Solved A little help finding backup software

Bree · Jan 21, 2023

BrianS said:
The Win 7 backup solution has never been very reliable even on Win 7. That's why MS now recommend you find a third party solution.

Wow such Microsoft arrogance - scandalous

Not really, I see it more as an admission from MS that they really messed up with designing it when introduced in Win7, and that it is too badly written to be rescued.

kado897 · Jan 21, 2023

Bree said:
Not really, I see it more as an admission from MS that they really messed up with designing it when introduced in Win7, and that it is too badly written to be rescued.

It's the design that's awful, particularly the imaging part.

BrianS · Jan 21, 2023

And the poor numpty customer (victim) lies in the road from this notorious lapse of faith in customer service - and this went unchallenged since W7? really

It seems to me that this spawned a whole host of Backup snakeoil sellers offering to fix your problem - WOW

As one door closes another slams in your face

BTW I tried Perfect Backup it only seems to do file copying/compression. No disc imaging.

hdmi · Jan 21, 2023

BrianS said:
Eg HDMI -as above- you favour Acronis, yet I am presented by Trustpilot with a totally conflicting opinion Acronis is rated "Great" with 4 / 5 on Trustpilot
This is not an isolated case as other self styled market leaders also have serious doubt on their integrity
And thats the word really INTEGRITY. can you really trust your backup when the SHTF and you crash. All the assurance verbal doesnt work for me until I see it tested under restore conditions. Its not simply enough to say "I did a verification to show that my backup image was identical to the original".

That's just because those people who rated it had installed Acronis on their Windows, which is the exact opposite of what I recommended to do. Apples and oranges...

BrianS said:
Just cos Im paranoid does it make me wrong?

No, and, just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they're not after you. But then, this is why I said what I said about physically swapping the OS drive to test. In addition, maybe book an appointment, if you want to get treatment for your psychiatric disorder. Or at least consider talking to me about it. Talking helps!

BrianS said:
If only life were as simple as copying your set of files to another HDD - but of course this couldnt work cos piracy would flourish (as it did in the early days) and Microsoft/Apple wouldnt exist today. So we have to live with increasing convoluted levels of protection where the OS and s/w are tied into the original hardware licensing so it cant be replicated.
Thats the nub of the problem. So until you can actually prove your restoration works its all smoke and mirrors IMHO for a h/w crash scenario - I cant even think of a malicious attack situation.

I successfully upgraded my laptop's internal 512GB Phison M.2 SATA SSD to the 2TB Samsung 980 Pro by doing an image create/restore of the partitions, using Ventoy on a USB flash drive to boot straight into the bootable Rescue Media ISO file of Acronis True Image 2021. The drive that I used for storing the image was an old 8TB Seagate HDD (ST8000DM002) with an old SATA-to-USB3 adapter (ASMT 2105) + 12V DC Ktec wallwart.

Of course I had to temporarily disable Secure Boot in the laptop's UEFI settings, and I also had to transfer boot files from Windows to the EFI partition before booting Windows in Safe Mode to finally get Windows to boot normally again. But that was just an easy task, as there exist step by step tutorials online that will guide you through this process in next to no time, you only need the official Windows Installation ISO that you can download from Microsoft, boot into this ISO file with Ventoy, and press Shift + F10 to bring up the command prompt in WinRE before you can start that process. Any other way to boot into WinRE will also be fine, as Shift + F10 always works in WinRE. Only caveat, this whole method of creating/restoring an image won't work if BitLocker is enabled on the OS drive in question. But anyway. I don't use BitLocker.

I just want to avoid the potential risk of having to reinstall Windows, Windows updates, drivers, apps, customizations/tweaks, and go through all the various settings. Restoring an image from a USB flash drive that can do a little over 400MB/s read speed is still fast enough to get the laptop up an running normally again after the C: partition gets corrupted so badly that doing an in-place upgrade to repair Windows just doesn't work. I know I could decide to get an NVMe enclosure with USB Type C and install an NVMe SSD in it, but I also know I don't need to. For all my personal files, FastCopy gets the job done right. WinRAR can still be useful for archiving large numbers of small files, especially if you need it to be fast (which not everyone needs, but some people do).

BrianS · Jan 21, 2023

now here is a spanner in the works. It appears to be difficult to find an app that will create an iso image. These proprietary in your face Vendors seem to like to use their own propriety formats - doesnt this sound suspicious to you?

I havent found a basic solution to the OP question. Its still all smoke and mirrors to me and some of the comments are in the category of "look how clever I am" and way too nerdy for a simple soul. Is there any sense going to come from this thread.

HDMI I am working through your recipe and will revert to my understanding of what to do

LeLibran · Jan 21, 2023

BrianS said:
And the poor numpty customer (victim) lies in the road from this notorious lapse of faith in customer service - and this went unchallenged since W7? really

As far as I can remember, the 'Windows 7 Backup' feature was deprecated by Microsoft and was omitted entirely from the Windows 8.0 and 8.1 releases, but later restored to Windows 10 presumably to placate those who continued to complain that its removal prevented users from accessing their 'old' data backups/archives. It was probably only added back in an attempt to eliminate one 'reason' for Windows 7 users choosing not to upgrade to Windows 10.

Just because Microsoft incorporates numerous mini-applications in it's OS doesn't mean that they will always be the best option for individuals, or the most user-friendly. 'Windows 7 Backup', as the name indicates, is well behind the vast majority third party options but does (IME) work at a basic level when it is combined with the separate 'File History' function, whether you are looking for straight data backup or system imaging. However, those two functions are not the same and there is no reason to expect any single application, whether by Microsoft or some 3rd-party, e.g. 'Perfect Backup' or whatever, to provide a 'can do everything' menu of options, especially if you limit your choice to 'freeware'. The question should be: Does the application do what it says on the box? If it does then that's all you can expect, so look elsewhere.

Perhaps it should also be remembered that the dominant commercial OS developers are somewhat constrained in what they can do/provide before they face the risk being accused of unfair competition by independent developers, users etc.; and therefore face the possibility of legal action and/or investigation by government agencies. That may be one reason why Microsoft is showing a growing interest and involvement in open source projects when it comes to some 'add-on' features and, apparently, no longer considers Linux to be an arch-enemy.

TechnoMage2021 · Jan 21, 2023

I get that a lot, just because I'm not a Macrium Reflect fan, I'm branded as an old fool. But who's really a fool?
Yes, my favorite and most reliable Backup/Restore program is "Ghost", but I seriously doubt I've mentioned it 5000 times.
But to keep peace in the family, I won't mention it again. Let those who will be ignorant, flounder in their ignorance.
That's not what a HELP forum should be all about, but I guess this one has gone in that direction.
I'm sorry, because I've really enjoyed this forum @Brink

trevo · Jan 21, 2023

Stigg said:
Bvckup 2 is a small, fast and powerful file backup application. I've been using it for years to replicate files and folders from one hard drive to another. It's very simple to use.

Bvckup 2 | Simple fast backup

Simple fast backup for Windows

bvckup2.com

I use it for all my data backups to portable drives..."Fast" is an understatement.

BrianS · Jan 21, 2023

Hi HDMI I have loaded Ventoy into my usb 64G stick and it sits invisibly in the MBR I think. its formated as exFat

do I now need to format this stick as NTFS

I need some help with Acronis true image. You say dont instal it just use rescue media bootable iso file so where do I get that. The web is pretty high power give me your money sucker.

Acronis True Image 2021 for PC

www.acronis.com

BrianS · Jan 21, 2023

Yes, my favorite and most reliable Backup/Restore program is "Ghost"

But its way too nerdy for noobs, any links?

It seems your original Ghost s/w was taken over by Symantec Norton - right?
They are very coy about pricing, offer free trial download till you want to restore then get hit with a serious licence fee

so you see Ghost is no help to anyone as it only exists in your private collection IMHO

Dont go away - contribute usefully - we are all in the same leaky boat here

Bree · Jan 21, 2023

BrianS said:
Yes, my favorite and most reliable Backup/Restore program is "Ghost"

You have a habit of identifying who you are replying to with their avatar.

It would be better to quote or mention them, that way they get a notification that you have replied to them.

To mention someone add the @ to the beginning of their name, like this: @BrianS

To quote, either click the Quote link at the bottom right of their post:

or to quote just a part, highlight it then click Quote below what you have highlighted.

BrianS · Jan 21, 2023

ok got it @Bree

mention someone add the @ to the beginning of their name, like this: @BrianS

copying a post can get way too long, will try highlight

WXC · Jan 21, 2023

BrianS said:
copying a post can get way too long, will try highlight

Brian,

You can always click on the 'QUOTE' button, bottom right of the post you wish to quote. :wink:

hdmi · Jan 21, 2023

BrianS said:
I have loaded Ventoy into my usb 64G stick and it sits invisibly in the MBR I think. its formated as exFat

Ventoy

Ventoy is an open source tool to create bootable USB drive for ISO files. With ventoy, you don't need to format the disk again and again, you just need to copy the iso file to the USB drive and boot it.

www.ventoy.net

Ventoy

Ventoy is an open source tool to create bootable USB drive for ISO files. With ventoy, you don't need to format the disk again and again, you just need to copy the iso file to the USB drive and boot it.

www.ventoy.net

Ventoy

Ventoy is an open source tool to create bootable USB drive for ISO files. With ventoy, you don't need to format the disk again and again, you just need to copy the iso file to the USB drive and boot it.

www.ventoy.net

BrianS said:
do I now need to format this stick as NTFS

Under Installation FAQ, see: 5. Can I reformat the 1st (bigger) partition ?

Ventoy

Ventoy is an open source tool to create bootable USB drive for ISO files. With ventoy, you don't need to format the disk again and again, you just need to copy the iso file to the USB drive and boot it.

www.ventoy.net

BrianS said:
I need some help with Acronis true image. You say dont instal it just use rescue media bootable iso file so where do I get that. The web is pretty high power give me your money sucker.

Acronis True Image 2021 for PC

www.acronis.com

http://dl.acronis.com/s/AcronisTrueImage2021_39287.iso

cereberus · Jan 21, 2023

LeLibran said:
As far as I can remember, the 'Windows 7 Backup' feature was deprecated by Microsoft and was omitted entirely from the Windows 8.0 and 8.1 releases, but later restored to Windows 10 presumably to placate those who continued to complain that its removal prevented users from accessing their 'old' data backups/archives. It was probably only added back in an attempt to eliminate one 'reason' for Windows 7 users choosing not to upgrade to Windows 10.

Just because Microsoft incorporates numerous mini-applications in it's OS doesn't mean that they will always be the best option for individuals, or the most user-friendly. 'Windows 7 Backup', as the name indicates, is well behind the vast majority third party options but does (IME) work at a basic level when it is combined with the separate 'File History' function, whether you are looking for straight data backup or system imaging. However, those two functions are not the same and there is no reason to expect any single application, whether by Microsoft or some 3rd-party, e.g. 'Perfect Backup' or whatever, to provide a 'can do everything' menu of options, especially if you limit your choice to 'freeware'. The question should be: Does the application do what it says on the box? If it does then that's all you can expect, so look elsewhere.

Perhaps it should also be remembered that the dominant commercial OS developers are somewhat constrained in what they can do/provide before they face the risk being accused of unfair competition by independent developers, users etc.; and therefore face the possibility of legal action and/or investigation by government agencies. That may be one reason why Microsoft is showing a growing interest and involvement in open source projects when it comes to some 'add-on' features and, apparently, no longer considers Linux to be an arch-enemy.

It was never omitted from W8/8.1 but the link was pretty obscure on a small link at bottom of one of backup pages.