What is the difference between system image and backup?

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Sean_34

Sean_34

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Every backup tutorial or storage forum post just blathers on about the importance and how to do them. Well, i'm literally looking at both options and I just want to know.... what is the difference? They have to be doing 2 different things (no matter how similar) to be opening two separate dialogue boxes on my desktop.

Please just tell me how they're different.
 
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macrium reflect has been recommended on toms before. It can do [strike]both things[/strike] if you want and it is free for personal use. (Free version doesn't allow file/folder based backup, just system/disk images and disk cloning.)
http://www.macrium.com/reflectfree.aspx

edit:
If you want just data backup, you could use something else too, all it pretty much does is copy files from place A to B and catalogs them.

If you are running windows 10, file history does decent job at that. (set it to include what you want backed up)
If you are running windows 8, it's far more limited and you can pretty much include only your own profile.
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The Paladin

The Paladin

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okay thank you for your question and here is the basic idea in simple terms

system image : the program takes a picture of your entire hard drive and make a carbon copy image compressed of course of it. usually saved in an ISO format saved on a dvd that self boots or thumb drive with integrated restore software (one step restore).

Backup: there are two kinds;
First is full back up, which is similar in many ways to system image, except the file is in a format compressed, and the back up software usually stores it on a network drive or thumb drive, and required a different media to boot to be able to restore the entirety or portions of the backup. files can be picked out of this compressed file to restore parts of it.
Second is incremental, usually done by servers at set times, or personal desktops, which only copied the modified files (think weekly back up or daily back up) of specific folders into a compressed file, can be restore in portion or entirety for that day back to a system that got corrupted or lost files.
 
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Sean_34

Sean_34

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Ok, this is great, thank you, I already have a better idea. First off, I can rule out the incremental backup, because this is for personal use and just a 1 time emergency backup.

So, I should state the reason I'm looking to perform one of these actions is because someone recommended that with all the BSOD's I have been getting, even with my brand new GPU, I should just re-install windows.

This leads me to two questions: 1) Do I really want to image a set up that's giving me blue screens or will either of these options weed out whatever is causing them? 2) Will either the image or the backup bring the fresh drivers and program versions I just got done reinstalling, with them? I'd like to not have to go through the headache of updating drivers again (it's all i've been doing for 2 days).

Thanks for your help, so far.

P.S. - So let me see if I have this straight; a system image is self sufficient in that you can create one and then the same file will restore itself, in this case, after I reinstall Windows. The trade off is that it is all or nothing.

A backup can't just restore itself, so you need to get one of these programs like Macrium or Acronus that I've been seeing, to restore it, but you get to pick and choose some of all of the data that you want to restore.

Is that the jist?
 
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The Paladin

The Paladin

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to answer your futher question is you system is unstable and have numerous system errors I would not bother with an system image of it, because what is the point of making a system image that is faulty that you will use as a quick restore on a system ? like putting a faulty battery into a car whats the point. ?

reinstall windows fresh get the applications you want in place, get it all set up. THEN make your ISO image, this is a rescue when "' all hell is going and your only solution is reinstall, the system, image restore you to that fresh copy.

and yes and yes to the other two questions, system images are fixed images that you slap on the hard drive and it crushes everything under its weight imposing this copy over everything, a backup can pick and choose ( much like windows restore function ) what files you want to restore.
 
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jsmithepa

jsmithepa

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To me is this:

Backup is for DATA (like your pictures, letters, videos).
Image is for DISASTER RECOVERY (take a snapshot "image" of your working system).

Windows has a thing similar to Image and is built into its backup and during any changes to the OS, it take a "little" snapshot, am guessing the registry and certain other things but definitely not the WHOLE OS. I don't trust MS, I trust a true Image.

To deal with your BSOD...

1. Re-install OS from scratch, perhaps wo the GPU at first. Make sure things runs correctly, give it a day or two.
2. If everything good with 1, then Make an Image here and label it Gen1.
3. Now install your GPU, runs a few GPU intensive to make sure, again wait a couple of days to make sure things are stable.
4. Again if the above OK, then Make another Image and now label it Gen2.

See the gist? If at any point you get BSOD, of anything weird and of course you forgot exactly what you did or changed, you go GO BACK to a known Good Image, like a time machine. Yes, you may have to re-install a driver or two but better than trying to figure out what all that BSOD that nobody understand.

Be aware sometimes MS auto update may mess things up for your WITHOUT YOU DOING ANYTHING. To that end I always do manual updates, but this part is up to you, am certainly not trying to pontificate.
 
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Sean_34

Sean_34

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What backup software should I use? You need it even when backing up to an HDD, right? I don't feel like paying for cloud backup, right now, so anything used for local back up would suffice.
 
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little_me

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macrium reflect has been recommended on toms before. It can do [strike]both things[/strike] if you want and it is free for personal use. (Free version doesn't allow file/folder based backup, just system/disk images and disk cloning.)
http://www.macrium.com/reflectfree.aspx

edit:
If you want just data backup, you could use something else too, all it pretty much does is copy files from place A to B and catalogs them.

If you are running windows 10, file history does decent job at that. (set it to include what you want backed up)
If you are running windows 8, it's far more limited and you can pretty much include only your own profile.
 
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