Backup Questions Using the Internal or an External Drive

Welcome to the TenForums @JWalker

If you look at the properties of your C:drive and assuming all your programs and data are there it will tell you how much space you need for a backup.

A backup is different than an Image. Most Images are in what I will call a container. You can't cherry pick files, easily, where as a backup you can easily find a file or a folder and restore. Usually you create an Image of your OS and programs and a backup of your data files.

A lot of members here recommend Macrium Reflect for Imaging their drive. It is free, relatively easy to use and reliable. You can then look at Windows Backup and Restore (Windows 7) within 10 for your data backup. There are lots of tools to do this on the market.

Where you put your backup or Image depends on what you are trying to guard against. If it is a simple Windows update you want to fall back from you can create an Image on a separate partition within you system. Whereas trying to guard against a drive failure says it must be on a physically unique drive. If your are guarding your data from something like Ransomware you need to be on a separate drive that is physically disconnected from your machine or at least power down.

I recommend backups and Images be on an external drive and that drive not be located beside your machine. Fire, theft and water all strike within the same proximity.

Different Imaging programs compress data at different rates. Some encrypt Image which for most people is a step to far as it just adds another thing that might go wrong or a key that gets forgotten.

Not sure what the Thinkpad was actually storing in this partition. Lots of vendors provide a recovery partition but that partition is basically how your device left manufacturing. So even a device two years old will look like the day you brought it home. Windows will be as of that day, bloatware is placed back on and you are ready to start over.

If you look at Macrium Reflect and tell it to Image your drive it will take care of everything in terms of file structures. You select the partitions you want to copy and restore. In your case I would copy all, as Windows creates what I will call auxiliary partitions that it needs as part of install. You can download product, install it and look.

You may also want to type recovery Drive into Cortana and follow the process. It usually uses an 8GB key. This key will have everything Windows needs to handle a bunch of different scenarios. I like to think of it as a second set of keys to the car. This is just Windows so not a true Image as your programs won't be there nor does it back up data. That said you can boot from it when Windows gets cranky, you can get to command prompt and you can run some "Recovery" routines. Everyone should have a Recovery drive.

Also have a look in the Software and Apps section of the forum. You will find Kyhi Windows Recovery Tools, first sticky. A must for everyone who wants more than the basics.

You should have some sort of recovery option when you boot. Fast Startup may be jumping over it. All vendors provide something. Some also provide software within Windows to create "Recovery Media". Check in your app folders, likely called Thinkpad. You might even see it as you type recovery into Cortana which is just a search.

If you image to your lone physical harddrive this can be used to roll back simple problems but will give you zero protection against a drive failure.

Since you have your old 7 machine, and assuming you moved to your new device, you could look at your 7 machine being the test bed. Use Macrium and then restore it. You need to create boot media with Macrium, it will assist, click a couple of buttons, done.

Then you can move to Image your 10 machine with confidence that you understand how to restore. I recommend creating new boot media when you Macrium your 10 device.

Yes to the version. Post a screen shot of what you are seeing. C:\ is your windows drive but the other partitions are used by Windows and need to be copied as well.

Post a screen shot.

We have an excellent tutorial on Macrium

Macrium Reflect - Backup & Restore

Yes you want them all. Look at most, they are in MB not GB.

Here is a description of what they do.

UEFI/GPT-based hard drive partitions

If you go back to your old Window 7 you will see "Similar" partions, Like "System Reserved".