Solved Set up external drive for restoring

Hi,

I have never had an external drive. Now I intend to buy one to use it for backup and system restore, both with a windows made image and with an image made with Hasleo. In case of problems I would try first the Windows recovery tool and image, and the Hasleo ones only if the Windows ones fail.

The boot mode in my laptop is UEFI, secure boot. Boot Device \Device\HarddiskVolume1

I plan to format the external drive in NTFS, to make 5 folders for the Windows recovery drive, the Hasleo recovery drive, Windows made image, Hasleo made image and bzavk up of my files.

Is this a good idea or Hasleo is not needed because it is unlikely that the Windows tools fail and not the Hasleo ones?

Good idea to make the folders or in case of need better without folders?

Any other recommendation?

I thank you for your expertise.

Hello, Asus S5606

Personally I do not use Haselo although I've read many reports that it is very reliable software. I use other backup software in addition to what comes with Windows. If you can afford the luxury of using multiple drives I would suggest designating one drive for each type of backup you use. This will help to avoid potential conflicts such as cross-channelling or loops. I have roughly about a 50/50 success rate with Windows Recovery although admittedly it has been a while since I've needed to use it.

Another reason I recommend designating individual drives for each type of backup is because should the drive physically fail you could risk losing all of your backups. With multiple drives if one type of backup fails you have a different physical drive to select. At least this is how it works for me. Windows recovery seems to over ride the other back up options unless I manually select to use them instead. I can't presume to speak for the software I don't use. I also make a drive image of my entire drive that runs the OS to tuck away in a nice dry, dark, cool corner where I can remember it should all my backups fail. In other words I keep a clone of my OS in cold storage. This way, even if all backups fail, I can pop in the clone, update it, and use Windows Manager to access the data on the "failed" drive as long as it still runs but won't boot the OS due to damaged partitions or whatever is hampering the operating system. It is easy to do this by removing the compromised drive, connecting the clone, popping the compromised drive in an external enclosure, and booting up the PC. After that accessing your personal data via Windows Disk Management is generally very easy.

These are simple suggestions and I hope this helps.

I recommend using a dedicated backup program like Hasleo, AOMEI, Macrium, etc, over the built-in Windows backup app. I have been using Macrium for several years.

As far as an external drive, I would use an SSD type of external drive with at least twice the size of the drive on your PC. It can be formatted with NTFS or exFAT. As far as folders, you can have one or more for disk images and folders for whatever else you want on the external drive. If using Hasleo, make sure you make an emergency usb boot disk if you must do a restore.

Asus S5606 said:

Is this a good idea or Hasleo is not needed because it is unlikely that the Windows tools fail and not the Hasleo ones?

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Welcome to the forum

Hasleo is great, in my opinion of course.


Just create a folder called Hasleo. Direct the default backup location for Hasleo to the folder you created. (In tutorial) . Within that folder, when Hasleo creates a backup it will create a folder with the same backup name as you see in Hasleo interface.

As for the drive, I just format to NTFS and go.

Backup and Restore (Windows 7) Will only create one backup per drive. I have read that there is a way to create more than one into separate folders but I also read that it’s a great deal of mucking about.

However, I do have one image using Backup and Restore (Windows 7) and for the rest I use Hasleo. It’s good to have more than one option.

The "Backup and Restore” feature (originally from Windows 7) is deprecated and Microsoft no longer actively supports it, recommending third-party backup solutions instead, especially for disk imaging.
But you can still use it for the time being and you can still restore the image.

Asus S5606 said:

the Hasleo recovery drive

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This must be a usb flash drive created from within Haselo. To recover an image, you boot from this drive. Same goes for a windows recovery drive.

You can also create a bootable dvd , but no one I know does that any more because no one I know burns to dvds any more. Most people don't even have a dvd drive.

Asus S5606 said:

I would try first the Windows recovery tool and image

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Don't!

Creating an image in Backup and Restore (Windows 7) has been a deprecated feature since September 2017. Microsoft recommend you use something (anything) else.

Microsoft said:

Feature	Details and mitigation	Deprecation announced
System Image Backup (SIB) Solution	This feature is also known as the Backup and Restore (Windows 7) legacy control panel. For full-disk backup solutions, look for a third-party product from another software publisher. You can also use OneDrive to sync data files with Microsoft 365.	1709

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Asus S5606 said:

Good idea to make the folders or in case of need better without folders?

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If you really must use Backup & Restore, then the only control over where it saves its image is which disk to use. It is hard coded to create its own folder called WindowsImageBackup. Any attempt to move or rename this folder will result in the restore failing to find the image.

Bree said:

If you really must use Backup & Restore, then the only control over where it saves its image is which disk to use. It is hard coded to create its own folder called WindowsImageBackup. Any attempt to move or rename this folder will result in the restore failing to find the image.

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Yes. And it still works! I just had to test it to see if it does. This is why I suggested to use a designated drive for this type of backup. The drive should be used for Windows Backup and only Windows Backup. You can't modify it, move it into a different folder, change the drive letter, or mess with it. You can, however, make multiple Windows Image Backups to the same drive to stay current. That's how it works. When you run out of room on the drive Windows will prompt you to delete one of the older images. Of course, it should never be your only backup option. Nobody can wisely trust Windows that much. Admittedly there was a I time when I foolishly thought that I could.

Scannerman said:

The drive should be used for Windows Backup and only Windows Backup. You can't modify it, move it into a different folder, change the drive letter, or mess with it..... Of course, it should never be your only backup option. Nobody can wisely trust Windows that much. Admittedly there was a I time when I foolishly thought that I could.

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I know Backup & Restore, and all its faults, intimately. I used to use it regularly and frequently. Until, that is, MS broke it for 32-bit Windows 10 in version 1803. MS didn't fix it, or even acknowledge the issue. That's what 'deprecated' means - no further support or development!

It didn't work again until the 1809 feature update. By that time I had switched to Macrium Reflect Free.

Bree said:

Attempting to restore any system image by booting to Advance Startup from the installed Windows or from an 1803 (x86) install USB and using 'Troubleshooting > System Image Recovery' also fails with the same RPC server error. The image is known to be good, as it can be restored when booting from an x86 recovery drive or install USB from 1709 (and all previous versions).

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Bree said:

I know Backup & Restore, and all its faults, intimately. I used to use it regularly and frequently. Until, that is, MS broke it for 32-bit Windows 10 in version 1803. MS didn't fix it, or even acknowledge the issue. That's what 'deprecated' means - no further support or development! It didn't work again until the 1809 feature update. By that time I had switched to Macrium Reflect Free.

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I don't doubt it in the least. I just realized that I gave a neighbourhood lad a Win 10 32 bit upgrade on a Dell desktop. I sure hope he does okay with that. It was his first very own desk top. Kind of reminds me of what I was recently forced to deal with: Windows 11 Ready (according to Windows) X299 SAGE no fix for TBMT 3.0 just like the non-compliant earlier generation X99 platform. MS can't blame Intel for this because TBMT still works on other Intel platforms using Win 11. They just simply skipped over a platform that they declared was Windows 11 ready.

Many thanks, I note that the external drive should be exclusively for the image back up, without making folders
1- Would the windows backup made now ve reliable for a Windows 11 home ver 24H2 Build 26100 2894?
2- could I connect an external SSD drive with an USB C connector plug it into an Display port 4 port?, it would work both for the data transfers both ways and the supply of power to the external drive?

Asus S5606 said:

Many thanks, I note that the external drive should be exclusively for the image back up, without making folders
1- Would the windows backup made now ve reliable for a Windows 11 home ver 24H2 Build 26100 2894?
2- could I connect an external SSD drive with an USB C connector plug it into an Display port 4 port?, it would work both for the data transfers both ways and the supply of power to the external drive?

Click to expand...

1- Ideally, yes. But as the adage goes, don't put all your eggs in on basket. Making a Windows Backup won't stop you from making a backup via third party software. I recommend both because stuff happens. I also recommend cloning your drive because stuff happens. I also recommend a File History because...
2- If your computer can "see" the drive where it is plugged in it will work through that port. If you can't access that drive via that port find one that lets you access the drive.

Then I need 4 external drives as I cannot put images made by a given program with anything else?

Asus S5606 said:

Then I need 4 external drives as I cannot put images made by a given program with anything else?

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Most all other imaging software can have their own folders on a drive. It’s only Backup and Restore (Windows 7) that is an issue. But you could have a Backup and Restore (Windows 7) image and still have folders with images from other programs on that drive, like Hasleo and Macrium.
You just can’t have two Backup and Restore (Windows 7) images on the same drive; well you can but it’s a great deal of mucking about.

You just need to point a program like Hasleo to the default place you want it to save the image (can be changed per backup), either on the root of a drive, or like me, to it’s own folder. Hasleo will then save images to your designated spot, and create a new folder with the name of your backup. It does this for each backup

The first few steps under this anchor link: Hasleo Backup First run

I have a drive with a Backup and Restore (Windows 7) image, and then the default Hasleo folder I created:

• Z: Drive
  • Backup and Restore (Windows 7) folder
  • Hasleo (My created folder)
    • Haselo backup one (Hasleo created folder)
    • Hasleo backup two (Hasleo created folder)
    • Hasleo backup three (Hasleo created folder)

I name my backups as per the build, so I have:

• Z: Drive
  • Backup and Restore (Windows 7) folder
  • Hasleo (My created folder)
    • Windows 23H2 Build … (Hasleo created folder with image)
    • Windows 23H2 Build … (Hasleo created folder with image)
    • Windows 23H2 Build … (Hasleo created folder with image)

I use a "MAIWO 40Gbps M.2 NVMe SSD Enclosure USB4 Type-C to 2280 NVMe Adapter Removable Magnetic Fan Support Thunderbolt3/4 USB4/3.0/2.0 Tool Free 8TB Capacity Aluminum Alloy Case" w/ a Samsung 990 Pro NVME SSD for my Marcum 8.0 & Reflect X applications BUs
The SSD enclosure may be overkill, but it sure looks good :)
I save both BUs to different folders on the NVMe drive w/o any problems

antspants said:

You just can’t have two Backup and Restore (Windows 7) images on the same drive; well you can but it’s a great deal of mucking about.

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Not really. Windows makes a separate image each time you update your back up. When you need to restore your image it will give you a selection of all the backups you made to choose from . Of course they all use the same root directory and that's why you can't be mucking about with the folders or which drive it should be in after you make the image. This Haselo thing has me curious though. I use Kaspersky for backups and MiniTool Partition Wizard Pro Ultimate for system images. These are not free but they work well. Still, I'm a sucker for trying out new things. I might just give it a whirl.




Had a cheese burger today while I was in the city. It looked a bit like this except they used real cheddar and bacon w range fed Alberta Beef. It was probably the best burger I've eaten in over a decade. So if I can have this I think I can Hasleo Cheeseburger too! Hopefully the new recipe is better than the 2023 version.


.

Scannerman said:

Windows makes a separate image each time you update your back up

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Yes, you’re correct, they’re incremental. But in my experience they dont always get generated. Something to do with Restore Points in Windows, the last time I checked and fixed it.
My comments are related to two folders. Unlike Hasleo & Macrium, Backup and Restore (Windows 7) will only allow those incremental images and not individual independent images on the same folder.