what is the best way to clone or backup a laptop with windows 7?

sinkerball

Commendable
Jul 15, 2016
6
0
1,510
Long overdue backup or cloning. No particular preference for cloud vs. local. Would like to maximize chances of getting everything onto a newer computer therefore prefer clone (?). Any help will be appreciated.
 
Solution
I've used Macrium Reflect and have found it to be good at making backups. Although the pro version has many cool features (like automatic incremental backups), the free version is still excellent.

Keep me posted!

TheKingHK

Honorable
May 5, 2012
65
0
10,660
I've used Macrium Reflect and have found it to be good at making backups. Although the pro version has many cool features (like automatic incremental backups), the free version is still excellent.

Keep me posted!
 
Solution

jdlech

Honorable
May 31, 2016
168
1
10,715
Windows 7 comes with a backup/restore program that you can use. The most attractive benefit to using it is that it's part of the Windows installation disk - and restoration is one of the advanced options. Best way to use it is with a big external drive. It can also backup the whole system image - meaning the partition and format is backed up too. Another nice thing about it is that any installation disk will work. So you could download and burn any W7 installation disk and it will work without having to look up your license.

However, Macrium Reflect also has an option to make a bootable emergency disk. Not sure if it's available in the free version or not. But if it is, Macrium Reflect is an excellent alternative with more available options.

I noticed that nobody ever recommends Norton Ghost anymore. Norton created a wonderful standalone backup program and then they destroyed it by bloating it into an unwieldy enterprise only behemoth.