Re: Windows File History

Well, I paid £50 for Macrium Reflect (Full Version) - that's a lot more than nothing for MS File History .....

Re: Windows File History

Ah, yes I see!
I'm sure Macrium Reflect is excellent - I had heard recommendations before - but beyond my mental capacity!

For example, of the two options that first appeared - clone this disc, image this disc - I wouldn't know which would be more appropriate in my case.

Re: Windows File History

Both would do the job but for a disk clone, you'd need to dedicate a whole extra hard drive for the purpose. That's because a clone purely copies the C: drive's contents to another drive as a working system. It would even be possible to run the system from a clone. There is a program called 'Casper' designed for just that purpose. Not a bad way to go about keeping up and running if you have two internal drives.

https://www.fssdev.com/products/casper/

Also read here about whether to choose clone or disk image:

http://whatsabyte.com/P1/Image_or_Clone.html

A disk image doesn't take up a whole disk. It is compressed into a single file that can be stored on a different drive along with any other files/folders you want to keep on it. The drive doesn't have to be exclusively for disk image usage. So for system backup purposes, a disk image and not a clone would be better.

Re: Windows File History

Thanks Mart. So I assume that the Windows System Image that I have done on each of my external drives is another name for 'Disk Image', and is the most appropriate in my case.

Re: Windows File History

I usually choose the 'entire disk/partitions' option in EaseUS. System backup is almost the same thing though. Here is how EaseUS describe the difference:

The main difference between the 2 options is that:

For Disk/partition backup, users are allowed to select any of the listed partitions to backup, Any partition combination is possible with this option, user can backup necessary partition for system load only or include system and data partition into same image file.

For system backup, it will automatically select system boot involved partitions as backup target, and cannot be modified. This option can be seen as a lite and easier version of disk/partition backup which is designed for system partitions only.

So the 2 options are working the same for most normal systems, user can use either of the options to create a system schedule for a long term system protection.

http://kb.easeus.com/art.php?id=10005

Re: Windows File History

I'm always experimenting with various backup software and various backup processes.
I mess about with my PCs so much that I find I have to use my backed up files more often than most.

At the moment I am hooked on the backup package offered, for free, as "Cobian Backup".

I find that I can chose what to backup and I'm happy that the backups are not encrypted in any way (unless I want to) so that the files can be read straight back from the external if required.

I've gone over to Differentials & Incrementals to save space.
They save space by only backing up anything that's actually changed.Thus a differential makes a full backup and keeps backing up just the changed files (compared to the full backup). The incremental only backs up files which have changed since the last incremental.

I've also experimented with cloning and full system copying.

Trouble with these was that, if you make, for example, a clone and then stick it in a cupboard, for a rainy day, the can be some issues with bringing it back in.

It's easy to forget how many changes can happen in a short time and you can end up with a clone which does not have your updates, your latest apps, your emails, your documents, your downloads. - but it probably will boot up OK.

Also, there can be so much registry activity, whilst you're actually doing the backup, that some of the data doesn't copy right....this can be because of programmes running in the background during the backup.



Very interesting topic!

Re: Windows File History

This latter point is interesting too.

When I did my backups, I remember I was using Chrome to surf the net. Perhaps that compromised the backups, although the software says it is safe to continue working.

Re: Windows File History

Maybe.

What I was getting at was the fact that the Registry, in the PC, can be changing links very significantly if a couple of apps are busy in the background.

The registry keeps track of where everything is, where it's going, where it's been and what it is.

Thus a busy PC might have a rapidly changing registry at the time you do the backup.

Some of the items being backed could be changing whilst you are doing it.

Cobian Backup tries to stop this by using a "Volume Shadow Copy" technique which, I think, helps.

Re: Windows File History

OK. I suppose there's no easy way of finding out if the system image has been compromised.

Re: Windows File History

It gets complicated but imaging (and I think cloning too) is done with the aid of the Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS). This is a Microsoft service that, when requested by its own backup function, takes a snapshot of the system. In its simplest terms (or the way I think of it ), this snapshot becomes fixed and it is this that the image/backup consists of.

3rd party imaging programs such as EaseUS, Aomei, Macrium and others are able to invoke the Volume Shadow Copy Service too.

It is therefore possible to keep using the computer while the image is being made without current actions affecting what is in the image. These actions do not get written into the image.