive much more
frequently than the external backup.

You are probably right.
--
J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/1985 MB++G()AL-IS-Ch++(p)Ar@T+H+Sh0!:`)DNAf

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