Hi, those who don't use disk imaging most regret it when things have gone wrong. Your disk may fail, your PC become irrecoverably unbootable- other hardware faults aside, disk imaging gives you a stress-free way to recover, quickly and hopefully without technical help. Don't leave it too late.
Here's my write-up on the value of disk imaging.
Everyone who contributes regularly here uses and recommends disk imaging.
If you use it, you can recover from:
- a failed disk drive (restore to a new one)
- ransomware (which encrypts your disk)
- user error
- unrecoverable problems from failed updates to problem programs
- unbootable PC (hardware faults aside)
Images also act as a full backup- you can extract files too.
You can even use images to help you move more easily and quickly to a new PC.
Can be used with Laplink software to transfer your build automatically to another PC
Imaging can even help you sleep at night knowing you have a second chance.
Creating disk images lets you restore Windows and all your imaged disks and partitions to a previous working state from compressed copies you have created and kept updated on external storage media, quickly and probably without technical help.
Many here recommend Macrium Reflect (free) as a good robust solution and more reliable than some others. It’s
- more feature rich
- more flexible
- more reliable
than Windows Backup and Restore system images.
It's well supported with videos, help and a responsive forum.
There are other such programs, free/commercial, some with simpler interfaces, but Macrium R is one of the most robust and reliable.
How long does it take?
SSD+ USB3 - maybe 15 mins for the first system image, less thereafter
HDD + USB2 - maybe 40-50 mins
That’s with little personal data, few programs installed.
- of course, depends how much you have on C:
(You can and should image all your partitions and disks)
Once you've created your first image, keep it updated with e.g. differential imaging- which images just changes from the first image, more quickly, and creates a smaller image file.
You need a backup medium - say- twice as large as the total amount of data you are imaging to keep a reasonable number of differential images. This will vary dependent on the number of images you keep, so is only a rough practical guide.
Some comment that system restore isn't always reliable; if it works and solves the problem, great. But sometimes restores won't work or fail. And of course a restore point only covers a limited number of aspects of the system. That’s where disk imaging comes in.
Macrium automatically selects all the partitions comprising Windows if you select that option.
You can of course back up any combination of disks and partitions.
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