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No ''System Image Backup'' in my Win8.1.



 
 
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  #1  
Old June 8th 15, 07:05 AM posted to alt.comp.os.windows-8
Peter Jason
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 2,310
Default 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
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  #2  
Old June 8th 15, 08:20 AM posted to alt.comp.os.windows-8
Paul
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Posts: 18,275
Default 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  
Old June 8th 15, 08:20 AM posted to alt.comp.os.windows-8
Peter Jason
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 2,310
Default 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  
Old June 8th 15, 02:50 PM posted to alt.comp.os.windows-8
John Doe[_8_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 2,378
Default 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  
Old June 8th 15, 10:31 PM posted to alt.comp.os.windows-8
dave
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 17
Default 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  
Old June 8th 15, 10:54 PM posted to alt.comp.os.windows-8
Todd Hayslett
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 3
Default 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  
Old June 9th 15, 01:24 AM posted to alt.comp.os.windows-8
Peter Jason
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 2,310
Default 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  
Old June 10th 15, 05:20 PM posted to alt.comp.os.windows-8
dave
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 17
Default 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.
 




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