Making an exact duplicate of C Drive and recovery partitions

[Dj Manix]

Ok where to start, I will try to keep it short and sweet. My girlfriend bought a laptop with Win8 already installed. Well we neither like Win8, and would like to put Win 7 Pro x64 back on it. My question is how to you make an exact copy of the C: Drive, backup partitions and all, without losing any data. I want to wipe the C: Drive but I am going to make a backup just in case anything goes wrong.Its one of those machines that does not come with any disks just the partition to reformat if needed.

So how do I make a complete backup of every file on that drive without losing anything.

 

[USAFRet]

Any of the current cloning tools should be able to do this. But you'll need a large external drive to image it to.
Just be sure you select 'whole drive', or 'all partitions'.

Macrium Reflect. CloneZilla, DriveimageXML.

 

[Dj Manix]

I have an externak 2 TB Hard Drive so space isnt the problem

 

[USAFRet]

I have an externak 2 TB Hard Drive so space isnt the problem

You should be good, then.
Just be sure you can find any relevant Win 7 drivers for it.

But have you really investigated Win 8.1? Cause it to boot directly to Desktop, and it looks and acts a whole lot like Win 7.

 

[Dj Manix]

Yea I have already investigated the problem, that's the reason i need help. Apparently Win 8 was made on a new file system instead of NTFS. And yea I already have all the windows 7 x64 drivers i need for this hardware downloaded and ready to go. I just don't want to wipe the C: something happens, then not be able to put 8 back on.

 

[USAFRet]

Yea I have already investigated the problem, that's the reason i need help. Apparently Win 8 was made on a new file system instead of NTFS. And yea I already have all the windows 7 x64 drivers i need for this hardware downloaded and ready to go. I just don't want to wipe the C: something happens, then not be able to put 8 back on.

Another solution is to save all your personal files from that current install, and also create whatever Factory Recovery dvd set the manufacturer lets you do.
You'll have all your stuff, and a way to bring it back to Win 8.1 out of the box condition.

 

[Dj Manix]

If I am misunderstanding I am sorry, that's the problem there are no recovery disks, its all in the partitions.

 

[USAFRet]

If I am misunderstanding I am sorry, that's the problem there are no recovery disks, its all in the partitions.

Right. But usually, the manufacturer has some application that will create those disks. I did exactly that on a friends Toshiba laptop just last week.

And you should really do that anyway, just in case you want to sell it later on.
What make/model is it? That procedure is usually outlined in the user manual.

 

[Dj Manix]

make model of the Laptop?

Asus X55A
Intel Pentium 2020M @ 2.4 Ghz
4 GB Ram
500 GB Hard Drive

 

[USAFRet]

make model of the Laptop?

Asus X55A
Intel Pentium 2020M @ 2.4 Ghz
4 GB Ram
500 GB Hard Drive

Possibly page A-17 in your user manual
http://dlcdnet.asus.com/pub/ASUS/nb/X55A/E_eManual_X55A_VER7748.pdf

My friends Toshiba took 3 DVD's.

 

[Dj Manix]

Thank you for your help, I will come back and update when I am finished and let you know what happened

 

[USAFRet]

Thank you for your help, I will come back and update when I am finished and let you know what happened

OK