How do I back up my Win7 op systm to my external hard drive

[ladymuk]

how do I back up my win7 operating system to my external hard dive??
help!! please... senior lady

 

[tongsama]

Hit start>type backup in search bar. Then follow the backup and restore wizard for create a system image.

 

[flank21]

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows7/back-up-your-files?SignedIn=1

 

[ladymuk]

Hit start>type backup in search bar. Then follow the backup and restore wizard for create a system image.

thank you for speed - but I did not explain well:
my Passport external hard drive auto backs up photos/docs music etc but NOT the actual operating system of Win 7, Msft Office etc - I do not have discs... appreciate

 

[tjs4ever]

I use both Norton Ghost and Acronis to make full images of all my machines. Acronis can create recovery partitions as well - have used that for less tech-savvy customers. But I do believe windows 7 has basic imaging functionality built-in.

 

[RetiredChief]

How is your HDD setup:
1) Best method is two partitions, one for the OS and your programs (C-drive) ussally about 200 Gigs is fine, and a 2nd partition (a D-Drive) The rest of the drive for ALL of the files generated. This greatly simplifies imaging the OS, and backing up your data.
.. Using Windows 7 BU (located in control panel) windows will image EVERYTHING that is on the C-drive plus it will inclued the Very small system partition (Around a 100 Megs) that contains Boot info. To restore your operating system you can either use the repair disk (When image is completed you will be prompted to make a bootable repair disk) or You can boot to a windows installation disk and select repair, repair using image.
This will reinstall the image and you will boot into windows EXACTLY as it was when you created the image - No re-install, no reload drivers, no waiting on windows updates, and all programs are their.
You only NEED to redo this image when you make changes to the OS (ie add programs) maybe onece every month or two. You would use your normal backup program to bach up YOUR data from drive D.

2) If like many, Your WHOLE drive is c-drive. In this case the image that windows creates will include EVERYTHING, and EVERYTHING would be restored when you repair using this image. Probably do this once a month, so that if you have a HDD die, you can restore from this image and EVERTHING will be just like it was - Restore image, reboot and start using the computer. Any data you created inbetween last image and HDD failure you could retrieve from your normal back up.

PS: You can ONLY restore this image to the same HDD, or a NEW diskdrive that is the same size, or larger - Can NOT restore to a smaller HDD.

Hope this helps. - From a 70 year old senior - LOL

 

[tjs4ever]

I have a 60GB C drive with my other 400GB for larger installs like games, and file storage. It is worth noting that OS performance tends to degrade over time, even if you are always careful and virus free. Nothing runs like a fresh system. When it's time for me to make a new image, I restore to my previous image first to offset this. I do admit that this is a pain, though.

 

[ladymuk]

I use both Norton Ghost and Acronis to make full images of all my machines. Acronis can create recovery partitions as well - have used that for less tech-savvy customers. But I do believe windows 7 has basic imaging functionality built-in.

thank you but I do not have those things

 

[ladymuk]

You may also use R-Drive Image. This software does exactly what you need.

thank you so much but I probably would not understand another software...retired chief took a lot of time & I will go that way

 

[ladymuk]

How is your HDD setup:
1) Best method is two partitions, one for the OS and your programs (C-drive) ussally about 200 Gigs is fine, and a 2nd partition (a D-Drive) The rest of the drive for ALL of the files generated. This greatly simplifies imaging the OS, and backing up your data.
.. Using Windows 7 BU (located in control panel) windows will image EVERYTHING that is on the C-drive plus it will inclued the Very small system partition (Around a 100 Megs) that contains Boot info. To restore your operating system you can either use the repair disk (When image is completed you will be prompted to make a bootable repair disk) or You can boot to a windows installation disk and select repair, repair using image.
This will reinstall the image and you will boot into windows EXACTLY as it was when you created the image - No re-install, no reload drivers, no waiting on windows updates, and all programs are their.
You only NEED to redo this image when you make changes to the OS (ie add programs) maybe onece every month or two. You would use your normal backup program to bach up YOUR data from drive D.

2) If like many, Your WHOLE drive is c-drive. In this case the image that windows creates will include EVERYTHING, and EVERYTHING would be restored when you repair using this image. Probably do this once a month, so that if you have a HDD die, you can restore from this image and EVERTHING will be just like it was - Restore image, reboot and start using the computer. Any data you created inbetween last image and HDD failure you could retrieve from your normal back up.

PS: You can ONLY restore this image to the same HDD, or a NEW diskdrive that is the same size, or larger - Can NOT restore to a smaller HDD.

Hope this helps. - From a 70 year old senior - LOL

so very kind to take so much of your time ... very clear ... yes whole drive = C drive - so once a month as you advise...
I beat you by 8 years but sweet of you to comiserate...

 

[ladymuk]

Best answer selected by ladymuk.

 

[RetiredChief]

Should have mentioned, windows will look for where to place this image file. It does NOT want to put it on the same HDD, so if you have a 2nd HDD installed in system that will be it's first choice, 2nd choice (first choice if no 2nd HDD installed) will be the External HDD - selection by pull down menu, You can also select DVDs, but that can be slow, and a lot of DVDs if current C-drive is the whole internal HDD. It will store the image in the root directory (X:\ where X = the drive letter of the drive). But if your C drive is just OS + programs then it's only 5 -> 10 dvds.
I do not recomend DVDs as they are prone to "loss of data" - Not near as reliable as have been led to believe.