Create A Backup Image Of A Clean Install Of Windows + Certain Applications?
Aug 29, 2011
I'd like to create a backup image of a clean install of Windows + certain applications.My plan is this: Format my SSD that I am currently using. Install fresh windows 7, do all the updates, install a few choice applications, and then get an image of it to use for recovery. I have a few questions on this topic as well:
1. This is probably obvious, but I want to make sure; I can store the image wherever I like, correct? If I am using an SSD for my boot drive, I can image that, and store the image on a regular hard drive, right?
2. How big will the image be? Is it going to be as big as the entire drive that I back up? I cannot imagine how it would go any differently, but I am hoping for some unrealized magic.
3. Do I need to buy the Ghost software? If not, does it make imaging a whole lot easier to make it worth the price tag?
4. How arduous and time consuming is the actual recovery process?
p.s. Something I just thought of. I don't know how I would do the actual backup without an OS to interface with so maybe I could make the image contain everything except the basic install of windows to cut down on space and time. Is this feasible?
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Oct 9, 2012
I've been using computers ever since Windows 3.1 and '95 and I have been plagued with dozens upon dozens of hdd crashes and similar occurrences which forced me to reformat and reinstall all the programs I use (and have to search and find them again...). I have learned a lot since '95. One method of keeping my apps and media safer is by keeping them on a separate larger internal hdd and running my OS on a smaller ~400gb hard drive. I have just gotten into creating full system images with Acronis that fill up 3+ blu ray discs, which is ok if I'm only making one ever, but my documents and programs consist of more than half of that data. It would be nice to make one full system image right after I reformat my computer and install all device drivers I'll be using; my questions below are in regards to making images of the programs to allow very simple install later. Let me say this as well: I know of the extreme difficulty of taking a system image created on 'PC A' and using it on 'PC B'.Basically unless PC A and B the same brand and model something is bound to not work correctly due to driver issues and hardware incompatibility. Anyways, what I am interested in now is to get one of my computers installed with all the software and plugins I typically use and create a "system image" consisting of only my programs and the necessary files to have them run properly. I understand this may be unfeasible but I'd like to further my knowledge and hear from others their ideas to my problem. I say it may be unfeasible because, when installing a program, files are saved into many different directories, including various folders within "Users" and the hidden folder "ProgramData" (as well as possibly to the "Windows" folder and/or C: as well as the computer's registry).I feel this may work if I get every file that was created at installation time as well as run windows 7 on all of my computers that I'll be using this "software-only system image" on.Is there any software that will allow me to accomplish my goal or at least make my job easier?If this is possible and assuming I'll only be using 64-bit versions of Win7, will I run into problems between, say, Home Premium and Ultimate? Is the structure or layout of the OS different in the ways / directories it installs programs into?If the above fails or is impossible then.I was considering another idea but with more work for me.In school, both high school and college we had computer labs and every computer had the same programs installed and there were many programs (say 20 programs * 100 computers in the larger labs). Albeit the computers were the same make/model, lets forget that fact for the purpose of this question, as well as the fact that all the computers were networked together which may allow little tricks here and there... Forget those facts and here is my last question: Instead of just having an image of already installed programs would there be a way for me to somehow install, say, 50 programs without launching each one individually? I would be very surprised if a program like this didn't already exist for IT people yet. For example, in a law firm, if someone in the office gets a virus do they call in the IT guys and they 1) reformat the computer 2) install OS 3) reinstall all required software one after the next? Seems a bit time consuming, in my example 20 apps * 100 computers, I couldn't imagine installing the same programs 2000 times.
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Nov 22, 2008
How to Create a System Image Backup in Windows 7 ?
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Nov 22, 2009
if i do a back up image of my C drive can i then create a partition on the that HDD and then create a second OS using that image of C drive?
hope that makes sense
also can you update images or would you need to create new ones to keep them upto date?
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Nov 2, 2009
When I use Win 7 backup, it gives me the option each time I create a backup to create a system image. I created a system image on a CD a couple of days ago. Why does it ask me if I want to create another each time I do the backup? Is it talking about creating one on my hard drive, not a CD?
If it's just my hard drive then perhaps I should create one each time, but creating one on a CD is onerous. Plus, if this is the case, (that it wants me to create a CD) I don't know how that's to be done if the backup is on a schedule in the middle of the night.
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Apr 15, 2012
On the Backup and Restore page, it lists the two Thread title options?-
I read that you can't restore individual files from system image, but I'm wondering if I need to create both in order to do an emergency system restore using boot disc/or... (D: drive)?
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Nov 15, 2009
I have tried every trick in the book to creat a system image whether directly or via backup computer. I am receiving those error messages; 0x8078011D when I try to create a System Image from the left bar and; 0x81000032 when using backup computer.
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Mar 18, 2012
I'm belatedly trying to create my first system recovery backup, on a system which I first installed Windows back in November 2011.I have a 1TB drive with a 214GB partition that I set up for a backup. I manually store all my media and pictures to both a separate partition on the drive, in the cloud, and on a separate external HDD, so all I really want to back up is the system image.This is the newbie sounding question to confirm my suspicions: The system drive I'm trying to back up is definitely bigger than the partition I've set aside for recovery. My C drive is a 473GB partition, and I'm using maybe a bit more than half of that currently. If this is the case, is there a way to reallocate un-used disk space from my other partitions to make the recovery partition larger, or should I be biting the bullet and shelling out for a 500GB external to cover my system recovery needs?
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Jan 9, 2010
I recently built a windows 7 home premium PC with an Intel 160 GB SSD as (C) for OS/programs and second 1TB HDD as (D) for data and backups. I also have a DVD burner (H). They are all SATA drives running in AHCI mode. Immediately after installing just windows, I used the windows backup feature to successfully create a system image to a local disk (D) which was and still is nearly empty. The next day, after installing drivers, updates, and a few programs, I went to create a second system image but this time it failed. The process started as it should have but halfway through it failed with the following message:
"The backup failed"
"The device is not connected (0x8007048f)"
At that point, after exiting the program, the D drive does not show up on my computer. Upon rebooting the D drive reappears. I searched the web and found some references to checking whether volume shadow copying services and their dependent services were working and that didn't work. Another reference said to try updating to a newer bios as some have bugs that screw up the enumerator for the drive order. The BIOS I use is the latest and wasn't changed since my first successful attempt at creating the system image.
Windows 7 Home Premium
Gigabyte GA-P55A-UD4 Bios 6 (latest)
Intel 160 GB SSD (C) OS
1 TB HDD (D)
Raedon 5770
4 GB DDR3 RAM
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Sep 20, 2011
I'm looking for a software that can create one installer which can install a custom list of applications.
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Sep 4, 2012
i want to do a clean install of windows 7,I currently have windows 7 32bit and i wanna upgrade to 64 bit. Question 1) I only want to upgrade to 64 bit and not clean the entire hdd, so all i have to do is format my local C: drive where the current win 7 is installed right? or i have no choice except cleaning the entire 500 gb hdd,. Pls tell mee its not necessary to clean wipe coz i dont have any place to backup my entire hdd,Question 2) If only C: drive is to be formatted, how do i backup all my installed programs? Will System Backup store all my installed programs that i installed on 32 bit and restore it back on the 64 bit os? or do i have no choice and reinstall all of them? I ahve lots of codecs installed that i dont remember where i found on the internet.Question 3) I have major softwares like Adobe CS4 master collection and Autodesk MAYA installed on D: Drive, so will they still work after i clean wipe the C: drive and install 64 bit instead of 32 bit or do i have to reinstall them too?
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Mar 18, 2010
System SpecsDell Studio 540Intel Q8200Windows 7 64bit Ultimate Edition Retail (came with Vista) I feel kind of dumb not knowing this but here we go. I consider myself very knowledgeable about computers but I'm not sure if there is a utility for what I want to do. My parents computer is having some issues I replaced the hard drive and i used Acronis True Image to copy the hard drive so they wouldn't have to redo all there bookmarks and personal info for there websites and just the general windows settings like wallpaper etc. So since i have done this something just isn't quite right something must of been corrupted from the old hard drive. So anyways I am gonna do a clean install and i was wondering if there is a utility that will allow me to save everyones profiles so that i can just pop in a disk and restore all the settings. I am not worried about any files or programs on the computer I have them all backed up my only concern is windows settings themselves.I just can't figure out how to do this if there even is a way to backup everyones profile settings.
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Jun 10, 2012
tell me if a re-install from a system image file on my notebook is as good as a clean install from say a retail disk.I can not format all my drive and start a fresh. Can my System image file become glitchy or infected with a virus.?
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Apr 29, 2012
SSD boot drive failed after just 5 weeks. It takes me an entire weekend(at least) to reinstall and reset everything. Not to mention lost saved passwords and some other important data that I did not get backed up which leads me to my question. Can I use my Last Windows Image backup to install on the new boot drive and if so how?
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Oct 22, 2012
I am replacing an HDD with an SDD in my laptop.I have it partitioned the same way as the HDD except that D: is smaller.
system reserved, C:=system, D:=data-profiles-programs, E: =HP_TOOLS (fat32)
My plan was to image the system reserved, C: and E: partitions.The HDD is running in ACHI mode.What I want to know - When installing Windows 7, does it do something different on a SSD than a HDD such that imaging the HDD to the SDD will make a performance difference?
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Sep 19, 2012
I had 32 bit Windows 7 home premium provided by OEM. Recently I purchased Windows 7 professional 64 bit in order to increase my memory.(My system is 64 bit capable) I followed [1]. I am using USB for installation. I booted the system with USB. Then at disk manager I deleted all the partitions(including recovery ) Then I refreshed and click next and I got an error saying setup unable to create system partition.
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Aug 8, 2009
YOU MUST DO A CLEAN INSTALL. There is no upgrade path. There are user migration tools you can use, but you will need to backup your files and do a clean install. I have seen several threads about this and just want to clarify. The upgrade from Windows Vista is a valid upgrade path, but Windows XP to Windows 7 is not.
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Dec 11, 2010
I'm considering going from vista to windows 7 (32 bit to 64 bit which I have checked is possible on my laptop).However, I have a couple of programmes on my current laptop which I have lost the disks for (e.g Microsoft Money) or I bought and downloaded from the site e.g recovery software.Given I need to do a clean install, is there anyway of me being able to backup these programmes and then reinstall with windows 7?
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Aug 30, 2009
when Windows 7 comes out retail I want to install it. do not want to have to manually install every program n file currently on my vista 64 bit system. what is a good way to save my current setup so I can just reinstall it to the new Windows 7 system? I have an external HD 500gb I can use. searched the files here for information perhaps i am not using the correct search terms n phrases.
I know before I back up current vista I need to purge it n slim down the files n programs lol.
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Oct 25, 2009
My 350 gig HD has 7 partitions. C: is Vista (186 GB) D: (87GB) is HP factory image. The others have most of my programs, files, photos, etc. I have avoided installing most of the larger important programs on C: and they are on other partitions. I plan a clean install of 7 upgrade on C: (also considering 64 bit as my comp qualifies). By "clean" I assume that you and I both mean that partition C: has been formatted prior to inserting the 7 DVD to begin installation.
First, am I correct with this assumption? Second, if only C: is going to be affected by the formatting and installation of 7 is there any mandatory reason to backup all of my programs and files that reside on the other partitions? (other than just being prudent, that is). Also, how much can I reduce the size of C:, as it currently has 132GB free? I also intend to empty D: when this is over.
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Jul 15, 2012
I have a drive that was using PGP that has become damaged and will not boot despite trying 3 days of different fixes and repairs. I have a complete drive backup that will restore but when I try and boot after my PGP password I get 'Missing operating system'. Again I have tried decrypting and fixing but to no end.
I have another disk with a working and booting install of Windows 7 (same architecture etc) on. I have the entire contents of the non-booting system disk that I can access from the image of it.
If I booted into something like Windows Recovery or Live Linux environment, can I copy the entire contents of the non-working Windows 7 drive over the working one and expect it to work and then boot?
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Aug 9, 2011
I created an image using the Microsoft Backup and Restore tool in Windows 7. I saved the image on a network shared folder.I then went to the Advanced Recovery Methods in Windows to restore my image...that I just created. It restarts the computer and goes into recovery mode, I point to where the image is located, I entered the network credentials and it give me an error. "The Specified network resource or device is no longer available. (0x80070037)"
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Aug 24, 2009
I need a little help figuring this out. I made a backup image a while back on my network. Now that I want to re-image, I reboot as requested, wait for it to load, and Windows says it can't find my backup, "if it is on a network, close this window , type the network location."Putting in the network location does nothing, I'm just returned to the screen where it would list the backup image if it had found it, but there's nothing there.Thinking perhaps my NAS was the problem I copied the image onto a portable hard drive, but after rebooting into the restore program, Windows 7 doesn't find the USB drive.
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Oct 22, 2012
how to create control panel for web applications
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Dec 9, 2012
1. How to download in Windows 7 from Internet to a DVD to create an ISO image? 2. If the ISO image is larger than the full capacity of one DVD how do I create the full image? 3. Once I create the full image on one (or more) DVD , how do I transfer the ISO image to another HDD? 4. Can I create an ISO image directly on a 2nd HDD? 5. Can I create an ISO image of the Windows 7 OS on a second HDD? I have tried to create an ISO image for a few months and i haven not been able to do it. Special note: 6. How could I copy the Win 7 OS into an ISO image on one or more DVDs? 6.1 What size is Windows 7 Home Premium OS? 6.2 Which partition does Windows 7 store the OS in?a. "Recovery" ? b. FAT32 ? how to create the ISO image, how to install it, and how to make sure that the "image" could be used to fo make a backup of my HDDs and also how to use the backup to fix the computer should a fatal crash prevented from booting up Windows 7? IMPORTANT: I use only DVDs, mostly re-writables. Which is the best free Image Burn Software that does work with DVD's.(as I dont use CD's anymore)
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Aug 18, 2011
system details: Win 7 professional 32bit OS..my OS got corrupted. need to reinstall it.i have installed many applications. its a pain to reinstall all those applications and drivers after i reinstall OS. is there a way i can backup only applications and drivers and not any OS component in my C drive? i tried to use builtin backup feature. unfortunately it backs up everything in c drive including windows files.
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Sep 4, 2011
I have a Windows 7 machine that i have installed on it all the neccesery programs that i need. I have about 10 computers with the same hardware that i would like to put on them the same Windows 7 as i have in the prototype machine. My question is:
1: what kind of porgram can i use in order to do that easly.
2: my windows 7 is activated with a KMS server on my network, is it suppose to be a problem?
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Dec 10, 2012
Can you backup installed applications to an external hard drive, then restore them to another Computer without Reinstalling them? For example, My computer Windows 7 Home Premium has many softwares, applications, programs, utilities, etc. That I purchased and don't want to Reinstall them on new computer. Is it possible for them to work without Re-entry keys?
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Sep 3, 2012
I have a 1TB drive that partitioned with 120gb system and rest is a non primary/non boot data partition volume... I've never used windows 7 create system image, but want to. When I try to create a system image it insist on backing up both drives. I don't see how to deselect the data drive. Is this because I have installed something system related. on the data drive? And Finally, how will recovery of a system image works if I get a blue screen, do I need to install windows 7 again first or have a repair CD? I noticed when I started a create system image it asked me for the destination drive, no exact path on the drive, does the image have be created on the root of the destination drive?
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Oct 30, 2012
I bought a laptop with an OEM serial key and I got windows home basic with it. My internet has limitations and I cannot afford to download a 3 GB .iso or image file of windows 7 home basic. Incase my system gets corrupt or anything happens I would like to have a backup of my whole OS, so is their any way to extract the whole OS from my computer to just one ".iso" file? which later I can convert into a bootable USB flash drive of disc. Plus if possible can I make the iso file which contains my OS and also all the drivers pre installed?
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Apr 8, 2012
I am going to upgrade to Windows 8 Consumer Preview, so before doing so I backed up Windows 7 as a system image to my external hard drive. In doing so, I forgot that a system image includes all the files on the drive, which means it backed up about 700 GB worth of data. That's OK except I already had those files backed up individually, so now my external drive is basically out of space for future use. Instead, what I'd like to do, is do a system image of factory state without having to lose the files already on my drive. Is that possible? I could always go back to factory condition, and save the system image, but then I'd have to re-add all my programs and files after I get the Windows 8 upgrade completed. I'd rather not have to do that unless it's an emergency.
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