Maintenance :: How To Create A Full System Image Of HDD
Jul 10, 2013
So I was just about to create a full system image of one of my HDD's, and I noticed that I have 2 different "system" drives.
My main system drive is the C: Drive, which is the 111.79gig HDD. Im not really sure why the 1TB drive is listed as a system drive, as well as being drive 0. Is there any easy way to fix this so everything to do with the system is back on the 111.79gig C: drive where it belongs?
I have read a lot about windows 8 (and 8.1) and how to make a system image for it.
Well the most people used the 7 file recovery tool in windows 8 to make full system images. But in windows 8.1 it's gone.
Like in this thread: System Image - Create in Windows 8
Now I hear and see everyone making system images with a powershell command.. How to Create and Restore System Image Backups on Windows 8.1
But why doesn't anybody just use the windows 8 (and 8.1) backup function wich also includes a feature called:
include a system image of drives:
It seems to me that if you do this at an clean install it's a lot easier then powershell? (and maybe you can uncheck the backup of files and only include a sytem image?)
I know that at this moment I can still make a 7 file recovery tool image and restore it with windows 8(.1) repair/recovery disc.
But I wan't to know this for the future when I have a system with 8.1 from factory.. (some manufacturers like asus don't provide repair/system restore discs or utils anymore....)
I am trying to create a system image backup and I keep getting this error message
[COLOR=#FF0000]'Threre is not enough disk space to create the volum shadow copy on storage location. Make sure that for all volume to be backup up, the minimum disk space required for shadow copy creation is available. this applies to both the backup storage destination and volume included in the backup. Minimum requirement for Volumes less than 500 megabytes, the minimum is 50 megabyte of free space. for voulimes more than 500 megabytes, the minimum is 320 megabytes of free space. Recommended at least 1 gigabytes free of disk space on each volumes if volumes size is more than 1 gigabytes (0x80780119)"
I am backing it up to a external HDD with over a tb of free space but I understand its not letting me perform the backup because the hidden 100mb hidden system partition is full...if i create a larger partition how can I copy that system partition to it? if that is possible....
Trying to create a System Image Backup on a Windows 8.1 ACER laptop. My latest attempt is to a external hard drive with 3.63 TB free but the backup fails due to not enough disk .
I have attached the full error message.
New to the ways of Windows 8 and this is my first time trying to create a System Image Backup.
I thought 8.1 was supposed to make things easier? Not so for creating a System Image. Now, you have to use the Windows PowerShell (Admin) to get the job done. The image below will show the command string to use (boxed in red) and my target drive is/was Z:
Attachment 23893
Zoom image to enlarge.
You can use your installation media to access the Repair function and restore your System Image from there.
New Win 8 user. I have tried creating a system image using this program but without success. I have an Asus X202E laptop and am trying to create the image on a 1TB USB hard drive. Everything goes well for a few seconds after the backup starts (the progress bar goes about 10% through) but it then halts and gives an error message: "There is not enough disk space to create the volume shadow copy on the storage location....". I have directed the backup to an empty 500GB partition on the hard drive so there should be ample space. Have tried the same procedure with another USB hard drive with the same result.
BTW, both hard drives show up normally in windows explorer.
I am now getting an Event ID 513 log every time I create a System Image backup using Macrium Reflect Free; however, it doesn't seem to affect the restoral because everything seems just fine after same. Since I have never noticed these logs when running Win 8.0, I'm wondering if this is a brand new issue with 8.1? So, here is my Macrium Free version information and a copy of the Event ID 513 error log. Seeing this log on 8.1 or can confirm it is not present after an 8.0 backup.
Just like the title, how do I create a system image on windows 8.1? I have installed Windows 8.1 and have all my settings and programs just how I like it but I cant see how to create a system image.
I've been dual-booting Windows 8 Pro and Windows 7 Ultimate, but a while back my Windows 8 kind of went "South" and wouldn't boot at all (I got an error message that a device was "not attached"). I have a recent system image on an external USB hard drive, but when I boot to "system recovery" using my repair disk it can't seem to find my USB drive at all.
The tutorials here mention installing a SATA driver to access disks that are not recognized, but this doesn't seem to be the case.
I recently upgraded to Windows 8.1 from the Microsoft Store. Everything went well (so far) and I want to create a system image backup.
I have a 1 TB external hard drive with plenty of space, but there are some mp3 files on it. I'd like to know if storing the disk image on this drive will affect the mp3's (i.e., are they safe?)
After doing some digging around I found the system image backup under windows 7 file recovery. Then I go to create system image and everything goes fine and then I get an error message after about half way through the back up . Error message will say something like not enough space on drive to create image and I am doing this on a 2TB external hard drive . I did notice one time I accidentally created 500 MB of unallocated space on this drive but I was getting this this error message before I did that and I am not even sure how I created it. I have another PC with windows 7 and don't have a problem with the scheduled image and data backups being performed weekly. Had this problem with windows 8? Also how do eliminate the 500 MB of unallocated space on my 2 TB External HD which is not really a problem but should not be there . I have my files backed up on this HD although I don't use windows data back up utility which I prefer Sync Back to perform instead .
I have upgraded my Windows 8 PC to 8.1 yesterday and it seemed like everything is working fine until I tried to create System Image. I got an error 0x80780119 saying that there is to little space on one of the partitions.
I started looking into this problem and indeed one of the partitions does not meet the requirements. There are following partitions on my drive:
Partition 1 has only 13MB free space. Partition 2 has 70MB free space, partition 3 is MSFTRES, partition 4 is my C drive with around 35GB free and partition 5 is not included in system image. Partitions were create like this during installation of Windows 8 - clean install from scratch. I am using UEFI so the drive is GPT formatted.
So I thought, OK I can resize my C drive a little, move the partitions and expand the 1st one. I tried using GParted but it is not able to move the MSFTRES partition. It does not recognize the file system on it.
So the question is: Is it possible to "clean up" the 1st partition in anyway? If not, is there anything special about MSFTRES partition? Or can I just remove it and create it a little further and just flag it as msftres with GParted?
I bought an Acer notebook with Windows 8 SL (Single Language) and UEFI BIOS (with Secure Boot) factory installed (Windows Key is set in Bios).
I have the habit of installing all programs and make an image of partition C: in case of having to reinstall the entire system for problems with Windows, HDD exchange or similar cases. With this gain too long and not have to reinstall all the programs one by one.
My HDD is partitioned into 4 parts: C:, E:, F: and G:.
When I enter the Windows 8 app to generate the system image appear two partitions pre-marked for backup: C: (Programs) and EFI System Partition (no drive letter). C: partition is formatted as NTFS, but the EFI is as FAT32.
My question is: when I restore this, how should I format the partition where you install the system again (C ? Format all the partition as NTFS and Backup app creates the EFI partition FAT32 by own?
How it works and how to proceed? I will boot the system by CD-ROM.
I am new in Windows 8, Secure Boot, UEFI bios, etc.
I have a Windows 8 Single Language (SL) based system (Notebook Acer), that uses Secure Boot in UEFI Bios and has Windows Product Key recorded at BIOS by factory.
I have a 500GB HDD partitioned in drives C: (228GB), E: (40GB), F: (40GB), G: (78GB) and H: (64GB) and Windows is installed on C: partition.
I installed and configured all programs that I use and now I want to do an image to be used in cases of HDD damage, Windows crash or other cases that I need install OS and apps again. I want to earn time with this and don't have to install the apps one by one.
What is the best option (method) to do backup and restoration of the system?How I use the Boot DVD generated by the backup feature (Windows 7 File Recovery)?Can I do image only of partition C: or I need to include all other partitions?Do I need change the BIOS UEFI to LEGACY BIOS to boot with Windows Boot DVD generated?Do I need to format the C: partition before restore the image? What kind of format I need to use? NTFS? FAT32? GPT?
I have a lot of friends that are using Windows 8 now and all of them have the same doubts that I have.
Is it possible to create a new step-by-step tutorial of Backup and Restore process in Windows 8?
Am using recimg to create custom image on freshly upgraded win 8.1 install. It fails almost immediately with this message appearing in a pop up:
"The procedure entry point ??0BufferedStream@UnBCL@@QEAA@PEAVStream@1@K@Z could not be located in the dynamic link library c:windowssystem32migwizmigcore.dll"
Further info:
Problem signature: Problem Event Name: APPCRASH Application Name: recimg.exe Application Version: 6.3.9600.16412 Application Timestamp: 5243fc60 Fault Module Name: KERNELBASE.dll
[Code] ........
System info : OS Name Microsoft Windows 8.1 Version 6.3.9600 Build 9600 Other OS Description Not Available OS Manufacturer Microsoft Corporation System Name TOSHIBA
I am trying to get a handle on how these 2 functions are related. I assume the Recovery disk would be needed if you can't boot to the computer (assume the OS needs to be present) and does the Recovery disk replace the boot files that may be damaged and then after you get booted up I assume the System Image (is that is referred to as a "backup")?? would be ran to get the computer back to the working order when the Image was taken. Assume that the Recovery disk would take place of the OS installation disk if it were not available and you couldn't just reinstall the OS and so you could load the Image.
Its my first time to create my first system image in my windows 8. Can I exclude a certain file if not how many blank cd's do I need I got 146GB used currently in my C drive and while creating a system image could it take the process an hour or more?
I'm attempting to follow the instructions here, to do a system image of my Dell Windows 8 machine:
Using Windows 8′s “hidden” backup to clone and recover your whole PC | Ars Technica
As I go through the wizard, I arrive at this screen:
I don't have the option to deselect any of these "drives". I proceed with the backup - it chugs along, and then consistently fails here:
"One of the critical volumes is not having enough free space." It doesn't tell me which - but, it's certainly not the OS drive, this is a virgin system.
My system crashed yesterday. I am trying to recover my image. I boot from the recovery CD that I created when created the system image. The system image is stored on an external hard drive. When I try to recover the image it comes up with an error "Network path not found error 0x80070035". I have shared the folder, I have tried everything that I can think of to fix this.
To ask what is probably well known amongst IT pro's; does a system image backup solution (and consequently a restore from that image if needs be) work on OEM PC's, like a desktop from Acer, actually work without problems, and would I get a proper bootable and working machine after restoration.
Brief scenario - I have used Acronis TI 2014 (Or even the Windows 8.1 system image utility) to create an image of my C: Drive/EFI Partition/Recovery Partition - and backed it up to an external USB HDD.
My OS crashes for whatever reason and I can't boot.
I then either use my Acronis bootable media CD (which I've tested and boots despite all the secure boot/UEFI/GPT mania going about users like myself) to reinstall the Acronis disk image.
OR I use a Widnows 8.1 bootable disk with the ISO (which I've tested to boot) to reinstall the Windows created system image. (I could also use the recovery drive I created in Win 8.1, which just to add, however irrelvanat it might be, includes my OEM factory default partition which was copied as part of the recovery flash drive creation)
Would either of those restore solutions give me a reasonably likely working PC again - taking into account all the stuff I don't understand like the Windows 8.1 OEM key being on the motherboard (which I would understand in terms of Windows activation and authentication could have a negative impact on restoring images over an OEM installed OS and it's partitions)....
I made a system image from Windows 8.1 using Windows' own system image feature. I seem to be unable to restore it. I booted with the Windows 8 disc, and told it to restore from a system image. It found the image, ran a few minutes, then failed because of version mismatch (?). Not before hosing the entire system, by the way. Luckily, I was well backed up.
I booted with the Windows 7 disc, and it didn't even see the system image (on my external HD). It saw my Windows 7 system image and restored it just fine, and here I am.
Anyway, is there some trick to restoring a Windows 8.1 system image? I am not running Windows 8.1, so I can't generate a repair disk that way. Is there one available online somewhere for download?
I have been trying to a system image (Windows 8) and keeps telling me to insert a blank disk and mark it, Computer Name, Date and Disk #. It keeps telling me to install one and mark it #1 every time the current disk (DVD) is full, also the status bar does not show any advancement in the process. The other 2 machines I have and did a system image on asks you to insert a disk with the numbers going in sequence, 1, 2, 3 etc.
I need creating a recovery image of my system. I would like to create an image recovery drive with just the barebones needed for Windows 8 to run. I all ready have a recovery partition created. I just don't know how to create a recovery image for usage whenever something happens to the system.
I recently got myself into a quandary. I installed 4 additional drives with the intent of creating a RAID volume that's supported by the BIOS. In order to do that I must change the BIOS setting for the controller which includes all volumes including my boot drive (which I don't intend to RAID.) The problem I have is that when I switch the controller from UEFI to RAID, Windows Recovery will not use the System Image that I made. It says the volume was created under a different setting (Bios vs. EFI).
What are my options? Is there a different backup setting that will preserve all my installed software? I'm not concerned about data which I can copy to an external volume but it would take several days to get all my software reinstalled. I'd like to avoid that. I assume I will have to reinstall Windows 8.1 Pro and then use a backup program to restore everything else. If that's the case, then I need to know which backup program will work. If there's a better way, I'd love to know. I see my options as either, get another backup program, get a separate controller card for either the boot drive or the RAID volume, or reinstall everything.
I have spent most of the past 12 hours trying to restore my win8pro system from a system image. the image was saved to a usb hard drive. win8pro system image recovery won't see the usb hard drive. I tried copying the backup to a drive on my network, but recovery won't see that either, even when entering the exact path to the backup using the network option. I then tried to copy the backup to a second hard drive, installing that hard drive directly into the machine. no go, wouldn't even recognize the drive.
I'm having a problem with Windows System Image Backup just when I try to do a image backup it will say that it has failed and suggest to do a disk check. I've searched and some users say to use third party backup programs should I run the disk check first or just go with a different backup tool.
I bought a new laptop with a Windows 8 Pro x64 pre-installed on it.
Then I upgraded my OS to Windows 8.1 Pro from Windows Store.
After that I thought I'd create a backup of my system so I don't have to re-download the Windows 8.1 upgrade and at the same time having the option to reset my laptop to it's old operating system in case I want to, so that being said, I created a system image backup using Windows' Imaging Utility and pointed it my external drive. It took a couple of minutes and the image was successfully created.
I double checked the image file and I can see it on my external drive saved in a folder called 'WindowsImageBackup'. The backup files is approximately around 35 GB.
I also tried using the System Image Recovery option from BIOS to check whether the backup file I created really works, and it did because it was recognized by the system through the dialog box "Re-image your computer".
My mind was set that if anything bad happens to may laptop, whether if it got infected with a virus or the operating system crashed or even if the hard disk gets broken I could simply put it back to it's previous state using the backup image I created. So I played with the partitioning of my laptop, I even installed other operating systems for educational purposes, but when I finally wanted to bring my laptop to its previous state I failed...
The System Image Recovery from BIOS that once recognized my backup image throw an error at me saying the 'Windows cannot find a system image on this computer'. How can I fix this error? Is there still a way to recover my laptops previous installed OS or is it gone for good?...
1. Download bootable USB 3.0 drivers and tried to load the drivers on the during System Image Recovery. I think I got that tutorial here in this forum also but not sure, anyways it says that my external hard disk might not properly load because windows does not support usb 3.0.
2. I tried installing macrium free to re-image the vhd files from my backup image and tried to use the new image created by macrium to backup from. Re-imaging and backing up from the macrium image is successful but when I restart my laptop to check whether the backup works, I got an error saying 'Your PC needs to be repaired... Error code: 0x0000225'. I boot from my rescue disk and open up the command prompt to run a command like 'bootrec /scanos' but the result says detected windows installation is zero (0)...
After upgrading to the Win 8.1 upgrade I can no longer find the full backup selection and clicking on the change backup settings only shows a little clock. Has the backup function been removed from win 8.1?