[PCWorld]

Post your comments for Windows 7's Built-in Backup here

[catilley1092]

Windows 7 built in backup is an excellent program. I actually restored my laptop with the image that I made with the built in image creater. For the first time in any OS's history, an easy to use and effective backup is here. Anyone who doesn't backup now no longer has an excuse. All you need is blank DVD's (the plain ones, NOT the rewritable ones) and/or an external drive. True simplicity.

[emachinedummy]

catilley1092, on 18 January 2010 - 08:08 PM, said:

Windows 7 built in backup is an excellent program. I actually restored my laptop with the image that I made with the built in image creater. For the first time in any OS's history, an easy to use and effective backup is here. Anyone who doesn't backup now no longer has an excuse. All you need is blank DVD's (the plain ones, NOT the rewritable ones) and/or an external drive. True simplicity.

Why wouldn`t you want to use rewritable media?,then your weekly backup would only record changes to the files that you`ve made during the week.Rewritable media is not that much more expensive today then write-once disc`s.

[BulldogXX]

catilley1092, on 18 January 2010 - 08:08 PM, said:

Windows 7 built in backup is an excellent program. I actually restored my laptop with the image that I made with the built in image creater. For the first time in any OS's history, an easy to use and effective backup is here. Anyone who doesn't backup now no longer has an excuse. All you need is blank DVD's (the plain ones, NOT the rewritable ones) and/or an external drive. True simplicity.

Windows 7 Backup is a vast improvement over previous Microsoft backup utilities, and it's an excellent choice for people who wouldn't otherwise backup because they don't know how. But for experienced users, Windows 7 Backup lacks key features found in third-party applications.

• Data backups are only incrementals - no other choice. (System images are full backups.)
  
• You can't save more than one backup configuration at a time.
  
• You can't specify a retention policy. (Windows will continue to add backups to the backup destination until it determines there will not be enough disk space for the next backup.)
  
• Windows Backup does not verify, encrypt or compress backups. (You have to perform these steps separately.)
  
• Data backups are not stored in native format.
  
• System images can't be mounted (e.g., to restore individual files,) or viewed (unless you take ownership of the backup folder from the SYSTEM account.)
  
• If you are dual- or multi-booting, the image includes all system partitions.
  
• If you "Let Windows choose," Windows Backup only backs up - and restores to - the default folders where it anticipates users will store data. If your personal storage system is different, you'll have to wade into manual configuration.

For experienced users, Windows Backup is best used to make a System Recovery Disc; and to make system images that can be restored with the System Recovery Disc. This could be a good supplement to third-party disk imaging software.

[ClaudeD]

Re-Writable media has a history of unreliability according to some. You might ask wintard what it thinks since it is an expert on nearly everything.

[jimmyfal]

PCWorld, on 18 January 2010 - 07:46 AM, said:

Post your comments for Windows 7's Built-in Backup here

The extent to which PC World is "out of the loop on the Windows 7 backup PROBLEMS issue is mind boggling.

Please refer to this forum which could now stretch to CHINA, on the problems with Windows 7 backup. Even though the title of the thread refers to RTM, this is still and issue ongoing.

http://social.techne...3-321cdfc44fbd/

jimmy fallon - computer assistance

[VHMP01]

The easiest way I have found, and for most users in the company, to solve the backups is SycnToy, which is a ‘Free’ application from MS by the way, so it functions great and with the most simplicity I have found.

You simply select a folder to be backed up in the left (c:/documents for example) and a folder to store in the right (f:/documents on an external USB drive for example); you can create as many folders to be backed up as you wish. It has options to Sync, Echo and Contribute. Once configured you simply Run All folders.

The main reason is its simplicity, but also files are exactly the same format as originals, so if you plug in the drive in another computer, just open them. If you make changes to those and chose the Sync option, next time you run it on the original PC, the changes will be there. Although for some files like PST (Outlook data) we recommend the Echo option better.

[jimmyfal]

VHMP01, on 20 January 2010 - 10:38 AM, said:

The easiest way I have found, and for most users in the company, to solve the backups is SycnToy, which is a ‘Free’ application from MS by the way, so it functions great and with the most simplicity I have found.

You simply select a folder to be backed up in the left (c:/documents for example) and a folder to store in the right (f:/documents on an external USB drive for example); you can create as many folders to be backed up as you wish. It has options to Sync, Echo and Contribute. Once configured you simply Run All folders.

The main reason is its simplicity, but also files are exactly the same format as originals, so if you plug in the drive in another computer, just open them. If you make changes to those and chose the Sync option, next time you run it on the original PC, the changes will be there. Although for some files like PST (Outlook data) we recommend the Echo option better.

I have also switched to synctoy. Kind of sad to have to do that, but I'm sure MS has recieved enough grief on this point, I HOPE, to finally do something about it.

jf

[bitbucket2045]

catilley1092, on 18 January 2010 - 08:08 PM, said:

For the first time in any OS's history, an easy to use and effective backup is here. Anyone who doesn't backup now no longer has an excuse. All you need is blank DVD's (the plain ones, NOT the rewritable ones) and/or an external drive. True simplicity.

Except for Apple's Time Machine which was introduced August 28th 2009 for Mac OS X 10.5.

Apple even has optional external hard drive called Time Capsule which you can back up to or just use any old HD you happen to have laying around. It offers full HD (bootable) restore, a really innovative easy to use interface and works transparently in the background giving you hourly backups, a full weeks backup of everything and monthly snapshots depending on room available on the back up hard drive.

Instructions for use:

1. Plug in a HD.
2. Hit Yes when it asks you if you want to use it as a back up drive.
3. There is no step three.

This post has been edited by bitbucket2045: 20 January 2010 - 05:32 PM

[catilley1092]

emachinedummy, on 19 January 2010 - 06:21 AM, said:

catilley1092, on 18 January 2010 - 08:08 PM, said:

Windows 7 built in backup is an excellent program. I actually restored my laptop with the image that I made with the built in image creater. For the first time in any OS's history, an easy to use and effective backup is here. Anyone who doesn't backup now no longer has an excuse. All you need is blank DVD's (the plain ones, NOT the rewritable ones) and/or an external drive. True simplicity.

Why wouldn`t you want to use rewritable media?,then your weekly backup would only record changes to the files that you`ve made during the week.Rewritable media is not that much more expensive today then write-once disc`s.

Because the program on some brands (mine is HP) requires it. Put in a rewritable disc, and you get prompted to use the proper kind. This includes when you create your recovery discs (a one time deal only). I agree with you, I have plenty of rewritable discs, but you have to go with the flow.

[JustAnotherDude]

Backups are a good thing. Windows 7 has improved on this feature, greatly, since previous versions of Windows. But there are freeware utilities available that are better, in my opinion. Case in point is Replicator from karenware.com

[WinTard]

ClaudeD, on 19 January 2010 - 02:50 PM, said:

Re-Writable media has a history of unreliability according to some. You might ask wintard what it thinks since it is an expert on nearly everything.

May IT suggest Googling: Results 1 - 10 of about 13,300 for reliability rewritable versus DVD+ DVD-. (0.53 seconds)

Supposedly, DVD+ is more reliable than DVD-

As to why? I dunno. I usually buy based on price/performance, not ultimate reliability good for 20+ ~ 100 years, LOL.

Further helpful links:
http://www.manifest-...mpatibility.htm
http://www.afterdawn.com/
http://club.myce.com/ (formerly CDFreaks)

~~~~~~~~~~
A specialist is someone who knows more and more about less and less until they know absolutely everything about nothing...

This post has been edited by WinTard: 21 January 2010 - 12:22 PM

[GOED]

@LINCON
You stated that Windows 7 is very PICKY about restoring an image.

I don't understand this, I have done two different images to an external hard drive, one with only the OS installed and one with the OS and all the necessary
programs. To restore an image that includes C and D partitions in my case or Restore just C has been a very easy and error free process.
It takes 15 minutes to restore any type of image.

If you are using the Term Image interchangably with back-ups or incremental back-ups restoration, then your comment is misleading.

An image is really not a back up - An image is a clonn of the your C or any partition you want to include in the image - A back up is a copy incremental or not
or particular folders.

I can't read your mind as to why you made that statement, but restoring from images has not been a problem for me, I create different types of images
because i test software and i like to return my laptop to a clean state when i finish.

Thanks.

[catilley1092]

GOED, on 21 January 2010 - 12:54 PM, said:

@LINCON
You stated that Windows 7 is very PICKY about restoring an image.

I don't understand this, I have done two different images to an external hard drive, one with only the OS installed and one with the OS and all the necessary
programs. To restore an image that includes C and D partitions in my case or Restore just C has been a very easy and error free process.
It takes 15 minutes to restore any type of image.

If you are using the Term Image interchangably with back-ups or incremental back-ups restoration, then your comment is misleading.

An image is really not a back up - An image is a clonn of the your C or any partition you want to include in the image - A back up is a copy incremental or not
or particular folders.

I can't read your mind as to why you made that statement, but restoring from images has not been a problem for me, I create different types of images
because i test software and i like to return my laptop to a clean state when i finish.

Thanks.

100% Agreed! In fact, I've restored three systems with an image, but only one Windows 7. Too, a lot of today's computers have a recovery partition that contains the factory image (bloatware and all). I've restored mine that way.

[LCaution]

A miserable excuse for backup/restore and a huge step backwards from the Windows backup in XP.

First, it fails the simple test of friendliness. In XP, you could choose to start with an easy-to-use, if slightly clumsy, wizard or in advanced mode. In W7, you have to choose "change settings" to create a backup other than the one W7 defaults to, which is hardly intuitive,.

More specifically, in XP you could perform daily, incremental, differential or full backups. In W7, you get no choices. And although I've read here, and the help says, that it does incremental backups after a full backup, in my brief testing, that is not true. It does a full backup.

Further you can't create different backup jobs. And it won't back up program or system files, according to what passes for its documentation, even if you specifically select folders that contain such programs for backup.

And, of course, you can't back up to tape. Why would you want to? Well,you can easily store tape off site, for rather long periods of time, and you don't have to worry about your backup drive failing - in which case you lose all the history you have backed up. (Yes, there are reasons to back up other than to recover everything you lost yesterday when your computer crashed.)

I find these limitations especially galling because I'm running 64-bit W7 Ultimate - a version which ought to have a decent backup.

[RogerMaris]

Win7 Backup Sucks on Restore.

Did my first restore because a drive failed. Got a new SATA 1TB installed, formatted and then spent about 2 hrs clicking the "Try Again" radio button and the "OK" button. Error msg said the file was "in use" which is impossible as it is a data only drive (not OS) and no other services were running (ProcMon, FileMon).

MS: Where's the "repeat" check box for this option? More garbage from Microsoft, of course, it is job security for me as I'm a 15yr Win Admin.

[Rogerniz2]

Win7 Backup Sucks on Restore.

Did my first restore because a drive failed. Got a new SATA 1TB installed, formatted and then spent about 2 hrs clicking the "Try Again" radio button and the "OK" button. Error msg said the file was "in use" which is impossible as it is a data only drive (not OS) and no other services were running (ProcMon, FileMon).

MS: Where's the "repeat" check box for this option? More garbage from Microsoft, of course, it is job security for me as I'm a 15yr Win Admin.

[DSS09]

I have to disagree with the statement that " allows you to pick which drive you wish to backup to, but won't let you pick a folder in that drive" is incorrect.

Now I have not tried to backup to an external drive or cd/dvd in which that might be the case, but I have backed all my home PC's to a network drive and I selected exactly where on my network for backup and also for system image.

Note, first I navigated to my network drive via explorer and created the folder that I wanted my backup to reside.

This is a very slick program and easy to setup.

[DSS09]

I have to disagree with the statement that " allows you to pick which drive you wish to backup to, but won't let you pick a folder in that drive" is incorrect.

Now I have not tried to backup to an external drive or cd/dvd in which that might be the case, but I have backed all my home PC's to a network drive and I selected exactly where on my network for backup and also for system image.

Note, first I navigated to my network drive via explorer and created the folder that I wanted my backup to reside.

This is a very slick program and easy to setup.

[Xhsow]

BulldogXX, on 19 January 2010 - 01:04 PM, said:

[*]Data backups are not stored in native format.

What do you mean by that? Like a PNG isn't backed up as a PNG?