Windows 7 Feature Focus – Backup and Restore
Posted 08/04/09 at 12:30:00 PM by Mark Edward Soper
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Windows Vista replaced the antiquated, tape-oriented Windows NT Backup wizard with a new backup system optimized for external hard disks, and some editions also included true "bare metal" disaster recovery. However, Vista's Backup and Restore Center was missing some vital functionality: there was no way to create a Recovery Environment disc to boot your system (you were expected to use your Windows Vista DVD), file and folder backup and system image backup were performed with different programs, and Home Premium users who needed image backup had to purchase a third-party program. Windows 7 builds on the new features in Windows Vista's backup and fills in the missing functionality. To see how Windows Backup has been transformed from awkward adolescence into full maturity, keep reading.
Starting Backup and Restore for the First Time
To start Backup or Restore functions in Windows 7, open Control Panel and click Back Up Your Computer from the System and Security category:
Windows Backup and Restore has two panes. The right pane is used to configure and run backup and restore functions. This is the right pane for Windows 7 Home Premium (the focus of this article) before it is configured:
The right pane for Windows 7 Professional and Ultimate offers additional links for system recovery:
The left pane is used to launch backup-related tasks:
Setting Up Windows Backup
To set up Windows Backup, click the Set Up Backup link (1). Note that it is marked with a Windows Security shield, which indicates that users might see a User Account Control (UAC) prompt.
Setting Up a Scheduled Backup Job
Next, Windows Backup displays suitable locations for storing your backup: internal and external hard disks and DVD drives are listed. To save the backup on a network share in Business and Ultimate, click Save to Network (Home Premium users can't use network shares). In this example from Home Premium, I selected a Maxtor OneTouch 4 (2), which has over twice the free space of my system drive. After selecting your location, click Next to continue. If you didn't connect your backup drive until you reached this step, click Refresh (arrow).
When you use the default "Let Windows Choose" setting (3), Windows Backup creates two backup types in a single operation: a system image you can use for "bare metal" disaster recovery, and a backup of data files in libraries, the Windows desktop, and default Windows folders. Click Next to continue.
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Submitted by sandyallan on Thu, 10/22/2009 - 5:39am
Hi,
With the Home Premium versio, can I specify the NAS drive to backup ? Or do I need to get the Professional version ?
Thanks,
Sandy A
Submitted by ready4war on Wed, 09/23/2009 - 2:50pm
Thats pretty neat for a OS backup I might like get a puter with Windows 7 with lots of crap then do a FULL BACKUP on a NAS, Flash Drive, DVD :), HDD's, And thats ABOUT IT :) :) ☺☺☺☺☺☺☻☻☻☻☻☻☺☺☺☺☺☺☻☻☻☻☻☻
Submitted by palmer666 on Fri, 08/28/2009 - 1:06pm
Dear Mr. Soperus,
i have Windows 7 Professional installed on my system and i plan to upgrade my current 2x250 GB Raid-0 on ICHR9 to 2x1TB disks, again at Raid-0 (stripe). I am using the internal image backup software every week for a full system image with all partitions included to an extra internal backup harddisk.
It it possible to restore the images to the new array and if yes, can i adjust the partition sizes because of the more disk space i have after changing the harddisks or does it do some suggestions, e.g. autosizing? Or does the internal Win7 image backup software a restore with the sizes of the partitions, i had before (1:1) on my 500 GB array, so i have to adjust partition sizes with a third party software after restore?
I don´t want to install Acronis or something else, because since the new Backup & Recovery 10 i very dislike it, and it doesn´t fully support Windows 7 for now. Would be nice, if the internal backup function of Windows would feature it.
Thanks for your help!
Regards, Nico
Restore Vista backup with Windows 7 - yes!
Submitted by Marcus_Soperus on Wed, 08/26/2009 - 7:23pm
You can restore files from Windows Vista system image backups with Windows 7's Backup and Restore dialog. You restore them the same way you would restore backups made with Windows 7.
As far as restoring files made with the Windows Vista file backup, these are stored in ZIP format, and can be opened after you take ownership of them (you'll be prompted by Windows 7 for the appropriate steps).
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Submitted by codepath on Wed, 08/05/2009 - 9:06am
Anyone know if a backup made with Vista can be used to restore data to Windows 7?
codepath
Submitted by mls067 on Tue, 08/04/2009 - 7:06pm
I have a question about this. On my computer I have windows 7 loaded on an old 80GB hard drive with all my libraries on my 640GB hard drive ( I purchased this after I realised I really like windows 7). I just purchased a 320gb hard drive that I would like to migrate everything over to without reinstalling everything. Can I use the disk imaging in windows 7 to do this, if so how? I tried and when it came to the point of actually doing it, I recieved an error that the disk was invalid (the 320 disk)and windows gave me a bunch of options that didn't make any sense to me. I tried formatting it(the 320) prior to running the imaging utility to see if that would change and it didn't.
When I run the inital backup I save it to my 1TB external hard drive. I burned the recover cd, turn off the computer and disconnected the old 80GB hard drive (with it connected I recieved a whole bunch of other errors, I know I should have written them down but didn't). I boot up the computer to the cd then click recover from an image or something like that. It finds the image on the 1TB hard drive and goes to the next step to choose drives to exclude. I see the 320GB drive in there but it's not ticked.When I click next it starts the recovery, then the error.
Submitted by Marcus_Soperus on Wed, 08/05/2009 - 1:06pm
The restore system image option in Windows 7 Backup is really designed for situations in which you have replaced a failed hard disk with the same size (or larger).
Since you have a working 80GB installation of Windows 7 and a new hard disk, what you want to do is use a disk-cloning utility provided by the vendor of either your old or new hard disk. For example, if you had a Maxtor or Seagate hard disk (either as the old 80GB drive or the new 320GB drive), you could download MaxBlast 5 or Seagate Disc Wizard and use it to clone your drive (these programs are based on Acronis TrueImage). If you are not using Seagate or Maxtor drives, check with the drive vendor for a Vista-compatible drive cloning utility (Vista-compatible utilities will work with Windows 7 drives as well). Be sure to follow the vendor's suggestions for how to connect your drives, and make sure you have selected your new 320GB drive as the target drive. Depending upon the utility to use, you might be able to clone your old drive to a larger partition on the target drive (this depends upon the utility - and you might need to select a custom setting), or you might wind up with an 80GB partition on the new drive that you can expand to fill the drive by using Disk Management in Windows 7.
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It's amazing how illogical a business built on binary logic can be.
Submitted by billcipp on Tue, 08/04/2009 - 9:53am
I might have missed it but it would be nice if Windows 7 would compare files it is backing up and replace or add as needed rather than making a complete new backup. A reminder that a full backup should be performed about once every two months would be nice as well, as backup files that are added to or replaced can sometimes become corrupt.
My 1TB backup hard drive is shrinking fast with weekly backups! Plus, it takes 45 minutes to backup my libraries. I looked at my hard drive and I see files with dates of the back ups, but I have not found anything on whether it is safe to remove those older files. I am assuming it will not hurt anything if I do but ooops!
A question from Windows 7 asking if it's ok to delete backups that are older than six months would also be nice. That allows for two complete backups and one current that adds or replaces files as needed which saves on time and hard drive space.
There are 3rd party programs that do back ups as I described but if Windows 7 has a similar function I haven't found it yet.
Submitted by Duall on Tue, 08/04/2009 - 9:13am
Too bad this doesn't cover dynamic drives.
Neither does the backup built into Windows Home Server as far as I can tell.
Submitted by jess6369 on Tue, 08/04/2009 - 8:30am
finally microsoft gets smart! Think about it how many times do you misplace the install disk for your os?
Now we can make 50 copies and hide them everywhere so when the time comes we will be able to find at least 1.
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