Archiving is the most effective and best tool for ensuring data safety. Timely backup of information can not only protect you from losing important files, but also allow you to restore your computer after serious failures.
Purely theoretically, modern Windows operating systems should be able to run on computers without failures for a very long time. To do this, the OS integrates many software mechanisms that are responsible for the security and reliability of the system, designed to independently resolve various problems that arise during the operation of a PC. The same applies to the hardware component of the computer, the components of which, under normal operating conditions, should serve the user for at least several years.
But in practice everything looks a little different. In some situations, Windows stability is not as impeccable as the developers claim, and PC parts can fail after only a few days of operation. At the same time, all this can happen, as always, at the most inopportune moment. So sooner or later, an unpleasant situation may happen to any of you, as a result of which the operating system will become inoperable or important data will be lost. It is possible that both will happen at the same time.
In order to help users avoid serious troubles associated with the loss of information and failures in the OS, there are several tools in Windows that allow you to archive the necessary data, as well as create system restore checkpoints, a system image or a system recovery disk. In the future, the created copies can be used to resuscitate certain information or the entire system as a whole.
All recovery and archiving mechanisms can be found in Control panels system.
If in the computer settings window you have set browsing by category (by default), then you need to find the link Backing up computer data In chapter system and safety. If you have set to view all panel elements, then look for the option Archive or restore.
After launching it, a window will open in front of you containing links to various tools for archiving and restoring data.
Data archiving is the periodic creation of copies of the files and folders that you work with most often, as well as your account settings. If at point Archiving you will see the inscription Data archiving is not configured, this means that archiving was not previously performed in this system and if data is damaged, you risk losing it once and for all.
To correct this situation, click on the link Set up backup, after which the Archiving Setup Wizard will launch.
At the first stage, the utility will scan and identify all storage devices that are connected to your computer and display a list of them (except for the system drive) in a new window. From this list, you should select the disk on which you plan to store the created archives.
The most optimal storage for backups is an external (removable) hard drive, which can be stored separately from the computer. At the same time, portable magnetic drives, essentially being ordinary HDDs housed in a housing with a controller, can store the same large volumes of information as their internal storage. This means that, if necessary, in many cases you can make a complete copy of your disk and transfer all its contents, for example, to another computer. In cases where the data being archived is small in size, you can select USB flash drives, memory cards or recordable optical discs (CD, DVD) as storage objects.
In addition to external drives, you can store archived copies of files on any non-system partitions of internal hard drives. For example, this is advisable in the case when several hard drives are installed in the computer at once. If, however, a logical partition physically located on it is selected as the location for storing a backup copy of data from the disk, then if the hard drive fails, you will still say goodbye to all your information. So it is better to store data and their backups on different physical media.
Windows also provides the ability to save archived files on a local network on remote computers.
Having selected the location to save the archive copy, press the button Further, after which a window will open in front of you.
Here we are asked to choose between automatic and manual selection of archiving objects. In the first case, the system itself will archive files from key user libraries and folders. In the second, you can make the choice yourself.
Of course, many users (especially beginners) will find this type of backup simpler, but it still has its drawbacks. First of all, this concerns the automatic creation of a system image archive, which can be very voluminous and lead to rapid overflow of the drive intended for storing backup copies. At the same time, it is impossible to select individual elements from the system image during data recovery, for example, only a library with documents, and therefore it is not suitable for restoring individual files or folders. So it is better to take the process of preparing a planned archive under your own control, and create an image of the system partition manually, as needed.
After selecting the item Give me a choice A window will open in front of you where you can independently mark the necessary objects for archiving using checkboxes.
Particular attention should be paid to the fact that the system separates data from different accounts, as well as data on hard drives. That is, you can choose to archive the libraries of all computer users at once, or individually. Each user also has the opportunity to select the desired components to be archived. In addition, you can add the necessary files and folders located on hard drive partitions to the backup copy. To do this, simply expand the desired section (click on the triangle on the left) and select the necessary objects. If you want to create a complete copy of a logical drive, check the box next to it without opening it.
Under the list of libraries and components for archiving, at the bottom of the window there is a separate item for creating a system disk image. At the same time, if several operating systems are installed on your computer in different partitions, then Windows will include all of them in the created image. This can be clearly seen from our screenshot, which was taken on a computer with two operating systems installed.
True, we agreed that in this example we will not create an image of the system, but will leave this matter for later. So for now, let’s uncheck the box Include a disk system image.
After you select the required components and click the button Further, a control window will open in which you will be asked to check all the main archiving parameters again.
Here you can change archiving schedule by clicking on the link with the self-explanatory title.
In the schedule settings window, you can select the frequency, days of the week and time of archiving in automatic mode. When choosing a time, do not forget that the computer should be turned on at that moment and it is better not to be used by you, since the archiving procedure can seriously slow down the work process. In addition, in this window you can completely disable automatic creation of scheduled backups and subsequently do it only manually.
Finally, when all the parameters are specified and the settings are completed, to start the archiving procedure of the selected objects, click the button Save settings and start archiving. Windows will immediately begin the backup process according to the created rules. At this moment, you will be able to clearly monitor the progress of archiving using the indicator located in the window.
To view more detailed information, you can click on the View information button, after which an additional window will open in front of you, which will reflect the progress of the running procedure.
The duration of the archiving process directly depends on the number of objects you specified, as well as their total volume, and can take from several minutes to several hours.
After the backup is created, in the already familiar archiving window, information about the size of the created archive and its contents, the time of creation of the next copy, as well as the date of the last archiving will appear.
Here you can also change or disable the schedule, perform unscheduled archiving (the Archive button), create a system image or an optical bootable system recovery disk, as well as manage archiving disk space.
From the same window you can access the general list of backup copies by clicking on the button View archives, as well as change the system image parameters.
In order to free up disk space if it is full, in the archive list display window you can delete unnecessary (irrelevant) copies by highlighting the required entry and pressing the button Delete.
So, we have just looked at planned and manual archiving of information, which allows you to systematically save the necessary data, including personal files and folders, on selected media, thereby ensuring the possibility of their quick recovery. But we should not forget about the operating system, which is the main and most important tool for the user when working with a computer.
There are often cases when, under the influence of various external factors, the normal operation of the system is disrupted. For example, this can happen when the computer becomes infected with a virus or there is a sudden power outage. In certain situations, in the event of serious failures, restoring Windows functionality can be very difficult, and sometimes it is completely impossible to do. In this case, users have to not only completely reinstall the system, but also configure its settings, reinstall device drivers, as well as all programs and applications.
To avoid such unpleasant troubles and make your life easier in the event of an OS crash, Windows has a standard tool that allows you to create exact copies of the partitions in which the system is installed. By creating an image of the system partition, in the future you will be able to restore from it the entire operating system with already configured settings, personal libraries and applications you have installed in a matter of minutes.
As you probably already guessed, the same tool is used to create a disk image in Windows Archiving and recovery, which we discussed above when studying the data archiving procedure. Having opened this component, in the left column of the window, you can see a link with a self-explanatory name, clicking on which will launch the mechanism for creating a copy of the system disk.
First, as in the case of regular data archiving, you will be asked to select a location to store the created image. The most preferable option here is On hard drive. In this case, it is better to store the system image on a separate internal or external drive, and not on another logical partition of the hard drive with the system installed. Only then will you be able to restore the OS in the event of a mechanical failure of the HDD.
The option of storing the image on DVDs is also not bad. But here everything will depend on how much space your backup copy of the system partition takes up. For example, in our case, archiving two system partitions may require about 145 GB. This means that to record such an image you will need 31 regular (single-layer) DVD discs.
If the system image does not exceed 30-40 GB, then optical disks can be used to store the system. Although fiddling with 8-10 media will also seem like a burden to many users.
The last alternative option for storing system images is network storage. To be honest, this option cannot be called optimal. After all, in order to pull a backup copy from a remote resource, it is necessary to connect the computer to the network, which without a fully installed operating system can be very problematic or simply impossible.
After selecting the location of the system image, a window will open in front of you in which you will need to select the disks to be included in the backup.
In fact, the figure clearly shows that in addition to system partitions, images of other logical drives can also be included in the backup. However, there is one condition here - you cannot include a disk image in the archive if it is selected as the system copy storage.
Having selected the sections required for archiving, click Further. Finally, a control window appears before us confirming the archiving parameters. The most important thing here is to pay attention to the size of the required archive space. If the predicted volume is at least slightly higher than the amount of free space on the media or almost equal to it, then it is better not to start archiving. Otherwise, you risk wasting a lot of time.
After making sure that the selected parameters are correct, click on the button Archive, to directly launch the procedure for creating a system image. If something doesn’t suit you during the archiving process, you can click the button Cancel and configure all settings again.
After completing the backup of the system partition, the wizard will prompt you to create system recovery disk. This disk will be very useful to you in cases where you need to restore the system from an image, but in this case it will be impossible to launch a previously installed copy of Windows, and therefore it will be impossible to launch the built-in standard recovery tool. Please note that when crashes or virus infections occur, it is often the boot area of the system or the components responsible for starting the OS that are damaged. So the likelihood that you will encounter just such a situation is very high.
What is a recovery disk? Essentially, this is a boot disk (you can boot your computer from it) containing basic Windows diagnostic and recovery tools that can be used to revive your computer after serious failures, including from a previously created system image.
If, after completing the system image creation procedure, you do not have a blank optical disk, then creating a recovery disk can be postponed until later. Subsequently, this can be done from a component of the system already familiar to us - Archiving and recovery by clicking on the link in the left column Create a system repair disk.
The process of creating this disc is very simple. In the window that opens, you select the desired drive (if you have several of them), insert a blank DVD into it and press the button Create disk. The system will do the rest automatically for you.
Remember that regular archiving of data that is very important to you is the key to the fact that one day you will not have to mourn the irretrievably lost personal documents, photographs, family videos and other unique files.
Also, do not forget about your main working tool - the operating system. After all, having a backup copy of the system partition, in the event of critical Windows failures or even a hard drive failure, you can always quickly restore not only the working state of the computer, but also all your personal libraries, installed applications and system settings.
Due to our own erroneous actions on the computer or a virus attack, it is not possible to download Windows 7 by any means?! Or the operating system boots, but working in it is simply unbearable?! If you are familiar with these situations and would like to correct the situation within a minimum time, you need to prepare in advance for such problems and sometimes (once a month/every two months) make an image of the system and, if necessary, restore the operating system by rolling back to the created image. Windows 7 has a built-in system archiver, which is very simple and intuitive; you don’t need to install additional programs to create an image of your system, much less spend money on these programs.
How to make a system image of Windows 7? There are several ways to launch System Archiving, here is one of them. Come along the way
In the window that opens, you will see on the left "Creating a system image"- this tool will allow you to create a system archive once, if you look at the right side of the window, you will see a button, i.e. It is possible to configure archiving automatically. 
It's up to you to choose which method suits you; in this article I will describe both of these methods.
Click "Creating a system image", in the window that opens, select the location where the system backup will be stored, the ideal option is an external hard drive, you can use a CD/DVD, but keep in mind that you will need a lot of them. It is also better not to use a local disk, since in the event of a virus attack, recovery from the local disk is not always possible.
After choosing a location to save the backup, you need to choose what to archive. If you have enough space, save all local drives. In this example, I will only save drive C.
In the next window, confirm our choice and click "Archive".
Next comes the archiving process/creating a system image; it can last for quite a long time, it all depends on the amount of space being archived and the power of the computer.
At the end of archiving, the system will offer to write the data to disk, since I’m archiving to an external hard drive, I don’t need this, click “no”, besides, I don’t really want to write 32 GB :)
This completes the process of creating a system image, the backup is located on a removable disk, the folder name is WindowsImageBackup.
I remind you that we originally came along the way “Start-Control Panel-Backup and Restore”,press "Set up backup", in the window that opens, select the location where the system backup will be stored, please note that the specified backup location must be available when it is launched according to a schedule. The ideal option is an external hard drive; CD/DVD is not entirely suitable, since it will not be very practical to spend several disks on each backup. It is also better not to use a local disk, since in the event of a virus attack, recovery from the local disk is not always possible.
In the next window, we select what we will archive or present the choice to the system, i.e. leave it as default, in this example I will leave it as default. Click "Further".
In the next window, select the schedule for executing the system image, I recommend once a month, although this is individual, it all depends on how often you make changes to the system.
After clicking "Save settings and start archiving", the archiving process will begin. System archiving can take a long time, up to several hours, it all depends on the amount of data and the speed of the computer.
I hope you will never need a system backup, but situations are different and to be on the safe side, I strongly recommend making an archived image of the system.
Using Windows Control Panel features, you can:
The information in this article applies to Windows 7, 8, 8.1 and 10. Initially, we were talking about the backup capabilities of Windows 7 - creating file archives and disk images. In Windows 8, they were replaced, respectively, by file history and Windows recovery without deleting files (Refresh Your PC).
However, everything written is applicable to Windows 8 and 8.1, since it retains the functions of the previous system. You can find them by searching in Control Panel.
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In Windows 10, the Refresh Your PC feature from Windows 8 is dead, but the old features of Windows 7 remain. You can find them by searching for the word backup in the Start menu or the old Control Panel.
Windows 7 allows you to create both backup copies of folders and a full image of your hard drive partitions.
| Archiving type | Technology and capabilities |
| User files |
|
| Partition image |
|
These features, coupled with the ability to boot into a recovery environment without an installation disk, can satisfy the needs of most home users. Now they can do without third-party backup programs.
Changes in the archiving capabilities of Windows 7 affected not only technology, but also the user interface. In particular:
The archiving user interface elements are described in the activity below.
By default, backup is not configured. Click the link Set up backup in the control panel item's main window to set archiving options.
Options for placing a backup copy of files are given in the table.
| Accommodation | Comments |
| Internal hard drive | You can place archived files on:
|
| External hard drive | If scheduled backup is configured, the external hard drive must be connected at the time the backup is created. Note. Windows 7 does not support creating images flash drive systems. |
| The local network | Backup is supported only to computers on a network running Windows 7. Of course, you will need credentials to access the computer where the backup is located. |
You can place archived files on partitions formatted in both the NTFS and FAT32 file systems. When archiving to a hard drive, files are placed at the root of the partition. You cannot specify a subfolder for the archive, but nothing prevents you from placing other files and folders on this drive.
The rest of the article discusses saving a backup copy to a partition of the internal hard drive. Having decided on the location of the archive, you must set the archiving parameters. You can leave this decision to the operating system, or you can select the folders yourself.
If you choose yourself, you can create backups:
At the end, Windows 7 displays a summary of your backup options.
The schedule parameters you specify are saved in the task scheduler, which is responsible for starting archiving in a timely manner.
Once you've finished configuring your backup settings, you return to the main Control Panel item window.
The main window now displays all archiving options. Click the button Archive to start the backup process.
The archiving progress is displayed using a progress bar, but you can view details by clicking the button View details.
After completing archiving, you can view information about the disk space used and proceed to archive management.
This function has a number of limitations that are useful to know so that it does not cause excruciating pain later.
The first system image is a complete snapshot of the partition, and subsequent ones are incremental, i.e., they include only changes compared to the previous image. This feature, which allows you to save disk space, is implemented using shadow copies. This principle of creating images is used when saving them on internal, external and optical disks.
For internal and external drives, this principle applies as long as there is enough space on the drive. When space runs out, a complete image is created and all previous ones are deleted. As for network drives, a full image is always created on them, and the old image is overwritten with a new one.
Let's look at creating the first image.
A window will open with options for image placement.
In the next step, you will be able to select partitions for archiving.
If there are other partitions on the system, you will be able to select them at this step. Having decided on the selection of sections, click the button Archive to begin the backup process.
The image automatically includes the system partition and the partition on which the files necessary to boot Windows are located (it may differ from the system partition in multiboot configurations). A solution to problems with including unwanted partitions in the image is in this article.
All the following images are created in exactly the same way. As I said above, they only contain changed blocks. In order to create a full system image again, you need to delete the existing images or move them to another partition.
You can also move them from the root of the drive to subfolders, but be aware that in this case they will not be seen by the system image recovery program. The location and contents of backup copies will be discussed further.
In the main Control Panel item window, click the link Space management. A window will open that displays information about the location of the archive, a summary of disk space usage, and links and buttons for viewing and managing archives.
In addition to viewing detailed information about the space used, you can open the backup location - click the link Review, and the files will open in Explorer.
Windows 7 recognizes the archive folder and provides convenient access to recovery options, which can also be opened by double-clicking on the folder.
Of course, the following folders are of interest:
You can open the archive folder using the context menu. The contents of the archive are transparent to the user - inside ZIP archives, and if desired, files can be extracted from there directly from Explorer.
However, it is more convenient to restore files from the control panel, for example, thanks to the built-in search.
An archived system image is created in VHD format and stored in the folder WindowsImageBackup along with supporting files.
You can see its contents by using a new feature in Windows 7 - connecting virtual hard disks in Disk Management ( Start - Search - diskmgmt.msc — Action — Attach a virtual hard disk).
You might be wondering if you can add files to a virtual hard disk. Technically this is possible, but from the point of view of recovery using Windows it will not give anything. It is better to make a new image - changed blocks are added incrementally based on shadow copies, which saves disk space.
From the space management window you can delete file archives and backup images.
Click the button View archives in the space management window to see the list of archives.
Windows 7 finds all archives and displays the archiving period and occupied disk space. In this window you can delete unnecessary archives.
To delete backup images, click the button Change settings in the space management window. Image storage options will open.
The system offers you to delete absolutely all images, or all images except the last one.
Everyone knows that they need to back up regularly, but not everyone does it. Given the extensive backup capabilities in Windows 7, you will only regret losing important data if you do not set up regular backups.
A separate hard drive is ideal for storing backups - internal or external, connected via USB or FireWire. If you have a network drive at your disposal, you can also use it. Storing backups on a different partition on the same drive where the OS is installed is not a good idea. If a drive fails, you will lose both the system and your backups.
Since backups take up a lot of space, I can only give general recommendations that you will need to adjust depending on the free disk space you have.
How often you archive your files is determined by how valuable they are to you and how often you add or create new files. In general, I recommend archiving data weekly or twice a month. Combined with monthly system imaging manually you will have an excellent backup set that will allow you not only to return the system to a recent working state, but also to restore all your data and files acquired through back-breaking labor. You can always free up disk space by deleting old archives if disk space is needed for other needs.
It is not possible to set different schedules for image creation and data archiving in the GUI. So if you want at different times automatically create an image and archive files, use the wbadmin command line utility and the task scheduler.
Why, when creating a system image, is it forced to include another disk or partition, and how can I avoid this?
In this article I will tell you how to backup data: work files, multimedia and the operating system (make an image of it). Backup (data archiving) is extremely necessary, since as a result of a hard drive failure or a virus, you can lose important documents, photo archives, and works created in various programs. Maybe you just want to reinstall a clean copy of the OS with all the programs. Once this happens, the situation will be easy to correct.
The most common case for users is the failure of the operating system. In order to restore the computer to its previous state (programs, settings, etc.), you need to spend from several hours to several days installing and configuring the Windows OS, but the installation of additional software takes the most time. Often, inexperienced users store their data on the system drive without thinking about transferring information to other sections of the hard drive, not to mention external HDDs.
It is quite easy to use and even allows you to perform this procedure automatically on a schedule. Location of the backup tool on the system: "Start | All programs | Service | Archiving and recovery". Menu in the left column - "Create a system repair disc" And "Creating a system image".
Creating a system image. It is necessary to indicate the location of the future archive: select another disk partition, external HDD or optical disk (DVD, Blue Ray). There is also the ability to save a backup copy to a network drive. It is not practical to use optical media, so use a logical drive with sufficient storage space or an external HDD to store the backup. Select a location and click the “Archive” button. The entire system partition will be archived. This procedure can be carried out on a schedule, and Windows updates a previously recorded system image without creating it again, which significantly saves time.
If you select the Backup tool, you can set up regular backups of important user data. To do this, select “Set up backup”, indicate which drive the backup will be saved to, click “Next”, in the next window select “Give me a choice” and then select the objects to be backed up. To restore the contents of a backup, choose one of three suggested actions: “Restore my files from this backup,” “Restore files for everyone on this computer,” or “Manage the disk space used by this backup.”
To restore your system if it won't boot or produces an error that you can't fix, you may need a rescue disk. To create it, select “Create a system recovery disk” in the menu on the left and indicate on what media to organize it. Unfortunately, only laser discs are supported, which is not suitable for owners of laptops without an optical drive.
This tool built into Windows is not without its drawbacks, such as long archive creation times and the lack of a compression function. However, there are other, more functional products.
For users of Windows XP, where there is no built-in backup tool, as well as users with higher requirements for the functionality of a backup program, I recommend using Acronis True Image Home 2013.
Acronis True Image Home uses 3 backup methods.
Full image - archiving absolutely all data, including the MBR (if the partition is bootable).
Differential - the backup copy includes only those data that have changed since the creation of the archive using the first (full) method.
Incremental method - allows you to supplement the backup copy with files changed since the last backup procedure.
It’s easy to make a backup copy of the system partition: in the main program window, select the first option - "Backup disks and partitions", then specify a partition or disk, set the location to save the archive and, if necessary, change the archiving parameters (for example, set the compression level of the archive on the "Performance" or protect the archive with a password). At the end of the process, a file with the extension will be created in the storage you specified. *.tib. Acronis True Image Home 2013 allows you to connect a backup copy as a logical drive and work with the necessary data. In this way, you can extract the desired file from a pre-created archive that you accidentally completely deleted from your hard drive.
In addition to backing up partitions and disks, you can archive (including on a schedule) individual directories and files, as well as the Windows address book, contact list and Microsoft Outlook correspondence. To recover in the most severe cases, you can use a bootable version of the program (boot disk or boot disk), and it is possible to create such a solution on both optical and USB media.
It happens that when experimenting with installing several operating systems, the Master Boot Record turned out to be damaged; you can try to “revive” it by checking the “MBR” checkbox when restoring from the image. Also, Acronis True Image Home 2011 can convert backups from its “native” format to the VHD format (these are backups created by the Windows 7 system tools, and at the same time virtual disk images, that is, they can be connected to almost any virtual machine) and vice versa .
In most cases, recovery comes down to selecting the desired archive and partition in which the contents of the backup copy will be deployed. It is worth noting the extremely long installation time and low performance of Acronis True Image Home in Windows XP.
About the Paragon Backup & Recovery Professional program, which provides file backup and recovery I told in, however, for the purpose of transferring Windows to another PC. Unlike the Acronis product, in addition to archiving operations, it also allows you to perform some actions with partitions - for example, changing the label, formatting, hiding and deleting. However, to do this you will need to switch to “Advanced Mode”.
Before backing up, it is recommended to create a rescue disk to restore data from the image. To do this, go to the “Utilities” section and select “Create a rescue disk.” Here you can also choose either an optical drive, an external hard drive, or a USB flash drive as a storage medium.
To create a backup copy of your data, go to the “Data Protection and Recovery | Intelligent archiving”, without forgetting to prepare reliable storage first. You can choose what to back up: “Disks or partitions”, e-mail (e-mails, accounts and address books of Outlook, Outlook Express and Windows Mail), “Media Files” and “Documents” (texts, photos, videos and music stored in the “My Documents” directory) or “Other Files or Folders”.
Next, you can make additional copying parameters - selecting the degree of image compression, password protection and sector-by-sector copying mode (all sectors of the disk are processed “as is”, including unused ones). You can also assign an FTP server as an archive storage, if you have one. If you choose optical media, the program will warn you that it will be impossible to save the master boot record of the disk.
For experienced users, Backup & Recovery has a professional tool for working with images of Virtual PC, VMware Workstation and VMware Fusion virtual machines. Thanks to it, you can convert an image of a real hard drive, such as a system partition, and then open it along with all the data and programs in a virtual machine, even on another computer.
