[SOLVED] Safe copy of OS (maybe on USB flash drive) for emergency booting

[EmmaDobozi]

I would like to make a safe copy of my OS (Win7 SP1 64 bit), if possible outside of the PC.
I had a panic situation and I would feel more secure if (in case of boot drive failure) I would have a solution to continue without major interruption.

My boot partition is on a 256 GB SSD : used space is about 25 GB (of that, 8 GB is PageFile).
So, I was thinking to utilize an USB stick of 32 GB for making a safe copy.
I might try to set BIOS to boot from portable device.

Motherboard is ASUS M5A88-V EVO ; in manual, the possibility of booting from portable device seem to be listed :
1st – xxth Boot Device
These items specify the boot device priority sequence from the available devices. The number
of device items that appears on the screen depends on the number of devices installed in the
system. Configuration options: [Removable Dev.] [Hard Drive] [ATAPI CD-ROM] [Disabled]

Is it possible to make an identical copy of my boot partition to USB flash drive, and eventually use this to revive the PC ? From time to time I might upgrade the saved copy.

If this would not be possible, I have to think on a spare HDD outside of the PC, partition it and use one of the partitions as a safe booting resource.
But this option seems much complicated ; in case of emergency, would require an operation with opening PC, changing HDD cables in an environment where connection to monitor, etc. is very difficult as PC is hidden in an enclosure.

Please kindly advise me !
Emma

 

[USAFRet]

maybe you can warn me not to search if migration will cause a MOVE operation (and not only a mere COPY type of operation).

No cloning tools I am aware of will "move" the system.
'move', as in delete the data from the source when finished.

That needs to be done manually, for good reason.

 

[TerryLaze]

After I made the the conversion from HDD to SSD with Samsung Data Migration tool : it seems that the boot partition from the original HDD vanished (at least, I was not able to reboot from that HDD, when I made a checking attempt after the migration).
I will have to get the above mentioned adaptor and look into what left on the former boot HDD ; maybe you can warn me not to search if migration will cause a MOVE operation (and not only a mere COPY type of operation).

A migration tool is not a simple cloning tool, it will also change things on your system to try to make it boot from the new disk and not the old one, hence migration you want to get rid of the old and only use the new.

If you go into your bios and change boot priority to the old disk it should still boot up and reach windows just like before.

 

[USAFRet]

Clone and Image.
Similar, but different.

Cloning is for changing a drive right now. Out with the old, in with the new.

Imaging is for storing a copy of the system for possible future use...a backup.

Cloning consumes the entire target drive.
An Image (depending on the tool used) creates a single file, slightly smaller than the consumed space on the source. Leaving the rest of that target drive free for other use.

 

[EmmaDobozi]

I got as loan a "tool" and was able to look into the old boot HDD ; indeed, the files are still there.
Your advice makes me feel that combinations of text commands might be the best solution for the people with better understanding, but I would be not able to use them.

Please let me know if using Macrium would result a 256 GB file / or would be somehow possible to "clone" only the used files of about 25 GB.

 

[USAFRet]

I got as loan a "tool" and was able to look into the old boot HDD ; indeed, the files are still there.
Your advice makes me feel that combinations of text commands might be the best solution for the people with better understanding, but I would be not able to use them.

Please let me know if using Macrium would result a 256 GB file / or would be somehow possible to "clone" only the used files of about 25 GB.

An Image from Macrium will be a file of the actual consumed space, minus a little bit.

A Clone of that drive will be the same size as the physical drive.

If your current actual consumed space is 25GB, an Image created with Macrium might be 20-23GB. It leaves off irrelevant things like the pagefile and hibernation file.


On my current system, 500GB SSD.
~300GB consumed space.
A full drive Image in Macrium is approx 250GB.
The Full Image + 30 days of Incrementals consumes 363GB. I could recover the C drive to any state in the last 30 days.

 

[EmmaDobozi]

I am thankful for your effort to help me ; but there is a very busy period with some undergoing renovation -- and there is not finished.
I bought a larger HDD and copied data files (and now there is space for saving).
Next week I hope to be able to read again all your advice and make some progress with safety savings. For sure most of you could make easily, but in my situation there is not so simple.