How To Tell If A Backup Is Successful

Hello All,
I had my computers hard drive converted to a solid state drive. I also have an external solid state drive for backup.
But I think the external drive is not backing up properly. I just did a backup on March 1 using the windows backup tool & restore
via the control panel and when I checked the files on the external drive, the dates only show files backup on Jan. and feb.
I am using windows 11 version 23H2.

rejlocal22 said:

Hello All,
I had my computers hard drive converted to a solid state drive. I also have an external solid state drive for backup.
But I think the external drive is not backing up properly. I just did a backup on March 1 using the windows backup tool & restore
via the control panel and when I checked the files on the external drive, the dates only show files backup on Jan. and feb.
I am using windows 11 version 23H2.

Click to expand...

I'm not sure how that "Windows backup tool" is meant to work -- does it only backup windows or is it supposed to backup the whole kybosh.

I'd stick to "proper backup" software -- that Windows backup thingey from Ms is too new and probably not robustely enough tested.

The old (now discontinued) FREE Macrium still works perfectly for imaging disks etc even latest W11 builds. You can still find it on the web, Eventually it probably will stop working but for basic system / disk images it's fine and probably will be OK for a long time yet. Not also you can mount the image copy and browse data on it too.

It's available here : in case it's gone from the Macrium site.


Cheers
jimbo

jimbo45 said:

I'm not sure how that "Windows backup tool" is meant to work -- does it only backup windows or is it supposed to backup the whole kybosh.

I'd stick to "proper backup" software -- that Windows backup thingey from Ms is too new and probably not robustely enough tested.

The old (now discontinued) FREE Macrium still works perfectly for imaging disks etc even latest W11 builds. You can still find it on the web, Eventually it probably will stop working but for basic system / disk images it's fine and probably will be OK for a long time yet. Not also you can mount the image copy and browse data on it too.

It's available here : in case it's gone from the Macrium site.

Download Macrium Reflect FREE Edition - MajorGeeks

With Macrium Reflect Free Edition you'll be able to easily make an accurate and reliable image of your HDD or individual partitions. Using this image you can restore the entire disk, partition or...

www.majorgeeks.com

Cheers
jimbo

Click to expand...

I think OP is referring to the deprecated Backup and Restore (Windows 7) option.

Yes, I am using the old windows 7 backup and restore. Maybe I should use the cloud for backup. It sounds simple to use.
I am at the point in my life where I do not want to learn new tricks. I am 84 years old. I just need a tool that will back up my files.
So if it is difficult to find out if my last backup was successful, then I might be better off using the cloud.

You can use wbadmin command-line, it verifies the backup and creates log file.

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

Ultimately, the only way to tell if a backup is successful is to restore it.
This is easier with tools like Macrium Reflect as you can restore image to a virtual hard drive, and create a native dual boot entry.

This does not affect current installation other than 1 new vhdx file and a new boot entry (both which can easily be removed).

Most modern imaging tools have a verify image option as well.

I do not have a hard drive. I have a solid state drive on my computer and also have an external solid state drive.
Also I have seen messages that say my external drive will not accept image files.
I do not speak computer talk as well as others, so its not easy for me to understand what you are saying.
I just checked into how to use One Drive and discovered that I did not know it was backing up my files or did not remember
that I allowed it. So I wonder if that creates a conflict with Windows 7 backup & restore.
However before I decide to rely on One Drive as my backup, I will format my external drive and then after, I will perform another backup
using windows 7 backup & restore and see what happens.

Well this time the backup worked. My libraries and documents were all there. So now I have two separate
backups, windows 7 backup tool and One Drive that I can rely on. I will keep an eye on windows backup tool
to see if the date of the backup is missing.

The built in backup and restore is deprecated and rubbish. Use an effective reliable solution like Macrium Reflect which verifies backups plus you can boot the image file into a virtual machine (viBoot) to check it works and is bootable.

I see that backup tool is a popular one. But before I download it, what's your opinion on Microsoft's One Drive?

100% way -- just restore !!! Anything else -- ???? --Ideally to alternate device so if all else fails you haven't got an unbootable system. No reason why backups and restores can't be imaged to external devices.

Cheers
jimbo

rejlocal22 said:

But before I download it, what's your opinion on Microsoft's One Drive

Click to expand...

One Drive can only backup your documents. It does not backup your computer OS, Apps and settings. If you want to totally restore your entire computer then you need Macrium Reflect (or other backup software) to do that. Restoring from a backup image is quick and easy after you have learned how to do it, and there are people on this forum who can help you learn.

rejlocal22 said:

I see that backup tool is a popular one. But before I download it, what's your opinion on Microsoft's One Drive?

Click to expand...

One Drive might be useful for backing up some user files but there is a size limit unless you want to pay for extra storage and I would not put sensitive data on it.

Thanks fellows,
I am convinced, but my external solid drive will not accept image files. So an image file must be just pictures and video's, is that correct? If so, then my backup drive will need to be replaced in order to use Macrium Reflect. Is this also correct? I will see if I still have the documentation that came with the solid state drive to see If I can found out why my computer tells me that my external drive cannot backup
Image files. The external drive is about 2 inches square and is called "Easy Store" with the initials "WD" stamped on the bottom right corner.
If I find the documentation, I will post the information needed for you.

rejlocal22 said:

Thanks fellows,
I am convinced, but my external solid drive will not accept image files. So an image file must be just pictures and video's, is that correct? If so, then my backup drive will need to be replaced in order to use Macrium Reflect. Is this also correct? I will see if I still have the documentation that came with the solid state drive to see If I can found out why my computer tells me that my external drive cannot backup
Image files. The external drive is about 2 inches square and is called "Easy Store" with the initials "WD" stamped on the bottom right corner.
If I find the documentation, I will post the information needed for you.

Click to expand...

No a backup 'image file' has nothing to do with media files. It's a file containing a compressed copy of all the partitions and the files contained therein you have chosen to backup. You should be able to copy any file to your external drive.

@rejlocal22

Here are the EASY guides, etc., to the most common 3rd party backup softwares...




Don't use Windows backup. It has been deprecated by Microsoft.
Even they recommend using 3rd party backup software.

rejlocal22 said:

I see that backup tool is a popular one. But before I download it, what's your opinion on Microsoft's One Drive?

Click to expand...

Hi,
Limited free storage and useless for most seeing it's 100's of miles away and dependent on internet to access.

Having a local backup drive is the best for many reasons
Best reason is there are no MS terms of use lol
As far as reflect goes winpe recovery media is really all you need to create or restore a system images and of course somewhere to store the images onto.

By the way ssd is not good for storing system images all you need a an inexpensive hard drive.

I'll remember about obtaining a hard drive but I'll wait to see if anything happens. Now I performed some search's on why my computer tells me
that my external drive will not back up image files. It's because my external drive was formated to ex-fat and needs to be formated to NTFS. So I made the change. Then I downloaded Aomie Backupper and was able to perform a full backup.
I also did look into Macrium Reflects website and they no longer provide support for their free version, so I went with Aomie Backupper.

rejlocal22 said:

I'll remember about obtaining a hard drive but I'll wait to see if anything happens. Now I performed some search's on why my computer tells me
that my external drive will not back up image files. It's because my external drive was formated to ex-fat and needs to be formated to NTFS. So I made the change. Then I downloaded Aomie Backupper and was able to perform a full backup.
I also did look into Macrium Reflects website and they no longer provide support for their free version, so I went with Aomie Backupper.

Click to expand...

Hi,
Yeah post #16 showed comparisons
Reflect like I said all you need is the winpe recovery media flash drive
Once that is created the app isn't needed anymore just a hard drive and create and name a folder to place the system image into.

I'm not sure if your external drive is working or not but if using the Windows 7 imaging program, it calls the image "Windowsimagebackup" and if you then do another one, it overwrites the previous one as it has the same name - unless you rename the first one. Eg WindowsimagebackupJan".

If it's saying it won't do an image then it could be faulty (or not enough space?).

For an external cloud back up - and I've been going on about this a bit - but I've just started using idrive and happy with it. It's not free, but it makes a copy of all your files, and updates daily (or to whatever schedule you set) so you never lose anything. And can be downloaded onto a new computer if needed. I don't even notice it's there.

It's good to have an image as well on an external drive.