BackUp Win7 System image/clone.. and restore via boot DVD..

H

HoliC

Disciple
Hi..

Now i want to know how to back up my entire freshly installed and updated system drive [ c drive with program files,app data,windows and drivers..] i.e clone the entire C drive and then be able to boot it and restore it from scratch so that i wont have to install everything again...

I have seen this in cybercafe where the man there just put a bootable cd and the cd copied a previously backed up system over the entire infected drive..

Now i know a few ways to back up..

Acronis true image or driveimageXML...

But the restoring part is tricky for me..

I dont know how to use/create a UBCD4win or how to create any bootable CD..

What i want to do is create a bootable backup DVD of my current system which upon booting.. will format the current c drive and copy my backed up image..

Anybody know the exact procedure... or the combination of softwares to be used ???

or an all in software ???

TIA.

BTW - i used the windows 7 backup and restore tool but it did not work at all... :@ had to format the entire thing manually na dreinstall everything... all apps and drivers.. :@

Also Acronis true image WD edition is available for free download at wd website.. has anyone tested it before.. ???
 
Use CloneZilla. It is an open source and cross platform tool and stand as an alternative to the Windows 7 Imaging Utility.

You've to download CloneZilla in form of an ISO and burn the image to a CD/USB flash drive. After creating the CD/USB flash drive, all you need to do is reboot the computer from it. Follow the simple interface to backup/restore. IIRC there is a sort of a step-by-step screenshot on the CloneZilla website.
 
^^ k ill read up on that.. [ but i read that it was originally made for linux based systems only.. not sure though]

Has anyone tried acronis ??? I have created a backup image with it... and also a bootable rescue USB.. but havent tried it yet.. but the best part is that the 16GB back up image with compression is only 5.5 GB.. :)

I want to zero write and wipe my OS drive and restore the image.. Ill try using WD diagnostic tool and DBAN to zero write... anybody know of better options ??

I also created a Bootable image using UBCD4Win..

But DriveImageXML is creating an image giving me VSSVC.exe error... virtual shadow copy...

Has anybody tried acronis... seems pretty easy to set up.. if it has worked for others ill go ahead and erase my drive and restore..

thnks..
 
I want to zero write and wipe my OS drive
Click to expand...

if you restore a partition from a image, there is no need to nuke that partiton.

keep in mind : win7 will not work if the Disk Signature in the MBR is changed, afaik.

so backup the mbr too, or better still the disk sig as a precaution.
 
Ok now.. how to do that... ??/

i have a extra partition 100MB - System reserved - which was made automatically during os install..

I have backed up the MBR though using HDHacker tool...

And how do i back up the disk signature ??? with what tool ??

And more importantly.. how do i restore them after zero wiping ??

And zero wiping doesnt damage the disk right ??? The word 'nuking' sounds risky..
 
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