Need an OS Backup Software

[login123]

I wondered if anyone here has experience with a system backup app for win 7 & win 8 systems with UEFI + GPT + secure boot? 

Doesn't matter if the software is free or paid, just that it works. 

 

I have researched this myself, but would sure appreciate any recommendations from you guys, knowing those would be unbiased.

 

For win xp I can still use Acronis, but my old version doesn't work on the win 7 desktop with UEFI + GPT.

Also, the latest versions of Acronis are a bit iffy if the commentators are right, so don't want to try them.

 

The built in windows imager on the win 7 box will not work.  It will make the recovery CD but that will not boot. HP support said the win 7 recovery system is disabled or replaced by the HP factory restore system, which only restores to factory original condition. 

 

It looks like the win 8 laptop is going to be more difficult because it has UEFI + GPT + secure boot

Have not tried anything on the win 8 laptop yet, but am guessing HP set it up the same as the win 7 box.  

 

The ideal software would back up all those new kinds of partitions, like the EFI and the SRP and the GPT formatting, in the state they are in at the time, just like the older backup softwares did.  In other words, just an image of the disk "as is". 

 

The perfect software would do this from a boot disk without needing installation. 

 

On other forums I have read good reports about Image for Windows and Macrium Reflect Pro. 

 

Thanks very much for any comments. 

[Derek891]

Hello login123 - In reference to the new HP laptop with Windows 8, HP allows you to make one recovery USB stick in order to do a clean reinstall of Windows 8. You will need a 32GB USB stick in order to do this. Go to the Apps Screen, then select HP Recovery Media Creation. Be aware that you can only do this once, after creating the stick that you are locked out of ever using this app again. Once it is created, it will give you three options for recovery from USB: System Recovery (C:/ drive only), Factory Reset (reformat the entire disk and install all partitions), and Mininized Image Recovery (no trial software or games, just Windows, the Cyberlink software, and several HP utilities). See here for more info: http://h10010.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?docname=c03489643&lc=en&cc=us&dlc=en

 

In reference to imaging software, I have installed and used the free version of Macrium Reflect with success on my HP laptop with Windows 8 64 bit. By success I mean I have already done one recovery without problems. You will need two USB sticks in order to create a complete recovery set, the first to create the bootable WinPE rescue application. This allows you to do two things: fix boot problems by re-installing the EFI partition, and to re-install any or all partitions that you created with the Macrium imaging software. This USB stick only has to be 1GB or more, since the rescue application is about 370MB or so. 

 

The second USB stick is used to store the partition images you created using Macrium imaging. The size of this stick will depend on the combined size of the partitions you are imaging. I have found that Macrium compresses the image by nearly 50%, so take this into account when planning which partitions to save. In my case, I image four out of the five partitions on my drive, omitting the Recovery partition (28GB) at the end. I end up using about 19-20GB out of the 29.7 formatted capacity of a 32GB USB stick. If I included the Recovery partition, then I would need to step up to a 64GB stick to image the entire drive.

 

So in total, I have three recovery options: using the factory installed recovery partition on my hard drive, using the HP Recovery media on the USB stick, or using the two USB sticks I created with Macrium to restore my system to a recent state. This is the fastest and easiest of the three. If I wanted a fourth option, I could create a new partition on my hard drive and use Macrium to store images there. I hope this helps you out. - Derek      

[Alan_B]

Hello login123 - In reference to the new HP laptop with Windows 8, HP allows you to make one recovery USB stick in order to do a clean reinstall of Windows 8. You will need a 32GB USB stick in order to do this. Go to the Apps Screen, then select HP Recovery Media Creation. Be aware that you can only do this once, after creating the stick that you are locked out of ever using this app again.  

I hate HP for their rubbish bloatware that the supply with their Printers.

 

It seems to me that the Recovery stick is non-ideal.

Ideally you should be able to recover the system back to original status,

and if successful that status will allow the creation of another one-off recovery stick.

If the recovered system knows that the one-off recovery stick was already created before recovery,

how much more does it remember from its previous user experience ?

[login123]

 Alan, I agree with you about the HP junk, for more reasons than I can list.  

 

Thanks Derek, that is a good little tutorial.  For the "second USB stick" required by Macrium I could use an external USB HDD (a spinner, 500 gb), right?   

 

As to the other questions,

1.  Anyone know of a backup software that will run from a live CD, no install?

2.  Anyone have experience with Image For Windows, I hear its complicated but good.

 

Any other good backup apps?  . . . I'm wide open here, never tried anything except that old Acronis which worked well in its time. 

I have the restore disks for the win 7 box, if all else goes wrong. 

[Alan_B]

1.  Anyone know of a backup software that will run from a live CD, no install?

Yes, I do.

[Derek891]

Yes, I do.

 

Out with it Alan! The suspense is killing me!

[Alan_B]

Sorry, but you were begging to be teased

 

Macrium Reflect can create a WinPE bootable ISO/CD/FLash that images just as well as the normal installed version.

 

Years ago a Windows Update struck without warning (protection that worked on XP did not work on Win 7).

Thereafter Windows would boot and allow me to login - and 20 seconds later totally freeze all my controls.

All I could do was force a Power Off by holding down the Power switch for 10 seconds.

Every start-up end the same.

 

I plugged in the WinPE bootable rescue and before restoring the last "Successful Partition Image Backup", I created a new image backup.

Then I restored the "Successful Partition Image Backup" and restarted into a functional Windows System.

 

Then with Windows smoothly running I used Macrium to mount the latest backup of disaster as P:\

and then used 64 bit Portable BestSync to compare the differences between C:\ and P:\

That allowed me to sync and import my latest documents and other adjustments to Desktop links that occurred between the "Successful Partition Image Backup" and the Windows Update.

 

Altogether it took less than 20 minutes to restore all my work from the previous day.
 

Regards,

Alan

 

P.S.

Sorry to keep you waiting, I don't type as fast as I think.

[login123]

Thats good news, Alan.  Especially that you used it and it worked.  Is that the Pro version? 

[Alan_B]

Yes, I use a PRO version,

but I believe The FREE version will also create a WinPE Bootable.

 

I think the Pro version advantages including Differential and Incremental backup under Live Windows.

BUT I was unable to use DIFF or INC modes with the PRO version created WinPE, All I got was a FULL backup.

so I doubt that the FREE WinPE is in any way inferior for creating backups, though it might be better able to deploy an image to new hardware.

 

Regards

Alan

[Derek891]

@login123 - I recant what I stated about needing two USB sticks with Macrium; in your case, you can use your external drive to store your images. And a CD or DVD can be used to create the bootable WinPE rescue application. I only used a USB stick because it was all I had available at the time. 

 

@Alan_B - I tend to believe the policy of one USB backup per machine isn't altogether HP's doing; it think Microsoft has imposed this on HP as well as other manufacturers in order to prevent bootleg copies of Windows from being created. And with the advent of Secure Boot in BIOS and TPM modules installed on the motherboard, I imagine my USB stick would be useless on any other machine, because of the fact I have never had to provide an activation key during or after installation. One machine, one copy of Windows sold, no more, no less, and absolutely no exceptions.   

[login123]

Yep, true about the 1 backup USB stick I think. 

However the backup DVDs you used to make could be copied.  I did it, not for stealing, but because the originals might get messed up. 

 

Not sure about the USB backup. 

 

BUT . . . for all the minor hackers who might view this, it doesn't do any good to make a ton of copies, they will only work on the machine they were made for. 

 

Soooo, errr, what about the backup software that runs from a live DVD, you don't even have to turn the main OS on?  Is there such a thing? 

[DennisD]

Another useful tool to have at hand with regard to restoring Macrium Images is Macrium "diskrestore.exe".

 

Besides being an alternative way to restore a Macrium Image, it has advantages over the normal Macrium Restore process as outlined in this previous post (saves me typing it all out) ...

 

http://forum.piriform.com/index.php?showtopic=36242&do=findComment&comment=217475

 

I no longer have the screenshot which went missing from that post but there's more info here ...

 

http://kb.macrium.com/KnowledgebaseArticle50004.aspx

[login123]

Thanks a million Dennis. 

[Tasgandy]

Last week I used Macrium Reflect "Free" version with 2 identical 18 month old HP laptops running Windows 7.0 64bit, (husband and wife same kit) I used a 1.0TB USB powered HD, shared by both units, partitioned for each laptop backup, and created separate boot-able WinPE ISO/CD rescue disks. Marcium Reflect Ver. 5.2.6444 (23 December 2013).

 

As these two friends of mine live some 1.5 hours from me and they travel a lot I actually tested both units including a "restore" 

[login123]

Thanks, Tas.  Looks like Macrium is the way to go. 

[krit86lr]

I wondered if anyone here has experience with a system backup app for win 7 & win 8 systems with UEFI + GPT + secure boot? 

Doesn't matter if the software is free or paid, just that it works. 

I have found EASEUS ToDo Backup to work great and for $29 it was totally worth it.  Clones, backups, etc...

[login123]

Many thanks krit.  

 

For right now I'm just listening, checking out the websites' descriptions. 

[Tasgandy]

Two nights ago I had occasion to rely on my Macrium Reflect to perform a restore.

 

The ingredients were: Macrium Reflect Free Ver. 5.2 - 32Bit - build 6354 - using MR's WinPE Bootable restore CD. Windows 7 SP1 Home Premium OS which sits with all my apps on a Samsung 128GIG SSD fitted several months ago. I backup drive "C" 56.1GIG weekly to one of 2 internal 2.0TB SATA III HDD The image size used was 30.8GIG (standard MR compression).

 

As this was the first time I have had to do a restore using Ver. 5.2 and WinPE Bootable CD (I have used earlier Versions with great success as documented earlier), I decide to use my Nexus7 to snap some screen shots as the Macrium Reflect progressed so I could then share the results with those of you who may be interested in another successful MR restore...........saved me again.

 

Hope the above results assist those who may be still thinking of using Macrium Reflect, take it from me it is a brilliant product.

 

PS: check out the time to restore image :D

 

 

 

 

 

[login123]

Thanks very much, Tas.  Was that about 7 minutes for the total operation after starting? 

[Tasgandy]

login123 the 7 minutes and 12 seconds was from the "drives to be overwritten" dialogue box as in image No.1.9

 

Total time taken from booting up with the MR rescue CD disk to "restore completed" dialogue box as in image No.1.11 was 26 minutes.

 

Let me know if you require any more information.

[login123]

Thanks again, Tas.  Great pictures. 

[DennisD]

A few days ago I booted my computer up to find a black screen and a flashing command line cursor (which was inactive but flashing).

 

Thank heavens I have the knowledge I gained over the years on this forum and the software to go with it.

 

Booted with a "Minitools Partition Wizard Resue CD" to get the lay of the land, and instead of a system partition and two data partitions, I found two odd sized partitions of unallocated space. A raw drive in other words.

 

What caused it I have no idea as all seemed well when I shut down the night before.

 

Anyways, did a search for lost partitions while I had the Minitools disk in, and it found and restored the original 3 partitions within about 15 seconds. All seemed fine but the computer still booted to the flashing cursor.

 

Rather than spend any more time fixing the booting issue, I decided to restore a Macrium Image of the system partition, which contained the original Master Boot Record which would contain all the relevant partition information needed for the other partitions.

 

Another success story for Macrium.

[Andavari]

I found two odd sized partitions of unallocated space. A raw drive in other words.

 

I know from experience using some software to wipe free space of a hard disk and then cancelling it can destroy stuff like the MBR, etc. Usually in XP using Windows Recovery Console and using fixmbr will remedy the situation as a last resort. Note that I'm not talking about CCleaner causing this!

[login123]

Dennis, still no clue what caused the paartitioning event? 

[DennisD]

I have no idea.

 

If I'd been messing around with partitions or dual booting I could find some possible reason.

 

The nearest I can get is maybe relating the problem to messing about with Linux distros on a flash drive. That day I was updating Peppermint 4 installed onto a flash drive with an included 1gb "persistence" file built in, and three quarters way through the quite big update I got this ...

 

 

No possible way Peppermint should be writing to my hard drive, and there may be no connection at all, but who knows what can happen if a software corrupts. It will forever remain a mystery and I've no worries about that as it was soon fixed.

 

Mind you I'm puzzled as to why I still couldn't boot after restoring the partitions with MiniTools, because after booting again with the rescue CD, Minitools showed that the three partitions were indeed restored.

 

I do have backups of all my drives bootsectors, but Macrium was a safe bet to restore the Master Boot Record with the correct partition information, so that's the way I went.