[SOLVED] Can I create a system image backup and restore from my partitioned hard drive to my SSD?

[dadabun]

Can I create a system image backup and restore from my partitioned hard drive to my SSD?

My SSD is 240GB.

My HDD is 2tb but will make a new partition around 300GB to perform a system image backup from SSD to that partition.

Is this possible and will there by any issues?

I see others use external HDD where I'm confused when they can just use the partition. Am I missing something here?

 

[USAFRet]

There are much better tools than the built in 'system image' thing.

What is this to be used for?
A one time backup, or updated with changes over time?

 

[CountMike]

Can I create a system image backup and restore from my partitioned hard drive to my SSD?

My SSD is 240GB.

My HDD is 2tb but will make a new partition around 300GB to perform a system image backup from SSD to that partition.

Is this possible and will there by any issues?

I see others use external HDD where I'm confused when they can just use the partition. Am I missing something here?

You don't need a new partition for a backup (although you can). Just use backup program like Macrium Reflect free. That would make a single file backup (.mrimg) which you can place anywhere with enough space (about 75% of all used data) from which you can restore everything backed up by it. It can also be mounted as a virtual disk and accessed at any time for changes or partial salvage of data from it.
https://www.macrium.com/reflectfree

 

[dadabun]

There are much better tools than the built in 'system image' thing.

What is this to be used for?
A one time backup, or updated with changes over time?

Hi,

Thanks for your reply. I've had series of blue screen of death on my pc randomly despite all hardware working perfectly fine. I used to reinstall Windows (after System restore fails). I bought around £50 external hdd/ssd to create a system image backup to it in case my pc gets the blue screen of death again (which it will).

Now I'm thinking of returning it as I realised could I just do a system image restore via my partitioned hard drive to my ssd.

After doing research, I couldn't find an answer thus I posted this thread.

 

[USAFRet]

Keep the external.
Use a different tool other than the 'system image' thing.

I use Macrium Reflect for this. Much more control and options.

Why use the external drive? I can be disconnected when not doing an actual backup. When disconnected, it is immune to any virus or other system corruption.

What is your backup situation at home?

What is your backup situation at home? And if you don't do that, why not? Every single day, I read multiple threads here of "How do I get my stuff back?" or "That drive had 5 years of photos of my kids!!" Be it a dead drive, dropped phone, virus, accidental deletion, formatting the wrong...

forums.tomshardware.com

 

[dadabun]

You don't need a new partition for a backup (although you can). Just use backup program like Macrium Reflect free. That would make a single file backup (.mrimg) which you can place anywhere with enough space (about 75% of all used data) from which you can restore everything backed up by it. It can also be mounted as a virtual disk and accessed at any time for changes or partial salvage of data from it.
https://www.macrium.com/reflectfree

Hi,

Thanks for your reply. Just provided my reasons above.

So you are saying I can defo use my new HDD partition for to create a system image backup from my SSD? Or is it better to use my external HDD/SSD?

 

[dadabun]

Keep the external.
Use a different tool other than the 'system image' thing.

I use Macrium Reflect for this. Much more control and options.

Why use the external drive? I can be disconnected when not doing an actual backup. When disconnected, it is immune to any virus or other system corruption.

What is your backup situation at home?

What is your backup situation at home? And if you don't do that, why not? Every single day, I read multiple threads here of "How do I get my stuff back?" or "That drive had 5 years of photos of my kids!!" Be it a dead drive, dropped phone, virus, accidental deletion, formatting the wrong...

forums.tomshardware.com

Oh ok. For my external drive, I have no other purpose for it and I'm a little tight on money. So I'm going to return it. So in case I have blue screen of death on my windows where I can't access into desktop, how can I use Macrium Reflect to restore my windows from boot?

 

[USAFRet]

Oh ok. For my external drive, I have no other purpose for it and I'm a little tight on money. So I'm going to return it. So in case I have blue screen of death on my windows where I can't access into desktop, how can I use Macrium Reflect to restore my windows from boot?

A Rescue USB. A whole bootable Macrium environment, that can recover an Image to whatever drive you choose.

And the other reason for the external is, if your actual hard drive dies...it takes your backup image with it.

 

[CountMike]

A Rescue USB. A whole bootable Macrium environment, that can recover an Image to whatever drive you choose.

And the other reason for the external is, if your actual hard drive dies...it takes your backup image with it.

And from any disk .mrimg file is placed on/in.

 

[USAFRet]

And from any disk .mrimg file is placed on/in.

Indeed. My images live in the NAS box on the other side of the room.

 

[dadabun]

A Rescue USB. A whole bootable Macrium environment, that can recover an Image to whatever drive you choose.

And the other reason for the external is, if your actual hard drive dies...it takes your backup image with it.

Ah ok. I'm very new to this, so for a rescue UBS, how many GB minimum I should have? My ssd is 240GB. I'm assuming I don't put the system image into the rescue usb, just the bootable software of Macrium Environment right to recover the system image stored from my partitioned hdd to ssd?

 

[CountMike]

Ah ok. I'm very new to this, so for a rescue UBS, how many GB minimum I should have? My ssd is 240GB. I'm assuming I don't put the system image into the rescue usb, just the bootable software of Macrium Environment right to recover the system image stored from my partitioned hdd to ssd?

Rescue USB doesn't have to be large, takes less than 1GBof space. It's used to boot from it and restore backup from another storage device wherever .mrimg file was placed. If your USB is lager than that it can still be used to place other files on it but it's formatted to FAT32 so file size is limited to 4GB.
AS I said before, mrimg file is about 75% of all data backed up by it. To backup system disk you need to also back up all partitions related to system. Than you can restore to any disk you want to use as system disk.

 

[dadabun]

Rescue USB doesn't have to be large, takes less than 1GBof space. It's used to boot from it and restore backup from another storage device wherever .mrimg file was placed. If your USB is lager than that it can still be used to place other files on it but it's formatted to FAT32 so file size is limited to 4GB.
AS I said before, mrimg file is about 75% of all data backed up by it. To backup system disk you need to also back up all partitions related to system. Than you can restore to any disk you want to use as system disk.

Oh ok.

So I have a 2TB Hard Drive and a 250GB SSD. My 2TB has two partitions: Games (1.5TB) + Generic (almost 500 GB). I intend to use the Generic partition to store my System Image Backups created from my 250GB SSD which is currently running on Windows 10.

Basically, I'm hoping to use just the 'Generic' partition to store my system image.

This will be possible yeah? That's a relief to hear.

So I'm going to defo return my external HDD and my external SSD. Spent around £50 for nothing basically then.

 

[USAFRet]

So I'm going to defo return my external HDD and my external SSD. Spent around £50 for nothing basically then.

An easily disconnectable external storage device is a lifesaver, when a ransomware kills off all data on the internally connected drives.
Up to you, though.

 

[dadabun]

An easily disconnectable external storage device is a lifesaver, when a ransomware kills off all data on the internally connected drives.
Up to you, though.

Hmmmmm. That's also correct. I'll think about it and see

 

[CountMike]

Yes, real backup should be on a removable drive or a connection which can be isolated from system and so from attack by malware or from accidental format etc.

 

[dadabun]

Yes, real backup should be on a removable drive or a connection which can be isolated from system and so from attack by malware or from accidental format etc.

Yeah I just thought. If my partitioned hard drive is corrupted, I'd have to format it to use it thus losing my system image data. Whereas with external drives, I don't.

 

[CountMike]

Yeah I just thought. If my partitioned hard drive is corrupted, I'd have to format it to use it thus losing my system image data. Whereas with external drives, I don't.

Any storage can die at any time or get corrupted so for most important data should be kept at at least 2 different places.