AlienCake Posted February 16, 2010 Share Posted February 16, 2010 So, i've been doing some research lately, and i've decided to upgrade my Windoes Vista Home Premium laptop to Windows 7 32 bit. Only problem is, I really like my computer, and i don't want to mess things up. So i wanted to know, what is the best way to backup my WHOLE computer, if the installation of Windows 7 goes wrong? And if it should go wrong, and i have the backup, how can i restore it to my computer? Regards, AlienCake! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skarn Posted February 16, 2010 Share Posted February 16, 2010 Have a look at Macrium Reflect: http://www.macrium.com/reflectfree.asp Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlienCake Posted February 16, 2010 Author Share Posted February 16, 2010 Is there any "guide" on, how to do this using the Marcium Reflect? My excact question: How do i make a backup, and if it messes up, how do i use my backup to restore my system? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roger H. Veteran Posted February 16, 2010 Veteran Share Posted February 16, 2010 Just use Acronis or the Ghosts of today (Norton Ghost was the king back in the day, dunno if it is still). That makes an exact image of your system as it currently is. You can save this to another HDD or to multiple DVDs. When you are ready to go back then you can just load the boot CD/DVD and then it will just image your system exactly how you left it last time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlienCake Posted February 16, 2010 Author Share Posted February 16, 2010 Thanks for that, SHoTTa35. That answered my exact question :D Just one last thing: If the installation of Windows 7 fails, will it automatically go back to Windows Vista, and everything is as before, or will i have to restart my WHOLE computer, and then use the image to restore it? Regards, Aliencake. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Owen W Veteran Posted February 16, 2010 Veteran Share Posted February 16, 2010 So, i've been doing some research lately, and i've decided to upgrade my Windoes Vista Home Premium laptop to Windows 7 32 bit. Only problem is, I really like my computer, and i don't want to mess things up. So i wanted to know, what is the best way to backup my WHOLE computer, if the installation of Windows 7 goes wrong? And if it should go wrong, and i have the backup, how can i restore it to my computer? Regards, AlienCake! Create a clone of your computer. Windows 7 has integrated tools that do EVERYTHING the other posters wrote. Type Backup and Restore into the start menu. :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lt8480 Posted February 16, 2010 Share Posted February 16, 2010 the *best* way I find to move to a newer OS is get a new hard drive... that way your old hard drive is still in tact and never touched... if anything "goes wrong" simply plug it back in - you also then have a handy additional backup drive once complete. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xerxes Posted February 16, 2010 Share Posted February 16, 2010 Just use Acronis or the Ghosts of today (Norton Ghost was the king back in the day, dunno if it is still). That makes an exact image of your system as it currently is. You can save this to another HDD or to multiple DVDs. When you are ready to go back then you can just load the boot CD/DVD and then it will just image your system exactly how you left it last time. I second that, Acronis is current "King" although I never really liked it and use Ghost myself (recently upgraded to Ghost 15, as I previously had 12 and it doesn't support Win7). However, I think it's mostly personal preference so either one will do what you want. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roger H. Veteran Posted February 16, 2010 Veteran Share Posted February 16, 2010 There is a free program i just heard on the Windows Weekly podcast Episode 141 - EASEUS Todo Backup. It's a free product and does full system backups and all that. Sounds pretty good but i haven't tested it myself (and i don't work there either :) ). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Growled Member Posted February 16, 2010 Member Share Posted February 16, 2010 I've been using Acronis for a long time. I still have a Vista and an XP image I can slap on if I want/need to. I highly recommend it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lee31 Posted February 16, 2010 Share Posted February 16, 2010 Create a clone of your computer. Windows 7 has integrated tools that do EVERYTHING the other posters wrote. Type Backup and Restore into the start menu. :) Exactly. Why people suggest third party products when windows can do the job just as well is beyond me. I will add, you'll also need to create a repair disk (also in windows backup and restore) so you can use the backup and system image created by the backup utility. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nodiaque Posted February 16, 2010 Share Posted February 16, 2010 I second that, Acronis is current "King" although I never really liked it and use Ghost myself (recently upgraded to Ghost 15, as I previously had 12 and it doesn't support Win7). However, I think it's mostly personal preference so either one will do what you want. Using ghost 11.5.1 in winpe environment is better. Support windows 7 since 11.5. This is from ghost solution suite, the enterprise version of symantec ghost. DO NOT CONFUSE WITH GHOST FOR HOME USER. 11.5.1 is the latest in enterprise, vs the current ghost 15 for home user which is far from the samething. For me, enterprise version is way better and is working like a charm on any version of os. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xerxes Posted February 16, 2010 Share Posted February 16, 2010 Exactly. Why people suggest third party products when windows can do the job just as well is beyond me. I will add, you'll also need to create a repair disk (also in windows backup and restore) so you can use the backup and system image created by the backup utility. Because 3rd party products do a better job at it. I've used the Win7 Backup and Restore feature and while it's massive improvement over Vista's one it's still not that good. My main issues with it is it's lack of compression on backups (if it does use it, it must be very minimal) and the fact it so damn slow on my PC. Ghost does the same thing in a fraction of the time and uses a fraction of the space (which I need as I backup all the computers in the house to the same external drive). Also only Ultimate can do a system image (I think all versions can backup your data but only Ultimate can do the full system image?) and it's only useful if your already on Win7 and need to restore it, if your upgrading to 7 it's useless. Using ghost 11.5.1 in winpe environment is better. Support windows 7 since 11.5. This is from ghost solution suite, the enterprise version of symantec ghost. DO NOT CONFUSE WITH GHOST FOR HOME USER. 11.5.1 is the latest in enterprise, vs the current ghost 15 for home user which is far from the samething. For me, enterprise version is way better and is working like a charm on any version of os. Why would you use the enterprise version for your home computer? :blink: to me that is akin to using Windows Server on your home computer [as your primary OS]. There is nothing wrong with the home versions of Ghost, been using it since 12 and it's worked perfectly for me and saved my bacon on many occasions (Y) Each to their own I guess :/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xerxes Posted February 16, 2010 Share Posted February 16, 2010 EDIT: Opps, ignore this post Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nodiaque Posted February 16, 2010 Share Posted February 16, 2010 Why would you use the enterprise version for your home computer? :blink: to me that is akin to using Windows Server on your home computer [as your primary OS]. There is nothing wrong with the home versions of Ghost, been using it since 12 and it's worked perfectly for me and saved my bacon on many occasions (Y) Each to their own I guess :/ Cause that's the version I have from work? Also, I've had some trouble with the home version vs the enterprise version. They didn't change the UI, just made a 32-bits version (and now 64-bits) of the dos ghost.exe with a boot wizard to boot in winpe with a cdrom/usb/etc. Very different from the home version with lot more compatibility. While vista and 7 wasn't compatible with home version, old version of enterprise was working. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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