Win7's Mirror Imaging Capability Insufficient?

[George Tyndall]

http://windowssecrets.com/top-story/win7s-no-reformat-nondestructive-reinstall/

Note: Link provided with permission.

At first glance, one might get the impression from that post that Win7 obviates the need for a third-party mirror image of the drive (usually the C drive) that contains one's OS and all one's programs (including their latest settings), however, that is not the case.

The described procedure assumes that one's C drive is still usable/recoverable. But as we all know, it can and does happen that one's C drive crashes to such an extent that recovery is either impossible or prohibitively expensive. In that case, replacement of the drive may be the only viable option, followed by either 1) a clean install of the OS and programs and their settings or 2) restoration of the drive from a previously-created image.

True, Win7 has the capability to make on an external drive a mirror image of one's C drive, however, my understanding is that, even if the drive that contains the image is intact, a Win7 image can NOT recover one's installed programs together with their settings.

Conclusion: Unless you are one of those who prefers to perform a periodic clean install your OS and programs plus all their settings (Bobby has said he is one), prudence would seem to suggest that one continue to use a third-party program to create a mirror image of the drive that contains one’s OS and programs plus their settings.

Comments please!

[Bob]

... my understanding is that, even if the drive that contains the image is intact, a Win7 image can NOT recover one's installed programs together with their settings.

I don't know where you saw that, but that's incorrect. When you create a system image using Windows 7 Backup, you are creating a complete disk image. Restoring that image will recreate the entire disk including the user installed programs, settings and files -- just like a 3rd part backup utility would do.

As for reinstalling, if the problem is not being able to boot into Windows 7, I would try the repair utilities on the Windows 7 install disk first. The Startup Repair utility may be all you need to fix any boot problems. If you do need to reinstall in place, remember that the registry will not be replaced by the reinstall. It will still have all the garbage, missing or corrupted links, and other detritus that can affect the operation and stability of the system. If your system was really that messed up that you needed to reinstall, it very well may be worth the extra effort of doing a clean install. One possible exception being the situation where you did an upgrade in place from Vista to Windows 7 and you have a program you rely on that was installed under Vista and runs on Windows 7, but which the installer won't run under Windows 7. In that situation, you would need to reinstall in place or replace that program.

[George Tyndall]

... my understanding is that, even if the drive that contains the image is intact, a Win7 image can NOT recover one's installed programs together with their settings.

I don't know where you saw that, but that's incorrect. When you create a system image using Windows 7 Backup, you are creating a complete disk image. Restoring that image will recreate the entire disk including the user installed programs, settings and files -- just like a 3rd part backup utility would do.

Bob, the followng is from Windows Help:

Windows Backup won't back up the following items:

Program files (files that define themselves as part of a program in the registry when the program is installed).

Am I misunderstanding the meaning of that statement?

Are you saying that the ability of Windows to create a mirror image of my C drive is every bit as complete as the ability of Acronis? In the event of a disaster, including one that requires replacement of the C drive, Windows, too, can boot from a DVD in an optical drive and then restore from an external drive?

[Bob]

Yes, you are misunderstanding. That statement applies when you elect to backup files, not make a system image. A system image is a complete disk copy. And, yes, you can boot from a recovery CD and restore the system drive from the stored system image.

From: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows7/What-is-a-system-image
"A system image is an exact copy of a drive. By default, a system image includes the drives required for Windows to run. It also includes Windows and your system settings, programs, and files. You can use a system image to restore the contents of your computer if your hard disk or computer ever stops working. When you restore your computer from a system image, it's a complete restoration–you can't choose individual items to restore, and all of your current programs, system settings, and files are replaced with the contents of the system image."

[George Tyndall]

Yes, you are misunderstanding. That statement applies when you elect to backup files, not make a system image. A system image is a complete disk copy. And, yes, you can boot from a recovery CD and restore the system drive from the stored system image.

Hmmm.

With Acronis, I boot from the CD to run the backup, the rationale (according to Acronis) being to ascertain that, in the event of a disaster, I know for certain that the boot CD can see the drive from which I will perform the restore--in other words, if it can "see" the external drive for the backup, then I can be sure it will also see it in the event I need to perform a restore. BTW, I always do Full rather than Incremental backups.

Questions:

1. If I dump Acronis in favor of Windows, is there a way to be sure that the Windows boot CD will see the external drive in the event I need to perform a restore?

2. Also, Acronis offers the opportunity to "validate" the backup once it has been created. That is not necessary if Windows will create the mirror image?

3. Acronis has always worked flawlessly with my XP machines, but I haven't yet needed to use it with the Win7 machine in my signature. Acronis seems to have disabled the Windows option for performing a restore. Must I choose one or the other?

4. What do you peronally use to create your mirror images?

[Bob]

When you create a system image backup, you are given the option of making the bootable disk used for restoring from the system image. You can boot from that disk to do the restore or you can boot from the Windows 7 install disc and select the Repair my Computer option -- one of the selections available under that is to restore from the system image. It doesn't matter what Acronis did or didn't do to Windows, you will be restoring from an independent bootable OS. It would be a good idea to boot from the disc and see if the external drive is visible. The drive letter assignment will probably be different from what you get when you boot into Windows normally. Don't let that bother you. It's just a different method of enumerating the drives.

Incidently, Acronis has a utility that can either convert an Acronis image archive to a Windows system image archive or a Windows system image archive to an Acronis image archive.

Currently, I am using Acronis True Image 2010 for my system backups. I had a ton of troubles with it at first, but finally Acronis fixed it well enough for me to make usable backups. I don't plan on upgrading to the current version. When it becomes necessary to replace it, I'll most likely get something else.

I don't recall that Windows validates the backup, but it's been a while since I last used it. I could be forgetting that.

[karri]

George I used Windows backup to restore the system image with some programs already loaded and everything came back, no problem there. My problem is I could not make multiple full backups like I could in Acronis. I had to change to a new external drive for each full backup using Windows 7 backup utility or it would overwrite the previous one. Acronis would not work with my Windows 7 pc, although it worked flawlessly on XP. I know people use it on Windows 7, though, without issue.

I'm following this thread with interest and appreciate Bob's input, as I'm still trying to find a good image backup plan for my W7 pc's.

[George Tyndall]

George I used Windows backup to restore the system image with some programs already loaded and everything came back, no problem there. My problem is I could not make multiple full backups like I could in Acronis. I had to change to a new external drive for each full backup using Windows 7 backup utility or it would overwrite the previous one.

I read that, too, in the documentation, and it concerned me as I like to make serial full backups on the same external drive and not overwrite anything.

Acronis would not work with my Windows 7 pc, although it worked flawlessly on XP. I know people use it on Windows 7, though, without issue.

I'm following this thread with interest and appreciate Bob's input, as I'm still trying to find a good image backup plan for my W7 pc's.

I learned the hard way that Acronis 2010 will not work with Win7, but 2011 seems to--the issue is, I still have not needed to perform a restore on my Win7 machine, so I am still not certain that it will do its job.

In an attempt to ascertain that 2011 will work, I tried the following experiment:

1. I created a backup, as usual, on an external USB 2.0 drive.

2. I restored the image to an external eSATA drive.

3. I attempted to boot the machine from the external eSATA drive, however, my BIOS and motherboard continued to see only the two optical and the internal C drive as my choices for booting.

Conclusion: I'm pretty sure--but still not certain--that Acronis TIH 2011 will work when the time comes that I need it.