If this is your first visit, be sure to check out the FAQ by clicking the link above. You may have to register before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages, select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below. |
|
|
Thread Tools | Rate Thread | Display Modes |
#1
|
|||
|
|||
No ''System Image Backup'' in my Win8.1.
I have the ''pro'' version, and I follow the prompts by typing ''File
History'' into the Windows search box, but there is no ''Create System Inage'' at the bottom of the File History screen. Do I have to switch something on? Peter |
Ads |
#2
|
|||
|
|||
No ''System Image Backup'' in my Win8.1.
Peter Jason wrote:
I have the ''pro'' version, and I follow the prompts by typing ''File History'' into the Windows search box, but there is no ''Create System Inage'' at the bottom of the File History screen. Do I have to switch something on? Peter http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials...ndows-8-a.html That article isn't all that clear, but the message is that Windows 7 had the System Image function, but it was gradually degraded (deprecated), to be replaced by File History. And as near as I can tell, no one uses File History. Originally, there was a GUI. http://www.eightforums.com/attachmen...-a-image-1.jpg On my Acer laptop, the button on the left was broken, and so I had to enter a command line replacement, to get to the next menu. Later, when the GUI seemed to have disappeared from the next Windows, there was word that the "wbadmin" command could be used to do a backup. You would run that from Command Prompt. ******* The System Image concept is limited, in that you have to backup up C: when using the command. If you had a 100MB file system, you would need 26GB to store it, 25.9GB for C:, plus 0.1GB for the thing you actually wanted to back up. And this becomes particularly obnoxious, if you back up to DVD discs, as you need four DVDs just to do the most minimal backup possible. Note that backup to DVD is "broken", in that it requires a manual "formatting" step for each DVD. So now, some wbadmin examples. The System Reserved partition doesn't have a drive letter - and this was done by Microsoft on purpose. In this first command, a GUID is used to specify the System Reserved. Obviously, this syntax sucks. The include statement in this example, includes System Reserved and C:, with a comma between them. Wbadmin start backup -backupTarget:F: -include:\\?\Volume{C38A95FE-9261-11E1-92E9-806E6F6E6963}\,C: -quiet The "allCritical" option, captures System Reserved and C:, without any additional drama. So it's a shorthand. In fact, in this example, there is some "redundancy" in the command, in that the "include" step captures C:, and the allCritical says to capture C:. No, it doesn't get captured twice, just once. So this command captures C,D,F, and System Reserved. wbAdmin start backup -backupTarget:E: -include:C:,D:,F: -allCritical -quiet The backup target, is where the output directory goes. In the output directory, there is a .vhd file for each partition. If you rename the folder, after the system image is done, you can prevent it from being overwritten by a second wbadmin run. In this example, the output file collection (control files ahd .vhd) are in N:\WindowsImageBackup. wbAdmin start backup -backupTarget:N: -allCritical If that utility was available, you could make images with it. ******* If you have an OS where both the GUI and the command line are missing, then you switch over to Macrium Reflect Free. Or one of a number of other free utilities. MRF can clone and image. File by File backup is available in the paid version. Backup to network shares, is more fully supported in the paid version. And Macrium Reflect Free includes the capability to mount any .mrimg file as if it was a hard drive. Even the System Image has that function, in that Microsoft chose .vhd as the output format, and .vhd can be mounted by Windows like a hard drive. Windows can also mount a .iso as a DVD drive, so you no longer need virtual CD software for the function. With a lot of these programs supporting volume mount in Explorer, a simple copy and paste is all that is required to restore a missing file. So while these utilities call it "imaging", they're more flexible than that. I think even Acronis, has a separate utility for pulling files out of the Acronis backup file (whatever that is). You have a wealth of options, that's for sure. If your System Image is missing in action, there are options. http://www.macrium.com/reflectfree.aspx?x-free=Y While the green download link on the right is "CNET", it's actually adware-free. The status of the program could change at any time, but the last time I installed there was no adware. The download stub has a relatively simple GUI. You need to tick a box to get the program installer (50MB), plus at least one version of WinPE file set (maybe 140MB or so). That is used to make a WinPE boot CD for bare metal restoration. You can even do backups from that CD if you want (i.e. no files are busy). When the download step is finished, the tool will "process" the WinPE and keep a compressed copy somewhere for later. I've used WinPE 3.1 files for a couple rescue CDs, and I don't really know if there is a practical different by using WinPE 5 (like maybe UEFI support or something). I haven't needed to experiment. When you request to make recovery media, the best option is ask it to make "rescue.iso", then use your favorite CD burning software to make the boot disc. Macrium has tick boxes for the partitions, plus a separate tick box for the MBR. The program keeps a record of the MBR and the partition definitions. It is not to your benefit, to change the partition sizes half way through a backup set, and then expect something sane to happen later. Once you start making backups of a 5GB/20GB/17GB setup say, then keep those sizes constant for each backup. Then, if you restore, the partitions "fit nicely". If you insist on squashing all three partitions together and making a 42GB partition, then you would be advised to make an immediate backup of the new partition, and any future backups would align with the 42GB setup. If you ever needed to go back to the 5GB/20GB/17GB era, then obviously that's entirely different than what is on the drive now. It's a backup software, and not a fancy partition manager. While Macrium keeps adding functions to assist in the partition area, it's still not intended to take the place of a partition management tool. The Macrium site even has tutorials on how to do stuff, if you get stuck. Paul |
#3
|
|||
|
|||
No ''System Image Backup'' in my Win8.1.
On Mon, 08 Jun 2015 16:05:01 +1000, Peter Jason wrote:
I have the ''pro'' version, and I follow the prompts by typing ''File History'' into the Windows search box, but there is no ''Create System Inage'' at the bottom of the File History screen. Do I have to switch something on? Peter False alarm. I found it. |
#4
|
|||
|
|||
No ''System Image Backup'' in my Win8.1.
Forget Microsoft backup. Apparently everyone else has. No surprise.
I use Macrium Reflect Free. Just a small fast SSD for Windows and programs. A large conventional drive for everything else. My system is quick and bulletproof. Easy as cake. |
#5
|
|||
|
|||
No ''System Image Backup'' in my Win8.1.
On Mon, 08 Jun 2015 13:50:56 +0000, John Doe wrote:
Forget Microsoft backup. Apparently everyone else has. No surprise. I use Macrium Reflect Free. Just a small fast SSD for Windows and programs. A large conventional drive for everything else. My system is quick and bulletproof. Easy as cake. As far as I know, windows backup technically works, I did use it once. However, it creates directories, fill them with lots of files and in my case overwrote the older one's. Macrium creates a single file with compression and works well. On a windows machine, you can access single files or directories from the image. I use the free one all the time. Unfortunately, they don't have a Linux version, but you can use the windows bootable recovery usb to create backup and restore of any partition. The paid version has extended capabilities for file backup. Apart from Macrium, there are other free ones, all preferable to windows backup. |
#6
|
|||
|
|||
No ''System Image Backup'' in my Win8.1.
In Win 8 you can search for "recovery" and find the system image backup
tool. In Win 8.1 they changed that, you have to go to the "File History" in the control panel and at the bottom left is a link to "system image backup". I use AOMEI Backupper which is similar to macrium reflect only the free version of AOMEI allows for full, incremental, and differential backups as well as schedule backups. I have done a image/restore operation on an old laptop to test it and it works perfectly. Microsoft seems to love moving stuff around and renaming functions from version to version. Back in the day I used to use Norton Ghost but AOMEI does everything I need and its free. Win 8 and 8.1 also has "refresh" and "reset" tools. I still prefer to use I have used these tools on a few relatives computers who didn't have proper backups and they did work. Hope this helps. Todd |
#7
|
|||
|
|||
No ''System Image Backup'' in my Win8.1.
On Mon, 08 Jun 2015 03:20:52 -0400, Paul wrote:
Peter Jason wrote: I have the ''pro'' version, and I follow the prompts by typing ''File History'' into the Windows search box, but there is no ''Create System Inage'' at the bottom of the File History screen. Do I have to switch something on? Peter http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials...ndows-8-a.html That article isn't all that clear, but the message is that Windows 7 had the System Image function, but it was gradually degraded (deprecated), to be replaced by File History. And as near as I can tell, no one uses File History. Originally, there was a GUI. http://www.eightforums.com/attachmen...-a-image-1.jpg On my Acer laptop, the button on the left was broken, and so I had to enter a command line replacement, to get to the MBR and the partition definitions. It is not to your benefit, to change the partition sizes half way through a backup set, and then expect something sane to happen later. Once you start making backups of a 5GB/20GB/17GB setup say, then keep those sizes constant for each backup. Then, if you restore, the partitions "fit nicely". If you insist on squashing all three partitions together and making a 42GB partition, then you would be advised to make an immediate backup of the new partition, and any future backups would align with the 42GB setup. If you ever needed to go back to the 5GB/20GB/17GB era, then obviously that's entirely different than what is on the drive now. It's a backup software, and not a fancy partition manager. While Macrium keeps adding functions to assist in the partition area, it's still not intended to take the place of a partition management tool. The Macrium site even has tutorials on how to do stuff, if you get stuck. Paul Thanks Paul. I have been using Macrium for a while. Perhaps Windows10 will have something simpler. Peter |
#8
|
|||
|
|||
No ''System Image Backup'' in my Win8.1.
On Mon, 08 Jun 2015 17:54:09 -0400, Todd Hayslett wrote:
In Win 8 you can search for "recovery" and find the system image backup tool. In Win 8.1 they changed that, you have to go to the "File History" in the control panel and at the bottom left is a link to "system image backup". I use AOMEI Backupper which is similar to macrium reflect only the free version of AOMEI allows for full, incremental, and differential backups as well as schedule backups. I have done a image/restore operation on an old laptop to test it and it works perfectly. Microsoft seems to love moving stuff around and renaming functions from version to version. Back in the day I used to use Norton Ghost but AOMEI does everything I need and its free. Win 8 and 8.1 also has "refresh" and "reset" tools. I still prefer to use I have used these tools on a few relatives computers who didn't have proper backups and they did work. Hope this helps. Todd Never heard of AOMEI, I'll give it a try. |
Thread Tools | |
Display Modes | Rate This Thread |
|
|