Solved New Laptop - Steps before I start using

Hello Experts,
I got my new laptop HP envy, Spent hours to update & install my office and visio.
I hate factory reset, please can you suggest me best ways to create a mirror image so I can have this to
1. Restore with my office and software back along with files
2. Probably incremental copy of only diff files in future

And other things I need to do before I start using it. Your help is appreciated.

protocoder said:

Hello Experts,
I got my new laptop HP envy, Spent hours to update & install my office and visio.
I hate factory reset, please can you suggest me best ways to create a mirror image so I can have this to
1. Restore with my office and software back along with files
2. Probably incremental copy of only diff files in future

And other things I need to do before I start using it. Your help is appreciated.

Click to expand...

Macrium is probably the best, AOMEI is almost as good, and it's free.





Backup software makes an exact copy (about 1/2 the size) of Windows and everything you've installed on it.
You can save the backup anywhere you want.... external drive, another internal drive, big USB stick... etc.
Both programs allow you to make bootable rescue media, which will allow you to access your backups, even if Windows won't boot.

Backup software, unlike System Restore, completely "overwrites" your Windows install with the backup copy.
So... restoring from a backup can erase infections, fix totally broken Windows, etc.

Thank you @Ghot Much appreciated. Will a free version do or should I have to buy.

protocoder said:

Thank you @Ghot Much appreciated. Will a free version do or should I have to buy.

Click to expand...

That's up to you.
I ran the no longer available free version of Macrium Reflect for about 6 months... then just bought the program (one time, lifetime price). IMO, the Macrium annual "deal" is a rip off.

More people use Macrium, than AOMEI. So if you ever have questions, you'll get answers, faster with Macrium.
AOMEI has a better set of tutorials (linked in the post above).
Macrium has a great User Guide, but it's so big, a person can easily get lost in it.

I put the best of everything I could find in the GUIDES link in post #2.

Thank you @Ghot . Great advise, I cannot afford anything subscription based. I will take your advice and buy a lifetime one, hopefully some black friday deals

protocoder said:

Thank you @Ghot . Great advise, I cannot afford anything subscription based. I will take your advice and buy a lifetime one, hopefully some black friday deals

Click to expand...

It seems that this year, Macrium is only offering the Black Friday deal on the annual subscription.
They used to have deals on the one-time price, a few times a year, but since they came out with their subscription prices (just this year), I haven't seen any deals on the one-time price, :/


There's also Hasleo, a relatively new backup software. The discussion of that, is here...



I really haven't played around with Hasleo.



One thing I can tell you... it stay away from Acronis True Image backup software.
It used to be great, but now it's so bloated, it's practically useless.




Whichever software you choose... make sure you make the bootable USB rescue media.
Cause, sooner or later... Windows won't boot, or you'll get ransomware, and the only way to get to your backups so you can restore... is to boot from the Rescue media.

TIPS for backup software...

1. Keep the used space on your Windows drive, as small as possible. This will allow backups and restores to be very fast.
2. Make a fresh, full backup before any major changes, especially any risky changes.
3. Some folks, keep extra copies of their backups, off site. Like in a safety deposit box or at a trusted friends house.
4. Never store your backups on the same drive that Windows is on.


I'm paranoid and OCD, and probably weird as well. This is how I do things.
The "Programs" partitions are just copies of programs that I have installed.
I use Karen's Replicator (free), to make Disk 2 an exact copy of Disk 1...







Karen's Replicator is NOT backup software... it's software to "copy" things. It has no bootable Rescue media either.

@Ghot Thanks a ton mate. This will be my choice today first thing.

protocoder said:

@Ghot Thanks a ton mate. This will be my choice today first thing.

Click to expand...

Stolen and altered from a line in the 1939 movie: Gone With the Wind...

"As god is my witness, I'll never reinstall Windows again".

They are the Wise words, worth repeating

To confirm, I need to choose system clone right ? Completely Free Windows Migration and Disk/Partition Cloning Software in 2023

and what you did with Karens's copy of disk is Disk clone in above link and partition is a subset right ?

I get confused here, So I need to have 1. Bootable disk and 2. System Clone copy in external hard drive right ? (Preferably multiple copies in separate drives ?)

Regards

Either this backup suite which does more than the cloning part in your link


or the free version of macrium still available @Bree has the link.

or aomei backupper which I can include on my boot media when I get around to it.

protocoder said:

They are the Wise words, worth repeating

To confirm, I need to choose system clone right ? Completely Free Windows Migration and Disk/Partition Cloning Software

Click to expand...

No, what you want to do to maintain your current setup is to make an image, not a clone of the disk. The first image is a Full backup, then you can make incremental images weekly or daily, or differential images. The paid version permits using both incremental and differential backups, while the free version (which is still available on the web) permits differential. The difference is explained here. but basically, a differential backup images the changes since the last full backup up and the incremental backup makes an image of the changes of the disk since the last full, incremental or differential backup.

protocoder said:

They are the Wise words, worth repeating

To confirm, I need to choose system clone right ? Completely Free Windows Migration and Disk/Partition Cloning Software in 2023

and what you did with Karens's copy of disk is Disk clone in above link and partition is a subset right ?

I get confused here, So I need to have 1. Bootable disk and 2. System Clone copy in external hard drive right ? (Preferably multiple copies in separate drives ?)

Regards

Click to expand...

No... you want the Backup Suite from Hasleo...



Cloning is how you copy one drive to another.
Backing up, is how you "keep a copy" of your Windows install.

They are similar, but not the same. All backup software will allow you to clone, but the reverse isn't true.
For now... just ignore "cloning". With good backup software, cloning really isn't needed anymore.

Karen's Replicator is just a small tool that allows you to create "jobs".
For example... here is my job settings for copying my F:\ partition to my J:\ partition...




For now... just ignore Karen's Replicator.
Find yourself some backup software that you're happy with, and do two things with it...

1. Make a full backup of your Windows install.
2. Make the bootable Rescue Media.


Once you have a full backup and the Rescue Media... then you can experiment all you want.



My C:\ drive (Windows) has about 35GB on it. My backups at default settings are about 18GB.
It takes me just under 2 minutes to make a backup, and about 1:30 minutes to restore from a backup.

@Ghot
Thank you very much. this should help. The options confused me.

protocoder said:

@Ghot
Thank you very much. this should help. The options confused me.

Click to expand...

Yeah, that was my fault... TMI (too much information).

Until you decide on the third party backup software some other protective steps are:





Download and install: HP UEFI hardware diagnostics:

Definitely not you @Ghot the website has so many options down to advanced.

zbook said:

Until you decide on the third party backup software some other protective steps are:

Enable Automatic Backup of System Registry when Restart in Windows 11 Tutorial

This tutorial will show you how to enable automatic backup of the system registry to the RegBack folder when the computer restarts in Windows 10 and Windows 11. Starting with Windows 10, version 1803, Windows no longer automatically backs up the system registry to the RegBack folder when the...

www.elevenforum.com

Create System Restore Point in Windows 11 Tutorial

This tutorial will show you how to manually create a restore point in Windows 11. Turning on system protection for a drive allows System Restore to include the drive when restore points are created so you can undo undesired system changes by reverting to a previous point in time. System...

www.elevenforum.com

Download and install: HP UEFI hardware diagnostics:

https://ftp.hp.com/pub/softpaq/sp149501-150000/sp149563.exe

HP PC Hardware Diagnostics | HP® Support

Learn how to isolate and identity hardware issues on your computer by running HP PC Hardware Diagnostics. Download HP PC Hardware Diagnostics today!

support.hp.com

Click to expand...

Thank you very much @zbook This is so useful, I called the technical help requesting for the checklist, none provided. I will do the above steps.

starchase said:

No, what you want to do to maintain your current setup is to make an image, not a clone of the disk. The first image is a Full backup, then you can make incremental images weekly or daily, or differential images. The paid version permits using both incremental and differential backups, while the free version (which is still available on the web) permits differential. The difference is explained here. but basically, a differential backup images the changes since the last full backup up and the incremental backup makes an image of the changes of the disk since the last full, incremental or differential backup.

Click to expand...

Thank you @starchase

SIW2 said:

or the free version of macrium still available @Bree has the link.

Click to expand...

See the bottom of post #1 here: Latest Macrium Reflect updates