Back Up My Boot Drive C:/Windows

I have an external Samsung 2TB T7 SSD external drive

I want to keep a backup (disc image) of this drive in case of failure or boot issues.

How do I go about doing this and do I need special (freeware and ad-free ) software to do this?

Any tutorial on how to do this here?

I have created a "Repair Disc" on a DVD but I don't think this is the same thing..

In this video, i will guide you on how to create and restore an image backup of Windows operating system.

There are several free image backup tools e g. Aoemi Backupper, Easeus Todo, Hasleo Backupper.

Aomei is a good starting point and pretty intutive to use, with guidelines in their website.

you could use wbadmin cmd line as described by freebooter.

or you can use the free aomei backupper as mentioned by cereberus, which has a simple user interface. There are several others.

I've been using Macrium Reflect for several years and just started using it to back up my new W11 system with a 1TB SSD boot drive. I've also used it to restore the system when I screwed up the configuration. It was easier to just do the restore back to where it was before I botched the setup. I do complete system images as well as just data backups. My system is about 265 GB total, so I can get three sets of backups on one of two single 1 TB external USB drives and I do Father/Son rotations between the two drives. I also have an internal 1TB HDD drive that can hold multiple copies of the 170 GB user data. It takes 23 minutes for a full system image and 17 minutes for the internal data backups.

Jamis said:

I've been using Macrium Reflect for several years and just started using it to back up my new W11 system with a 1TB SSD boot drive. I've also used it to restore the system when I screwed up the configuration. It was easier to just do the restore back to where it was before I botched the setup. I do complete system images as well as just data backups. My system is about 265 GB total, so I can get three sets of backups on one of two single 1 TB external USB drives and I do Father/Son rotations between the two drives. I also have an internal 1TB HDD drive that can hold multiple copies of the 170 GB user data. It takes 23 minutes for a full system image and 17 minutes for the internal data backups.

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The problem is free version of Macrium Reflect Free is no longer directly available for download from the webisite as it is being retired, albeit you can still download it if you know the URL. However it ceases to be supported at end of 2023. It can still be used but if something changes in Windows so it no longer works, it will not be fixed.

I always recommended this as best tool in past but I struggle with concept of recommending free versíon to new users when support is coming to an end.

SIW2 said:

you could use wbadmin cmd line as described by freebooter.

or you can use the free aomei backupper as mentioned by cereberus, which has a simple user interface. There are several others.

Click to expand...

OK I am doing the Freebooter wbadmin cmd line now. If I wish to restore he says at 04:55 to boot into Windows Recovery Mode or Moment.
How do I do this? I have a Repair Disc I created from within Windows 11 on a DVD (yes I still have a DVD drive on my computer) If the Computer is not booting into Windows at all , just Bios, how do I get into Windows Recovery Mode (Moment?) I think I did a System Image as part of creating this DVD Repair Disc earlier this year. I completely forgot about it , The folder is WindowsImageBackup and dated 2/1/2023 (D/M/YYYY) It's now overwriting this folder on my H drive (Samsung 2TB T7) external USB SSD. How often should one backup their system image? Is there a recommended timeframe ?

How do I make a batch file to automate this task wbadmin for my system?

cereberus said:

The problem is free version of Macrium Reflect Free is no longer directly available for download from the webisite as it is being retired, albeit you can still download it if you know the URL. However it ceases to be supported at end of 2023. It can still be used but if something changes in Windows so it no longer works, it will not be fixed.

I always recommended this as best tool in past but I struggle with concept of recommending free versíon to new users when support is coming to an end.

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Completely agree and will be purchasing a license when we get towards year end. As many times that MR has saved me from my mistakes and the comfort it gives of having multiple recovery points, the license fee is negligible to me.

And to quote you from back in February "You have just got to love Macrium Reflect's versatility." Just saying, but I agree again.

PvtJohnTowle said:

OK I am doing the Freebooter wbadmin cmd line now. If I wish to restore he says at 04:55 to boot into Windows Recovery Mode or Moment.
How do I do this? I have a Repair Disc I created from within Windows 11 on a DVD (yes I still have a DVD drive on my computer) If the Computer is not booting into Windows at all , just Bios, how do I get into Windows Recovery Mode (Moment?) I think I did a System Image as part of creating this DVD Repair Disc earlier this year. I completely forgot about it , The folder is WindowsImageBackup and dated 2/1/2023 (D/M/YYYY) It's now overwriting this folder on my H drive (Samsung 2TB T7) external USB SSD. How often should one backup their system image? Is there a recommended timeframe ?

How do I make a batch file to automate this task wbadmin for my system?

Click to expand...

wbadmin created images can be restored with the system image user interface in windows boot media ( your repair dvd or the installation media )

or with wbadmin restore commands

or with the free version of diskgenius, and probably several other tools.

SIW2 said:

wbadmin created images can be restored with the system image user interface in windows boot media ( your repair dvd or the installation media )

or with wbadmin restore commands

or with the free version of diskgenius, and probably several other tools.

Click to expand...

If you want to use command line ito create images, a far better way is to use ffu commands. However, it is rather ridiculous really recommending command line solutions to a guy as OP asking such a basic question.

Anybody with the level of experience required to use command line solutions would understand how to image backup anyway. Most people want a gui based solution.

cereberus said:

If you want to use command line ito create images, a far better way is to use ffu commands. However, it is rather ridiculous really recommending command line solutions to a guy as OP asking such a basic question.

Anybody with the level of experience required to use command line solutions would understand how to image backup anyway. Most people want a gui based solution.

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Have to agree about using a GUI based solution. I've done cmd line stuff in Linux and while it brings back the heady DOS days, I prefer a good GUI.

Personally I've used Macrium and Aoemi before. Both good and reliable backup solutions and easier than cmd line options in my opinion.

As a Computer Tech, I've been called on to make copies of many types and styles of HD's with various information on them.
Some actually had a working OS and some had an OS that was totally hoses. Some had NO OS at all but were nothing but Data Disks.

The one program I always used, and still use, is "Ghost". If a system can be booted up at all, it can probably be booted up by a DOS Boot disk. And that disk might be a Floppy Disk (not so much any more) or a CD, again falling into disrepute, or USB Flash Drive. I even have Ghost on a bootable SD Memory Card.
It's a simple little program, and was way ahead of its time when it as first released in 1997.
Sadly, it's out of production, so there is no licensing, or updates. But, the good news is, , , it's still out there for whomsoever wants to have it.

I just built myself a new Windows 11 PC, and my first backup was done by "Ghost 11.5" booting the PC from a Bootable SD Memory Card.

TechnoMage2021 said:

As a Computer Tech, I've been called on to make copies of many types and styles of HD's with various information on them.
Some actually had a working OS and some had an OS that was totally hoses. Some had NO OS at all but were nothing but Data Disks.

The one program I always used, and still use, is "Ghost". If a system can be booted up at all, it can probably be booted up by a DOS Boot disk. And that disk might be a Floppy Disk (not so much any more) or a CD, again falling into disrepute, or USB Flash Drive. I even have Ghost on a bootable SD Memory Card.
It's a simple little program, and was way ahead of its time when it as first released in 1997.
Sadly, it's out of production, so there is no licensing, or updates. But, the good news is, , , it's still out there for whomsoever wants to have it.

I just built myself a new Windows 11 PC, and my first backup was done by "Ghost 11.5" booting the PC from a Bootable SD Memory Card.

Click to expand...

OK thanks but I have the Windows 11 Rescue Disk on DVD , I still have a DVD drive and I can change my boot order in BIOS so it boots from "CD" which is the same thing.. they don't say DVD but I understand they mean the same.

Okay, this is really strange. How is it that I never knew about WBADMIN? It's been in Windows for years, yet I have never heard of it.

I must be slipping.

PvtJohnTowle said:

I want to keep a backup (disc image) of this drive in case of failure or boot issues.

How do I go about doing this and do I need special (freeware and ad-free ) software to do this?

Any tutorial on how to do this here?

I have created a "Repair Disc" on a DVD but I don't think this is the same thing..

Click to expand...

Backup images saved to another disk drive are useful for most computer users.

However there are times in which backup images fail to be restored or backup images are also unavailable.

Unless backup images are saved to the cloud the backup images may no longer be available when there is fire, flood, and other acts of mother nature.

So saving images to the cloud or backing up files to the cloud may also be useful.



Microsoft used to have automatic regback which was sometimes useful when troubleshooting failure to boot.

This may be an additional safety option when there is failure to boot.

Hi All, I have also created a USB recovery drive based upon the instructions below . I have 4 USB drives on my computer (Don't ask) 3 x 32gb and one 128 gb

hsehestedt said:

Okay, this is really strange. How is it that I never knew about WBADMIN? It's been in Windows for years, yet I have never heard of it.

I must be slipping.

Click to expand...

It's been deprecated?

Still be used Windows server?

hsehestedt said:

Okay, this is really strange. How is it that I never knew about WBADMIN? It's been in Windows for years, yet I have never heard of it.

I must be slipping.

Click to expand...

It seems to be used a lot by people running server. The commands are somewhat reduced in consumer version.

restore commands are a bit confusing at first. I might still have have some screenshots I posted quite a while ago to give the gist of the thing.

@PvtJohnTowle






Get AOMEI Backupper, install it on your Windows drive. Make "it's" bootable rescue CD, then Use AOMEI to make a "System" backup. A "system" backup is a full backup of Windows and the 1 or two teeny partitions, that are required to boot Windows.

AOMEI is the simplest of the backup softwares, and has a great tutorial page.
In the time you've already spent in this thread... you could be an expert at AOMEI. Less time actually.


AOMEI User Guide - PDF...

AOMEI User Guide - Online...



The top three pics, show you how to make a "System" backup...

The top three pics, here, tell you how to make the bootable rescue media...



Then wipe the dust off your hands, with a smile on your face, because... you're all done.



You should read post #3 and this post... skip all the others.





As the music shifts to a minor key....





Microsoft has been trying to come up with a decent backup system for 20 years... they haven't succeeded... yet.

PvtJohnTowle, I know you said "freeware" but personally I have never found a free backup program that I trusted enough and that had enough features (e.g., the ability to also clone a drive). I've been using Acronis TrueImage (now renamed as Acronis Cyber Protect Home Office) for more than 10 years, and it has been 100% perfect for me. Formerly, Acronis sold lifetime licenses which you could use for as long as you felt comfortable not having the latest updates after the first year. Now (like most of the rest of the world) they've switched to a subscription-only model. It's not clear from their promotional info what happens to the software if you stop paying the subscription after the first year.

I use a Crucial 1 TB P3 (PCIe Gen3) M.2 SSD ($50) in a Sabrent 10 Gbps external enclosure ($30) as my backup device. I do an automatic full backup every night at 2 AM, and keep the last four copies on the external drive. (From a system recovery point of view, incremental backups aren't worth the trouble, since a full backup is so FAST.) I have Acronis set to verify the latest backup (compare the image to the original) on a weekly basis. A laptop with about 77 GB of actual content takes about 7 minutes to back up, and the backup images are about 55 GB each. The backup images can also be mounted by Acronis to allow recovery of individual files -- another feature that I care about and is often not present in free backup solutions.

I don't currently use cloud backups for my computer(s) at all, just local hardware, but eventually I'll give in and set up something cloud-based for its "offsite" value. For recovery from bad situations, I have both an Acronis Rescue USB stick and a Windows Recovery USB stick. Similar but different, since the Acronis Rescue is designed to directly use the backup images on the external drive, while the Windows Recovery is aimed more at recovering Windows. There is also an "Acronis Universal Recovery" which is designed to restore the backup image to *dissimilar* hardware, but to create and use it you have to know what the target hardware is, and have drivers for it to include into the recovery drive.

The only other backup software that I've consistently heard good things about is Macrium Reflect, mentioned several times above.