Create System Image in Windows 10

Mooly · 23 Aug 2016

subzero said:

Once I have created the system image I can still use the Hard drive to copy other docs, movies, pics etc on it? and If I was in the future to recreate another System Image, it will NOT delete the existing stuff on the drive?

Thanks in Advance :)

And just to add to Kbirds comprehensive reply...

When you make a System Image it is by default named as 'WindowsImageBackup'. When you make another image it retains and uses that same name silently adding any changes that have occurred since the first was made... and so on.

When you restore you have the option of choosing which backup in the set you want to use.

You can rename the back yourself, but doing so means that the next image you make will start afresh with a new WindowsImageBackup name.

If you want to restore an image from a renamed folder then that folder must be renamed back to WindowsImageBackup to make it valid.

Kbird · 23 Aug 2016

Mooly said:

And just to add to Kbirds comprehensive reply...

When you make a System Image it is by default named as 'WindowsImageBackup'. When you make another image it retains and uses that same name silently adding any changes that have occurred since the first was made... and so on.

When you restore you have the option of choosing which backup in the set you want to use.

You can rename the back yourself, but doing so means that the next image you make will start afresh with a new WindowsImageBackup name.

If you want to restore an image from a renamed folder then that folder must be renamed back to WindowsImageBackup to make it valid.

Thanks Mooly Good info

Note Subzero that Mooly is referring to using the Win10 Built in Imaging tool above ( what this tutorial/thread is about ) not the Macrium Reflect Program that has also been mentioned.

KB.

ICIT2LOL · 23 Aug 2016

Sounds like the plan I would do and I think I might have hinted at. Now I a ma not sure but it might be worth making a clone of the original drive by making the originals partitions smaller to fit onto a largish stick with Partition Wizard then clone those partitions using this Macrium Reflect Free
(another valuable tool) and I would try getting a 128GB stick for that.
The you have the OS on a stick as well as the original drive to boot from. Oh and by the way I do prefer Seagate drives over WD I have never found them particularly reliable or as good as the Seagate's .

But the choice is yours of course and your budget.:)

PS the Macrium is in my mind the far better imaging tool because you can image manually or set it to image say every week and the delete the older images as you go along.

subzero · 02 Sep 2016

Excellent guys, once again many Thanks!!

ALIGATOR26 · 20 Nov 2016

Hello.Can I make a WindowsImageBackup for Windows 10 on a microsd card 64gb?If yes,how can i proceed?Thank you.

Mooly · 21 Nov 2016

WindowsImageBackup as you have type it refers specifically to Windows own disk image utility. A 64Gb card should be large enough for most installations unless you happen to have masses of user files.

Does the card not show as a location available to be used when you run the image utility ?

Maybe Windows does not allow card readers to be used. One possible reason could be that they require the operating system and the required card reader driver to be available and that is not possible under a restore situation. USB slots are active with basic default drivers being used.

You could still store a disk image on a card by copying it across though... but it may not be usable to restore from until you put it back to a USB drive.

ALIGATOR26 · 21 Nov 2016

Thank you,but I ask if is possible to make a WindowsImageBackup for Windows 10 on a microsd card 64gb and how proceed!!!!

Bree · 21 Nov 2016

ALIGATOR26 said:

I ask if is possible to make a WindowsImageBackup for Windows 10 on a microsd card 64gb and how proceed...

If the MicroSD card is listed here then yes, you can make a system image on it.

Create System Image in Windows 10-sd.png

Restoring from it may be a problem though. You may need to put in in a USB adapter in order to see it. Only basic USB drivers are loaded when the restore software is running - there may not be one for SD card readers.

ddelo · 08 May 2017

Back in March 2016, following a clean install of Windows 10, I used “Create a system image” from Control Panel > System and Security >Backup and Restore (Windows 7), exactly as described in the tutorial, to create a minimum image of the system with only Windows 10, Office 2016 and the Adobe products I use.
Since then I never used it to restore the system.
It goes without saying that since I created the image, the system was updated to Anniversary edition and kept updating.

Last week since the external drive I used to create the image was getting full, I got a new 2TB WD external drive.

I used Robocopy to copy the WindowsImageBackup from the drive I originally used for the image to the new drive:

RoboCopy "E:\WindowsImageBackup" "F:\WindowsImageBackup" /MIR /COPYALL /MT:16 /R:0 /W:0 /UNILOG+:"C:\Backup\RCopy.log" /TEE /NP /FP /BYTES

The copy finished successfully, but when I try to test the restore operation from “Control Panel > System and Security >Backup and Restore (Windows 7) > Select another backup to restore files from”, Windows does not see the newly copied WindowsImageBackup, which of course is in the Root of the new external drive.

Is there any other way to move/copy the System Image from the external drive it was originally created to another external drive and of course been able to use it for restore?

Brink · 08 May 2017

Hello Dimitri, :)

Unfortunately, moving a system image will render it useless to do a system recovery with.

You'll be able to start over by creating a new system image on the new external drive though.