Good points all. I also use Macrium. I also create an image of everything. I go one step further. I have 2 hard drives in my PC. One is for only the OS and any installed programs. No files of data such as MS Word or Excel etc. My second internal hard drive (partitioned into 5 partitions, each with a purpose; i.e. Jobs, User, Cadd, Admin, and Library), a 1 Terabyte drive, only contains files that result from the use of the programs that are resident on the first drive, in my case, the “C” drive which only contains the OS and installed programs. I even go further and use GoodSync to backup (no imaging here, only sync backup) most files from the 1 Terabyte drive to an external USB drive (in my case it is the “M” drive), and then the “M” drive is backed up to two additional external USB drives (in my case these are the “N” & “O” drives). I am not done with this because then I backup all files from the 1 Terabyte hard drive to an additional external USB drive (the “P” drive). The external USB drives “M”, “N”, “O”, & “P” are each 2 Terabytes. I learned the hard way long ago after losing too much data to come up with this over-zealous backup plan and it works flawlessly. Of course not everyone can afford such an extensive array of hard drives. On the other hand, can anyone really afford to lose vital and important data, that is the main question. Long story short, I only image drive “C” but backup everything else as described. In addition, I also use GoodSync to backup the “C” drive image to all 4 two terabyte drives. I create a new image typically once a month, sometimes more often.
What works for me is to partition the drive into a C and D drive. C for OS and D for large apps and do an image. This makes it easy to use widows recovery to restore just the OS or the entire drive if needed.
@@JanetDax cool thanks for the reply, i did an image backup and yeah,.it backed up.my personal folders from C partition too,.not just the system folders, good!
I wish you'd added a couple more things such as how often to do an image backup. Once I have an image backup do, I then just do incremental backups or continue making full image backups? That part is what's always been confusing for me. Thanks Leo.
@@Merichguy2 By doing incremental backups, you should (depending on the software) be able to restore files from each backup session. In other words, if you do a weekly incremental backup, then you can restore files from week#1, or week#2, etc. That is helpful if you screw up a file without realizing it. You might have to go back a few images (a few iterations of your incremental backups) to find that file from a time before you screwed it up. Even if you do a monthly full backup (as our host does), you do not need to delete the previous month's full backup (if you still have enough free space on the drive holding your backups). If you delete your full backup, followed by starting a new full backup, you run a risk of data loss. It is a very slim risk -- but still a risk. At the moment you delete your full backup, then until you compete another full backup, you have no backup. So while performing your full backup, if your source disk dies, you will not be able to complete your full backup. Now you have a real problem, because you do not have any backup. I suggest that when you start a full backup, you always keep your previous full backup. Never leave a moment where you have no full backup. But those incremental backups are handy for grabbing files in the state that they were in on each date you did the incremental backup. One other precautionary point: It is convenient to leave your target drive connected all of the time. When your backups run, you do not need to plug your target drive in to a USB port. However, that convenience is risky. If a bad actor gets control of your computer (like a ransomware attack), you do not want your drive that contains your backups to be connected to your computer. Also, keep a copy of your backup installation file on your target drive. If your C: drive dies, you will want to have your backup software on your target drive. And keep a copy any registration code, etc, that you will need for you to be able to use your backup software. In other words, if your C: drive dies, then have everything that you need on your target drive to get you up and running when you replace your C: drive. If your backup software includes creating emergency boot media, then get a flash drive and have it be your emergency boot media.
Your point about backing up ALL partitions of a particular drive really hit home for me. Thanks for that. Over the past year or so, I've been messing about with virtual machines both from ISO files for fresh Windows and Linux installs and also from existing machines that I have. It's the latter that interests me here. If I use Macrium to create an image of my drive, can that image be used to deploy as a virtual machine on a NAS for example. My QNAP uses IMG files for its VM's. One reason that I find this of interest is that, with an IMG of my daily driver computer, if I had a hardware failure, a VM could be deployed on my NAS. ( Notwithstanding licencing, how current the IMG file is, data location, etc.)
I had a similar question, that I asked on the channel "ExplainingComputers". I wanted to make an ISO of my old, daily driver computer. Then I wanted to purchase a new computer, and be able to run my old computer's ISO as a virtual machine. Once that was working, I could toss my old computer, and reclaim some desk real-estate. My question was from 2 or 3 years ago. His answer was "No." I do not recall why he wrote no. I do not believe that youtube has a search feature to find such a comment.
@@NoEgg4u Many thanks for that. I ran Macrium last night just for the hell of it. This morning when I looked at the file, I note that the file extension is MRIMG which makes me wonder if it is proprietary. I'm going to change the extension to IMG and give it a try. Nothing to lose.
@@DavidM2002 I had installed Macrium Reflect when they offered the free version. I wanted to try it out. It kept nagging me to upgrade. There was no way to disable the nagging. I got fed up with it, and uninstalled it. I now use EaseUS ToDo. It had a couple of issues. But their customer service was responsive and got me a fix. But as to the possibility of creating an ISO, and using it for a virtual machine, I hit a dead end.
How many versions of image backup you have? The systems can get corrupted over time and we don't regularly install and uninstall programs. So I would guess one needs at least one backup of the initial image after configuring a new or freshly installed system, and then one more that keeps up with recent changes. Would that be right?
There's one thing you may have talked about before, but it bears repeating, and maybe further expansion, is to be sure to have a bootable USB stick and your backup software in a known, safe, location. If you put a new drive in your PC, well, guess what, it won't boot! You need to be able to boot the PC to get anything off the backup drive. Before this becomes an issue, consider how you'll recover the backup software so you can actually USE your backed up image. With some backup systems, everything is "just there" for reading and copying, With others, the data may be compressed, encoded, or otherwise inaccessible without somehow installing or using the application that was used to create the backup.
I do weekly full image backups once a week and then differential image backups the other nights. My backup software keeps 4 image sets deleting the oldest set automatically once per week when a new full backup is made. I use R-Drive Image, but might switch to Macrium at some point because their documentation is much better.
Personally, my approach is to just back up files (and I do that with a robocopy script--very simple and quick if you only copy new and changed files) as well as install (not image) files for software. If I need anything more than file recovery, it will likely be because my system suffered a catastrophic event. In which case I will be either replacing the computer (image file useless) or at very least a full disk wipe and starting over. I don't want any potential corruption or system issues left over to be reinstalled after the creation of the new system)
All we can say is maybe. It depends on the specific drivers, the specific changes, and more. Windows will TRY hard to run, and might, but there's no guarantee.
Hey Leo, is there software you'd recommend that does both the Image Backup and Files and Folder backup? I'm looking to emulate a Time Machine user experience on Windows that can restore and image but also provide real-time file backup (perhaps at a minute, hourly or daily rate). This if for a large multi-harddrive Windows 10.1+ system. Not quite looking for a NAS, will likely just be buying a single harddrive around 25-40 TB.
I don't have a single solution, but tools like Macrium Reflect and EaseUS todo will to the image and daily updates from which you can restore individual files. More real-time would use Windows File History (though I'm lead to believe that's being deprecated), and/or tools like OneDrive or Dropbox.
@@askleonotenboom Hey, thanks for the reply! Yes, i made earlier an image and it backed up everything including my personal folders that were outside the Windows/System folders from partition C:
I would do an image backup of my drive if there were backup software that would compress the resulting image on the backup device; right now, though, a backup image of a 1tb drive requires 1 tb of space on the backup device. Since more than half of my drive is unused, that's backing up a whole lot of empty. But, I do agree with you, an image backup is the best choice.
@@askleonotenboom I'll have to look as those. The backup software I'm familiar with will compress files and folders, but not disk images. You may have helped me find a better safety net for my computer.
@@stevencooper2464 A 1TB source drive does not require a 1TB target drive, unless both of the following two conditions are true: 1) You do not use compression. But as our host wrote, most backup software does. It is an option, usually defaulting to "medium". But you can choose none of maximum. 2) Your source drive is full. If your source drive has 300GB of data (700GB of free space), then your backup (even with no compression) will consume 300GB of space. Some backup software offers a sector by sector option. I believe that option will copy empty space? I have never heard of anyone using the sector by sector backup option. I never read about a situation where using that option would apply. For a standard full backup (not sector by sector), the image file that will be created on your target disk will be roughly the same size as all of your files, combined (if you use no compression), and much smaller if you do use compression.
some people may have saved files in other places then the usual documents, photos, music and video folders. Some people save files on the desktop or download folder or create a folder somewhere else on the C: drive. You need to know where all your files are saved and its good to keep them organized in the documents, photos, music and video folder
My personal opinion. Operating systems change. Standards change. I have files that are old. I can still read them. The files take priority over the operating system. Most common files are open standards. Virtually all hash and encryption are open standards. For example, if you have a LastPass database. You can export it to something else. Even if you have to manually enter all the data in some new standard. You can still read the data. Cloning OS drives is a matter of workflow and necessity. Data is absolute. You must always have the data.
✅ Watch next ▶ How To Make A Backup Windows Image ▶ th-cam.com/video/XFOBXJwojzQ/w-d-xo.html
Good points all. I also use Macrium. I also create an image of everything. I go one step further. I have 2 hard drives in my PC. One is for only the OS and any installed programs. No files of data such as MS Word or Excel etc. My second internal hard drive (partitioned into 5 partitions, each with a purpose; i.e. Jobs, User, Cadd, Admin, and Library), a 1 Terabyte drive, only contains files that result from the use of the programs that are resident on the first drive, in my case, the “C” drive which only contains the OS and installed programs.
I even go further and use GoodSync to backup (no imaging here, only sync backup) most files from the 1 Terabyte drive to an external USB drive (in my case it is the “M” drive), and then the “M” drive is backed up to two additional external USB drives (in my case these are the “N” & “O” drives). I am not done with this because then I backup all files from the 1 Terabyte hard drive to an additional external USB drive (the “P” drive).
The external USB drives “M”, “N”, “O”, & “P” are each 2 Terabytes. I learned the hard way long ago after losing too much data to come up with this over-zealous backup plan and it works flawlessly. Of course not everyone can afford such an extensive array of hard drives. On the other hand, can anyone really afford to lose vital and important data, that is the main question.
Long story short, I only image drive “C” but backup everything else as described.
In addition, I also use GoodSync to backup the “C” drive image to all 4 two terabyte drives.
I create a new image typically once a month, sometimes more often.
What works for me is to partition the drive into a C and D drive. C for OS and D for large apps and do an image. This makes it easy to use widows recovery to restore just the OS or the entire drive if needed.
Hey, does the Win11 image backup contain all the folders from partition C: or just the system folders?
@@AexoeroV it backs up the system partitions along with the C partition
@@JanetDax cool thanks for the reply, i did an image backup and yeah,.it backed up.my personal folders from C partition too,.not just the system folders, good!
I wish you'd added a couple more things such as how often to do an image backup. Once I have an image backup do, I then just do incremental backups or continue making full image backups? That part is what's always been confusing for me. Thanks Leo.
There's no general answer to how often. It depends on how you use your computer. I do a full backup once a month, with incrementals intervening.
Thank you. @@askleonotenboom
@@Merichguy2 By doing incremental backups, you should (depending on the software) be able to restore files from each backup session.
In other words, if you do a weekly incremental backup, then you can restore files from week#1, or week#2, etc. That is helpful if you screw up a file without realizing it. You might have to go back a few images (a few iterations of your incremental backups) to find that file from a time before you screwed it up.
Even if you do a monthly full backup (as our host does), you do not need to delete the previous month's full backup (if you still have enough free space on the drive holding your backups).
If you delete your full backup, followed by starting a new full backup, you run a risk of data loss. It is a very slim risk -- but still a risk.
At the moment you delete your full backup, then until you compete another full backup, you have no backup.
So while performing your full backup, if your source disk dies, you will not be able to complete your full backup. Now you have a real problem, because you do not have any backup.
I suggest that when you start a full backup, you always keep your previous full backup. Never leave a moment where you have no full backup.
But those incremental backups are handy for grabbing files in the state that they were in on each date you did the incremental backup.
One other precautionary point:
It is convenient to leave your target drive connected all of the time. When your backups run, you do not need to plug your target drive in to a USB port. However, that convenience is risky.
If a bad actor gets control of your computer (like a ransomware attack), you do not want your drive that contains your backups to be connected to your computer.
Also, keep a copy of your backup installation file on your target drive. If your C: drive dies, you will want to have your backup software on your target drive. And keep a copy any registration code, etc, that you will need for you to be able to use your backup software. In other words, if your C: drive dies, then have everything that you need on your target drive to get you up and running when you replace your C: drive. If your backup software includes creating emergency boot media, then get a flash drive and have it be your emergency boot media.
Your point about backing up ALL partitions of a particular drive really hit home for me. Thanks for that. Over the past year or so, I've been messing about with virtual machines both from ISO files for fresh Windows and Linux installs and also from existing machines that I have. It's the latter that interests me here. If I use Macrium to create an image of my drive, can that image be used to deploy as a virtual machine on a NAS for example. My QNAP uses IMG files for its VM's. One reason that I find this of interest is that, with an IMG of my daily driver computer, if I had a hardware failure, a VM could be deployed on my NAS. ( Notwithstanding licencing, how current the IMG file is, data location, etc.)
Restoring to a VM is equivalent to restoring to a completely different machine. It might or might not work. More here: askleo.com/move-my-hard-drive/
I had a similar question, that I asked on the channel "ExplainingComputers".
I wanted to make an ISO of my old, daily driver computer.
Then I wanted to purchase a new computer, and be able to run my old computer's ISO as a virtual machine. Once that was working, I could toss my old computer, and reclaim some desk real-estate.
My question was from 2 or 3 years ago. His answer was "No." I do not recall why he wrote no. I do not believe that youtube has a search feature to find such a comment.
@@NoEgg4u Many thanks for that. I ran Macrium last night just for the hell of it. This morning when I looked at the file, I note that the file extension is MRIMG which makes me wonder if it is proprietary. I'm going to change the extension to IMG and give it a try. Nothing to lose.
@@DavidM2002 I had installed Macrium Reflect when they offered the free version. I wanted to try it out.
It kept nagging me to upgrade. There was no way to disable the nagging. I got fed up with it, and uninstalled it. I now use EaseUS ToDo. It had a couple of issues. But their customer service was responsive and got me a fix.
But as to the possibility of creating an ISO, and using it for a virtual machine, I hit a dead end.
@@DavidM2002 MRIMG likely refers to Macrium Reflect IMaGe.
How many versions of image backup you have? The systems can get corrupted over time and we don't regularly install and uninstall programs. So I would guess one needs at least one backup of the initial image after configuring a new or freshly installed system, and then one more that keeps up with recent changes. Would that be right?
There's one thing you may have talked about before, but it bears repeating, and maybe further expansion, is to be sure to have a bootable USB stick and your backup software in a known, safe, location. If you put a new drive in your PC, well, guess what, it won't boot! You need to be able to boot the PC to get anything off the backup drive. Before this becomes an issue, consider how you'll recover the backup software so you can actually USE your backed up image. With some backup systems, everything is "just there" for reading and copying, With others, the data may be compressed, encoded, or otherwise inaccessible without somehow installing or using the application that was used to create the backup.
I love personal backup for files and folders backup...
I do weekly full image backups once a week and then differential image backups the other nights. My backup software keeps 4 image sets deleting the oldest set automatically once per week when a new full backup is made. I use R-Drive Image, but might switch to Macrium at some point because their documentation is much better.
Thanks Leo, great explanation…
Personally, my approach is to just back up files (and I do that with a robocopy script--very simple and quick if you only copy new and changed files) as well as install (not image) files for software.
If I need anything more than file recovery, it will likely be because my system suffered a catastrophic event. In which case I will be either replacing the computer (image file useless) or at very least a full disk wipe and starting over. I don't want any potential corruption or system issues left over to be reinstalled after the creation of the new system)
If you have an older machine, will all the drivers work if direct replacements of components and the BIOS are no longer available?
All we can say is maybe. It depends on the specific drivers, the specific changes, and more. Windows will TRY hard to run, and might, but there's no guarantee.
Hey Leo, is there software you'd recommend that does both the Image Backup and Files and Folder backup? I'm looking to emulate a Time Machine user experience on Windows that can restore and image but also provide real-time file backup (perhaps at a minute, hourly or daily rate).
This if for a large multi-harddrive Windows 10.1+ system. Not quite looking for a NAS, will likely just be buying a single harddrive around 25-40 TB.
I don't have a single solution, but tools like Macrium Reflect and EaseUS todo will to the image and daily updates from which you can restore individual files. More real-time would use Windows File History (though I'm lead to believe that's being deprecated), and/or tools like OneDrive or Dropbox.
Hey, does the Win11 image backup contain all the folders like personal folders from partition C: or just the system folders?
A true image has EVERTHING.
@@askleonotenboom Hey, thanks for the reply! Yes, i made earlier an image and it backed up everything including my personal folders that were outside the Windows/System folders from partition C:
I would do an image backup of my drive if there were backup software that would compress the resulting image on the backup device; right now, though, a backup image of a 1tb drive requires 1 tb of space on the backup device. Since more than half of my drive is unused, that's backing up a whole lot of empty. But, I do agree with you, an image backup is the best choice.
Most backup programs do compress. Both Macrum and EaseUS do.
@@askleonotenboom I'll have to look as those. The backup software I'm familiar with will compress files and folders, but not disk images. You may have helped me find a better safety net for my computer.
I use Seagate's free disk cloning SW. It takes about three hours for my 1 TB drive. I run it before I go to bed.
@@stevencooper2464 A 1TB source drive does not require a 1TB target drive, unless both of the following two conditions are true:
1) You do not use compression. But as our host wrote, most backup software does. It is an option, usually defaulting to "medium". But you can choose none of maximum.
2) Your source drive is full.
If your source drive has 300GB of data (700GB of free space), then your backup (even with no compression) will consume 300GB of space.
Some backup software offers a sector by sector option. I believe that option will copy empty space? I have never heard of anyone using the sector by sector backup option. I never read about a situation where using that option would apply.
For a standard full backup (not sector by sector), the image file that will be created on your target disk will be roughly the same size as all of your files, combined (if you use no compression), and much smaller if you do use compression.
Thanks Leo!
My education continues. Thanks. JimE
some people may have saved files in other places then the usual documents, photos, music and video folders. Some people save files on the desktop or download folder or create a folder somewhere else on the C: drive. You need to know where all your files are saved and its good to keep them organized in the documents, photos, music and video folder
My personal opinion.
Operating systems change. Standards change. I have files that are old. I can still read them.
The files take priority over the operating system. Most common files are open standards. Virtually all hash and encryption are open standards.
For example, if you have a LastPass database. You can export it to something else. Even if you have to manually enter all the data in some new standard. You can still read the data.
Cloning OS drives is a matter of workflow and necessity. Data is absolute. You must always have the data.
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