Backing up the operating system will allow you to quickly restore the health of your computer and all installed programs in the event of a failure in Windows or a computer infection with viruses.
1. What you need for backup
In order to create a reliable copy of the system, you need to set up the computer from scratch, make a complete image of the C drive and the boot partition (if any). This can be done using a dedicated backup program. In this article, we will review the Acronis True Image program.
For a successful system backup and subsequent quick recovery, you need to follow a few simple conditions.
User files should not be stored on the C drive, otherwise they will be lost during system restore. Please note that files on the "Desktop" and in user folders such as "My Documents", etc. are physically located on the C drive. Therefore, store all your files on another partition, such as the "D" drive.
Do not install games on the "C" drive, as they take up a very large amount of space, which will make it difficult to backup and restore the system. Install games on another partition, for example, on the "D" drive.
A-Data Ultimate SU650 120GB Hard Drive2. Where to download Acronis True Image
Acronis True Image is one of the best backup software. Its only drawback is that it is paid. But you can download a free trial version. With it, you can make system backups and bootable media for restoring backups for 30 days. After 30 days, only system recovery from previously created backups and bootable media creation will be available.
3. Acronis True Image system requirements
For successful operation of Acronis True Image, it is desirable that the computer meets the following requirements:
- Processor with a frequency of 1 GHz
- The amount of RAM from 1 GB
- Free disk space from 1.5 GB
- Screen resolution from 1152×720
- The presence of a CD / DVD drive or flash drive (for creating bootable media)
- Keyboard and mouse with PS/2 connector (for older PCs)
- Administrator rights (for work from under Windows)
You can try to use the program even if your computer does not meet one or more requirements.
4. Supported operating systems
Acronis True Image supports the following versions of Windows:
- Windows XP SP3
- Windows 7 SP1 (all editions)
- Windows 8 (all editions)
- Windows 8.1 (all editions)
- Windows 10
- Windows Home Server 2011
For Windows, all 32/64-bit versions are supported, except for Windows XP x64. When working from bootable media, you can create and restore partition backups with any version of Windows and Linux.
5. Supported storage media
Acronis True Image can back up partitions located on the following media:
- Hard drives (HDD)
- Flash drives (USB)
- Memory cards (SD, MicroSD, etc.)
Supported backup partitions in FAT16, FAT32, NTFS (for Windows), Ext2, Ext3, Ext4, ReiserFS, SWAP (for Linux). To back up partitions of other formats and data from damaged or deleted partitions, you can use copying the entire disk in sector-by-sector mode.
6. Supported backup media
Backups can be created on the following media:
- Hard drives (HDD)
- Solid state drives (SSD)
- External drives (USB, eSATA, FireWire, PC Card)
- Flash drives (USB)
- Optical discs (CD, DVD, Blu-ray)
- External network drives
- Drives on other PCs
- FTP servers
- Acronis Cloud storage (paid service)
You can store a backup copy of the operating system on another partition of the hard disk (for example, on the "D" drive). For greater reliability, it is also desirable to copy it to a disk of another computer. But the best option is an external drive, on which you can also store .
Bootable media is a CD/DVD or flash drive from which you can start Acronis True Image if Windows does not boot. You can create a bootable CD/DVD or flash drive using the Bootable Media Builder.
Insert a blank CD/DVD or flash drive and select Acronis Bootable Media.
Select your CD/DVD drive or flash drive.
The flash drive must have a FAT32 or FAT16 file system. The files on the flash drive are not deleted and you can use it as usual, so this is a pretty convenient option.
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It is better to play it safe and copy all the files from the flash drive to your computer.
Click the Proceed button and the bootable media will be created.
8. Boot recovery
If your computer (laptop) does not have a CD / DVD drive or it does not work well, for some reason you cannot use a flash drive, or you just want to play it safe, then you can enable the "Startup Repair" option.
To do this, select the "More tools" section.
Then "Activate Acronis Startup Recovery Manager".
And confirm activation.
The following message will then appear when the computer boots up.
Pressing the F11 key will launch Acronis True Image, which will allow you to restore your system from a backup.
Please note that in the event of a severe hard drive failure, Startup Repair may stop working. Also, Startup Repair is disabled when Acronis True Image is removed from the computer. Therefore, it is recommended to create a boot disk or flash drive.
9. Create a system backup
The backup copy of the operating system must necessarily include a partition with Windows (drive "C") and a boot partition "Reserved by the system" (if any) with a size of 100-350 MB (depending on the version of Windows).
If you plan to use Startup Repair, then it must be enabled prior to creating a backup.
9.1. Selecting a backup source
To create a backup, open the top tab "Backup" and select the backup source.
Then "Disks and Partitions".
Select the boot partition "System Reserved" (if any) and "Local Disk (C:)".
The data section, where all your files will be located (disk "D"), is unnecessary to choose. There may be other partitions on your computer disk.
If the computer has UEFI interface support, then you may see an "Encrypted (EFI) system partition" 200-450 MB in size, which contains the files necessary to boot the system. It is also desirable to include it in the backup.
If you bought a laptop with a preinstalled operating system, then its disk may have additional partitions for system recovery. Then, in addition to the “C” drive, I recommend ticking off all sections of a small volume (somewhere up to 1 GB).
9.2. Choosing a backup location
Now you need to choose the location where the backup will be located.
Click Browse.
It is best to make a separate folder on another partition of the hard drive and save the backup to it, and then copy the backup file somewhere else. I made a "Backup" folder on the "D" drive.
If your computer or laptop does not have a separate partition for data (drive “D”), then to create a backup you will need an external drive, a large flash drive (from 16 GB), blank DVDs (from 4 pcs), a network folder on another PC or access to the Acronis Cloud (paid).
I recommend using an external drive to store a system backup, which is also useful for. You will not only be able to quickly restore the system in case of failure, but also save your valuable documents, photos and videos.
9.3. Starting a backup
Once you have selected the partitions to back up and the location of the backup, click "Backup".
The process of backing up the operating system with installed office programs on a modern computer takes 10-20 minutes and should end with the addition of a new backup to the directory and the appearance of the file in the selected folder.
A Windows 7-10 x64 backup file with installed drivers and basic office programs takes an average of about 15 GB.
10. Restoring a backup
In the event that your computer starts to slow down, malfunction, is infected with a virus, or stops loading altogether, all you need to do is restore the system from a backup.
Please note that all files located on the "C" drive, on the "Desktop" and in user folders such as "My Documents", etc. will be removed. Therefore, place all your files on another partition (disk "D") and make regular backup copies of them.
10.1. Recovery from under Windows
If the computer boots, then System Restore can be started from under Windows. To do this, select a backup and click the "Recover Disks" button.
Select the checkboxes for all partitions from the backup and click "Restore Now".
A successful system restore requires you to restart your computer.
The process of restoring the operating system with installed office programs on a modern computer takes 5-10 minutes.
10.2. Recovery from bootable media
If Windows does not boot, then system recovery can be performed using a bootable CD / DVD, flash drive, or Startup Repair.
If you have enabled Startup Repair, then when the following message appears, quickly press F11.
To start Acronis from media, insert a boot disk or flash drive, turn on the computer and hold down the Boot Menu call key.
The boot menu can be accessed using the F8, F10, F11, F12, or Esc keys. You can often see them in the tooltips on the computer's initial boot screen. You can also find this information from the instructions, on the website of the manufacturer of the motherboard or laptop, by searching the Internet or by typing.
Immediately after turning on the computer, hold down the "Boot Menu" call key until the boot device selection menu appears.
Use the up and down arrows to navigate to the DVD drive or flash drive and press Enter.
Wait for the menu to appear on a blue screen and use the mouse to launch Acronis True Image.
If the mouse does not work, then all actions in the program can be performed using the keyboard. The transition between the items is carried out with the arrows or the "Tab" key, setting the checkboxes with the "Space" key, and confirming the actions and pressing the buttons with the "Enter" key. The transition between the buttons is carried out by the "Tab" key.
Click the Browse button.
Find your backup, select it and click OK.
In this and following windows, drive letters may differ from those assigned in Windows. Be guided by the sizes of sections and folders on them.
Make sure "Recover disks or partitions" is selected.
Select the checkboxes for all sections and click "Next".
Further, depending on the number of partitions being restored, several identical windows will appear for the possibility of manually comparing partitions from the backup with partitions on the disk where the restoration is taking place.
Here, the drive letters usually do not correspond to those assigned in Windows, but the partitions are mapped correctly and it is enough just to click "Next" several times.
If you have multiple hard drives, then to restore the Master Boot Record (MBR), select the drive on which Windows is installed.
The last window will display a summary of all ongoing operations.
Carefully check that the partitions are restored to their original place, otherwise you may overwrite the partition with your files (disk "D"). For reconciliation, it is easy to navigate by the size of the sections. The partitions to be deleted must be identical in size to the ones being restored.
If everything is fine in the summary, then click the "Proceed" button and the partition recovery will begin. If some partition does not match in size, then select it in the left column and indicate where it needs to be restored manually.
The process of restoring the operating system with installed office programs on a modern computer takes 5-10 minutes and should end with a message about successful restoration.
Remove the bootable media, close the program window with the red cross and the computer will restart.
Before starting the backup or restore procedure, you can configure some options.
Usually this is not necessary, but I will tell you a little about some of them. The most interesting settings are on the "Advanced" tab.
I will describe the most useful ones that you may find useful.
Splitting a backup– allows you to split a backup into files of a specified size for writing them to disks of different sizes.
Examination– checking the integrity of the backup after it is created or before restoring to make sure it is in good working order.
Removable media settings– allows you to make backup media simultaneously as Acronis bootable media. The recovery program is written to the first disk with the backup.
Turning off the computer– allows you to configure automatic shutdown of the computer at the end of the backup.
The rest of the settings relate mainly to periodic backups and scheduled backups. You can download a detailed description of all Acronis True Image settings in the "" section.
12. Additional features
Acronis True Image has a number of additional features, which I will briefly describe, but we will not consider them in detail in this article.
Disk Cloning– creating a copy of all or some partitions from one hard disk to another. This is useful when replacing an old hard drive with a new one. If the new disk has a larger or smaller size, then the partitions grow or shrink proportionally, or the new sizes are set manually, which is very convenient.
TransferWindowson theSSD- is done using a clone operation or the usual backup and restore method as described in this article, with changing the size of the partitions if necessary.
Universal restore- allows you to restore a backup copy of the operating system to another computer. This is useful if you bought a new computer or upgraded your old one. In this case, restoring the system to it in the usual way may not work, Windows simply will not boot.
Backing up files and folders– allows you to backup individual folders and files to the selected media or network storage. Conveniently, the files are compressed into an archive that can be password protected. The disadvantage is that the archive with files can only be accessed using the program itself, and it is not practical to store large incompressible files in such an archive, such as videos, disk images, etc.
Acronis cloud- cloud storage, where you can back up system partitions and folders with user files. It can be useful for owners of small disks (SSD) with stable fast internet. You can access your files through a browser from any other computer. But this is a paid service with an annual subscription.
Data synchronization– allows you to synchronize selected folders with Acronis Cloud. This is mainly used to synchronize files between multiple computers and mobile devices.
Data archiving- designed to transfer old files to the Acronis Cloud that take up a lot of space and are used very rarely. The downside is that space in Acronis Cloud is limited and large file operations require a stable fast internet connection.
Scheduled backup- allows you to set up flexible schedules for regularly creating backup copies of the system and folders with files in automatic mode. This can be convenient on computers that are actively used for critical tasks, but to ordinary users, nothing.
Continuous protection- constantly monitors changes on the computer disk and makes backup copies of system and important files for the user and their versions. Constantly consumes computer resources and disk space.
try& Decide(Try and Decide)- a very useful addition for safe experiments. After enabling this feature, all changes on the computer are written to a special storage. For example, you can explore various programs and Internet sites without fear of harming your computer. When you disable Try&Decide mode, you will be prompted to save or discard the changes made to the system.
Security zone- a special hidden partition on the hard drive where you can save backups. I do not recommend using this method, as it has several disadvantages. It is not known in advance how much partition is needed and access to backups is difficult.
Adding a disk– allows you to create partitions on new drives connected to the computer.
Disk Cleanup- secure deletion of files from the disk without the possibility of recovery.
System Disk Cleanup- Free up disk space by deleting temporary files.
Dashboard- allows you to manage backups on all your devices through a single control panel using a browser.
Parallels Access- allows you to get remote access via the Internet to any of your computer or mobile device and manage backups on it.
13. Links
Below you can download Acronis True Image and its full manual with a detailed description of all features and answers to frequently asked questions.
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Each user must independently ensure the safety of their data. If in case of problems with the computer, whether it be a virus attack, damage to the hard drive or any other trouble, the loss of data will be on your shoulders.
The developers could not ignore such an important topic, and implemented the appropriate functionality into the Windows operating system. Today we will look at the main backup tools in Windows, learn how to work with them.
We will also look at what tools still exist to provide archiving and data recovery.
Definition
First, let's introduce terminology to understand each other.
Backup - creating copies of data, in our case, in electronic format. It is used to ensure the safety of information, and, if necessary, to restore it. Backups are best stored on additional media - this will provide a greater level of reliability.
Windows 7 backup
We analyzed this tool in detail in the material:
Check out this guide. It provides step by step instructions on how to use this tool.
Here we briefly review its functionality.
To run you need to go to " Control Panel - Backup and Restore". Go to this item:
You will see the main window of the backup utility.
All controls are available here. What problems can we solve using this tool?
- Set up automatic scheduled backup of selected data, or immediate backup
- Create a system image. This archive will come in handy if the operating system fails and needs to be restored.
- Create a system recovery disk. It will act as a bootable media to start the OS in case of problems.
As for Windows 8, the backup tool has been slightly improved there. It's similar to the backup tool that's available in Windows 7, plus some minor additions to the functionality.
File History tool in Windows 8
In the new version of the operating system, the developers went by simplifying the built-in functionality and added the File History tool. It allows you to back up important data, and the setup process is kept to a minimum.
To launch the tool, go to the "Start" menu, and in the search bar type "File history". Click the tool icon.
You will see the main program window.
The backup process is extremely simple. You need to specify the drive or network storage where copies of the files will be saved. After that, specify additional parameters. Further, the entire procedure will take place according to the schedule, without your intervention.
As for the settings. We are interested in two blocks.
Left navigation menu
- Recovery of personal files. Start the restore process from a previously saved backup
- Disk change. If you want to change the location for the files created during the archiving process, use this menu item
- Folder exclusion. Manually specify which files and folders should be kept during the backup process
- Extra options. If necessary, configure additional archiving parameters - time interval for saving, cache size, etc.
central block
Here you need to specify the location to store the files. You can select a removable drive, or a folder on the network. Click the appropriate item to configure.
Free Backup Software
Now on the network you can find a large number of free software that allows you to back up data on your computer. We tested several programs and chose Cobian Backup. Find it online, download and install.
Here are the main benefits:
- Ability to set up multiple parallel jobs
- Filtering files to be included in the archive, by type, mask, etc.
- Task scheduler available
- Support for differential copy
Paid Solutions
Two programs gained the greatest popularity - Acronis True Image and Paragon Hard Disk Manager. We decided to test the latter.
What can I say - the program does an excellent job of backing up data. There is a version for Windows XP, 7 and 8.
Convenient user interface - to perform any task has become much easier. By the way, backup is far from the only function that Paragon Hard Disk Manager can perform. The software package is now able to work with virtualization tools. With it, you can partition or repair your hard drive.
Using cloud services as an alternative
Popular cloud storage services provided by services such as Yandex and Mail can be used to store files.
Of course, their functionality is not intended for such a procedure as backup or restore, but in any case, you can store copies of important files on their servers. This option is suitable when you need to make copies of a small number of files. You will need to manually copy them to Cloud. And when the need arises to use them, it will be enough just to download them to your computer.
Video for the article:
Conclusion
Now you know all the main tools that are used to back up your data. Remember - the safety of personal information is your direct responsibility. In case of problems, you will be responsible for the loss of data.
Therefore, follow our advice and spend a few hours of your time to set up a backup. Believe me - this is very important!
Why look for information on other sites, if everything is collected from us?
For the time being, Windows OS of any modification can work without failures. But what to do when a fatal error suddenly appears, and you can’t restore the system even with a rollback? In this case, you should take care of creating a working copy of the system in advance. How to backup Windows 7 will be discussed further. The tools of the system itself and third-party utilities will be considered using the Acronis package as an example (I mean True Image - hereinafter referred to as ATI). All other programs work using similar methods and technologies.
How to back up Windows 7: actions with system tools in the first stage
Any Windows modification has its own backup system, which allows you to create copies with the possibility of subsequent recovery, which takes literally a few minutes.
The problem of how to backup Windows 7 at the first stage can be solved by accessing the backup and restore section, which can be found in the standard "Control Panel".
Having entered it, you need to use the backup settings item, after which you should select the location where the backup copy will be saved. If the system displays a message stating that the partition is on the system drive, it's okay.
In the next step, in the archiving method selection window, you can specify your own elements, but it is better to leave the choice to the system (which is indicated by default).
Then a window for checking the parameters appears, in which special attention should be paid to setting the schedule (in accordance with the specified time and day, changes will be made to the copy automatically).
If no changes are required, all that remains is to click the button to save the settings and start archiving and wait for the end of the process, after which the created backup will appear in the selected section.
How to Back Up Your Windows 7 System: Creating Boot Media
For recovery, it is additionally desirable to create a media from which boot can be made if the system fails.
To do this, in the above backup and restore section, use the item to create a recovery disc, after which you need to insert an empty optical media into the drive, select a recording device and click the button to start the disc creation process.
Creating a backup in ATI
Backing up Windows 7 with Acronis True Image makes it just as easy. However, when using this utility or any other, you need to pay attention to some differences and nuances.
First, the program is written from the image to removable media (disk or flash drive), after which you need to boot from it and select the “Backup - Disks” item on the start page. Next - the most important thing.
In the disk selection window, select the system drive "C", marked with the abbreviation "Main, Act." After pressing the continue button, the location for saving the backup is indicated (you can use the browse button, but do not change the file name). After checking the parameters, click the "Proceed" button. Creating a backup copy, in comparison with the means of the system, can be quite long, so you will have to be patient.
Instead of an afterword
Here are two main solutions to the question of how to back up Windows 7. Both methods work very effectively, however, when using third-party programs, and not the tools of the system itself, it will take much more time. The second method is good because even at the first stage a boot disk is created, but the second one looks more preferable in terms of time spent and process automation.
Click the Configure Windows 7 Backup link to launch the Backup Configuration Wizard. First, the wizard will ask you to specify the location where the archives should be saved. Here you can specify one of the following options (when completed, click on the button Further, to continue).
Configuring Windows 7 Backup
- Local or optical disk. The Save archive list will display all disks available in the current system, and it is in this list that you can select the desired disk.
- Network resource. You should go this way if you need to use some network folder for storing archives. In this case, click the Online button, then either enter the desired UNC address, or find the desired network folder through the Browse button and the Browse Folders dialog box, enter the username and password to access this network resource, and click the button OK. Make sure that the selected network resource appears and is highlighted in the Save archive list.
In the What to Archive dialog box, select one of the following two radio buttons (and then click the Next button to continue).
- Give Windows a choice. Select this radio button if you want to let Windows 7 determine what to back up. This implies that it will archive all the data that is contained in the current user's profile, including his documents, images, videos and emails.
- Give me a choice. This radio button should be selected if you want to be able to more precisely specify what should be archived (and who doesn't want to be able to do this when performing such an important procedure?). This feature is a significant improvement over the backup program that was offered in Windows Vista and offered little to no flexibility. After clicking the Next button, a dialog box will appear in which all folders in the current user's profile will be selected by default. If you want to add some other folder to this list, just expand the Computer node, find the desired folder and check the box next to it, and when finished, click the button Further.
In the Recheck Backup Options dialog box, click the Change Schedule link to open the How often should I back up dialog box. Make sure the Scheduled backups option is enabled and set the desired backup schedule (click OK when done).
- How often. Here you can select daily, weekly or monthly.
- Which days. If weekly is selected, here you can enter the day of the week when archiving is to take place, and if monthly is selected, the day of the month when archiving is to be performed.
- What time. Here you can specify the time of the day when archiving should be performed (this time should fall on the clock when no one uses the computer).
Click the Save settings and start archiving button to save the selected configuration and start the archiving process. Windows 7 will bring the Backup and Restore window back to the screen and start showing information about the progress of the backup process.
When the backup process is complete, the Backup and Restore window will look something like this. As you can see, it will present all sorts of useful information, including information about the size of the archive, the remaining free space on the disk used for archiving, the dates of the previous and next archiving process, and the schedule. In addition, it will offer three new options.
- Archive. By clicking on this option, you can restart the entire process.
- Options. By clicking on this option, you can make changes to the current configuration of the backup process by going through all the dialog boxes of the Backup Configuration Wizard again.
- Disable Schedule. By clicking on this link, you can disable automatic archiving (later clicking on the Enable schedule link will enable it again).
Create a Windows backup, the matter is very important, whether you are an active computer user or just a beginner, this does not play a role here, everyone needs it.
It is known that there is nothing permanent in the world and everything will fail sooner or later, and even a computer can fail especially often and it will not be very pleasant to lose all data at one "perfect" moment and spend a lot of time on their recovery and restoration of working capacity systems with all programs and individual settings.
To be honest, several times, due to my laziness, I reaped the rewards of not making a backup copy of Windows on time, which of course I was very sorry about. And so that you do not step on the same rake, let's learn how to create such a backup, because this is not only useful, but also not difficult. With a reservation for the future, I will say that restoring such a copy later will be much faster and easier than reinstalling and configuring Windows.
From the previous series of articles, you have learned burn a disk image, and set it in the BIOSe, so here we will skip these steps and assume that you have burned the disc and installed boot from CD-ROMa, and if not, then see how it is done in previous articles. Image with Acronis True Image, you can find it yourself on the Internet, now this is not a problem, given how popular they are torrents. So, the disk is written and inserted into the drive, the BIOS is set to boot from CD-ROM, we restart the computer and wait for Acronis to boot. Then select "Full version" with the mouse cursor
The interface of the program is quite simple and friendly :), here we need to select an action, create a backup or reestablish, select the first one and click on the item "Disks"
In this window, we need to specify the disks or partitions that will be backed up, I select the drive (C:) since it is I who acts as the system one. Please note, if you are creating a copy of Windows 7 or 8, there will be another not large partition, approximately 100Mb in size, it must also be checked. Selected, click "Next"
Here we are asked whether we create a new backup archive or update an existing one, we create a new backup archive we will update later. Now click on the "Browse" button to specify where the archive will be saved
At this stage, be careful, specify the disk on which to save Windows Backup, this disk must be different (not the one we are copying), if you have an external hard drive or a capacious flash drive, you can specify it, I will save it to disk (D:). Now you need to give a name to the future archive, you can fill in the name manually or click on the "Create name / Add date" button, I chose the second option, click "OK"
We are returned to the previous page. Now we see where our copy will be saved and what it will be called, check if everything is correct, click "Next"
In fact, this stage is final, on it we are shown "Summary data" and all that remains to be done is to click "Proceed"
The copy mode starts, which can take from 5 to 30 minutes, depending on the size of your backup disk, if it is very large, the process may take longer
If everything went well, at the end, we will see a message that "The backup operation was completed successfully", click "OK"
We restart the computer, wait for the operating system to boot and see if our archive has appeared, where we indicated
Now, if possible, save it to an external hard drive or hide it somewhere where no one will delete it, because it will still be useful to us. How to restore a backup, I will show in the next
