I must be dense or something, but Windows 7 Backup and Restore is very confusing to use. I just wasted the better part of a day trying (unsuccessfully) to do something that would seem to be straight-forward: 1) backup my entire Win 7 system (a single internal hard drive with two primary partitions + system partition) to an external USB drive2) replace the internal hard drive with a larger one, with the two primary partitions both increased in size3) restore the original contents of the two partitions from the external USB drive to the new internal hard drive. But after I thought I had completed the above steps, there were so many missing files I eventually had to re-install the original hard drive!Obviously, I created a system repair CD, and booted from it once the new drive had been installed. And I included a "system image" in my backup. But then things get confusing...What exactly is included (and not included) in the "system image"? I read somewhere that "program files" are excluded! Huh?In this scenario - in which I need to backup the entire hard drive - what else do I need to explicitly backup other than the system image? In particular, do I also need to explicitly select the contents of all partitions (aka, "drives") under "computer"? What if I select all the folders on both partitions (under "computer") and also select one or more libraries? Do I then backup the same files twice?How are "in-use" files treated? Are they backed-up? (based on the disaster I had yesterday, I expect they aren't). What about files to which I don't have permission? Are they silently skipped? Is there a log somewhere of what got backed-up?How can I increase the size of my partitions when restoring the system image using the System Repair CD? It wouldn't allow me to change the partition sizes, but instead restored my original partition sizes, which of course left a lot of unallocated space on the larger hard drive.And once I've created a complete backup, how do I restore it? (preferably, all of it!) (and please, don't just tell me to "click Restore my files"IMHO: I'm afraid that whoever is making the decisions to "dumb down" Windows so it will appeal to non-IT users may be verging on making it un-useable to us IT types who understand (to varying degrees) the underlying bits, but who have difficulty translating new-age touch-feely terms like "user's files". Heck, I consider the .NET assemblies in the GAC to be "user files"... since in this case the "user" is the developer (me) who wrote them.A backup/restore utility shouldn't be this obtuse.Thanks for any guidance, and thanks for letting me vent some steam.DT in Houston

Well, now you've got me a bit worried.I have selected drive C: (everything checked) and System Image in the hopes of getting EVERYTHING backed up.Are you specifically saying that for the backup that would not completely restore, you had your entire drive C: checked?-Noel

Hi there, I think it’s necessary to difference between File Backup and Image Backup. There is an Official FAQ for Backup feature in Windows 7 and I think you should review it first. Back up and restore: frequently asked questionshttp://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows7/Back-up-and-restore-frequently-asked-questions If you would like to get a full backup of the whole system, you should use “Image Backup” (from Backup and Restore -> Create a system image) and make sure you have select all drives in “Which drives do you want to include in the backup” list. Windows 7 will create a backup folder with your computer name as it’s folder name and you can find a .vhd file inside. This vhd file is a full mirror copy and contains all file data and partition info so you can use this image backup to restore the whole system if necessary. If you want to check and make sure everything was included in the image backup, please run Diskmgmt.msc to open the Disk Management and load the vhd file via Action -> Attach VHD – Browse… Meanwhile, you should use File backup in Backup and Restore to backup your personal files or system settings. You have read "somewhere that "program files" are excluded", yes, this is correct, but it only occurs in File backup and it’s not recommend to backup programs via File backup. You can refer to the following thread:http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/w7itproperf/thread/be671519-2567-4598-b665-af2ae93b369e PS: Which kind of backup you have performed and do you find any file missing except “program files” folder? Personally, I think backup in Windows 7 is helpful for home user and add the support to attach .vhd is a great feature (for me, at least). Is there anything unclear?

Gordon, we note that an "Image Backup" is supposed to be included with the file backups (if you check the box, as DT says he did). Is there more than one flavor of Image Backup? Microsoft's documentation refers to a "System Image Backup", which can be used to restore an entire hard drive. Is "System" implied sometimes?Statements like "it only occurs in File backup and it’s not recommend to backup programs via File backup" don't really help clear the confusion, now do they? It certainly doesn't answer DT's questions.Early on, when all I had in the system was Windows, I made an Image Backup on 4 DVDs. Now I'm trying one onto my external HD. It will be interesting to see what ends up on the drive. If I do get a .vhd image, I will enjoy looking into it.What I have not done - simply because I have not had the necessity to do so - is to actually TRY to restore any of my Windows 7 backups as DT has above. DT sounds pretty smart, and if he's made the obvious choices - especially in light of Microsoft's documentation stating "it is a complete restoration" - and yet his system didn't really restore fully, well... You can see a cause for concern here.Last time I had to rely on a Microsoft "Image Backup" was with Vista, and indeed I did recover all of my files when I had a hard drive fail. One would hope that the backup in Windows 7 is no less functional, but then... Lots of things in Windows 7 have gotten less functional, unfortunately.DT, please post your findings. I'd love to have a warmer, fuzzier feeling that I can rely on my backups here to get my system back in a pinch.-Noel

Hi Noel, In File backup wizard, there is a checkbox for “Include a system image of drives: (C:), etc.”, but it will only create the image backup for system drive (in most cases, only C and System Reserved drive). In “Create a system image” wizard, you can select all drives in your system so the image backup can create vhd files for your non-system drives. You can use it for “a complete restoration”. For example, if you have:C: Install Windows 7 and all programsD: Save personal dataSystem Reserved partition File backup wizard will save system image for C: and System Reserved partition. When you try to restore this image backup, it will not change or overwrite data in D drive. If you try to restore folders in “program files” manually, you will find most of them are empty folder since File backup would not save them in file backup. @ DT, Currently, I really would like to know what kind of file/data was missing. Programs or documents? Do you find this issue occurs in certain folders? I believe fix this issue would be helpful for other users who may face similar problem. PS: File backup should be save in a folder like:X:\ComputerName\Backup Set 2010-02-09 132115\Backup Files 2010-02-09 132115Image backup should be save in a folder like:X:\WindowsImageBackup\ComputerName Can you find vhd files and attach them for check?

Ah ha! I've had a "moment of clarity"! I thought the term "system image" referred to the operating system, and thus to get a full backup I needed to backup both the "system image" and the "data files". But "system image" is being used here to mean an "image of the drives" (actually, partitions, as the term is used by Ghost, et al). So in my scenario, "create a system image" is all I need to do. And now that I know how to attach the .vhd file (thanks!), I can see the files in the image of each partition.... ... and I don't see any obvious missing files. So I don't know what went wrong during my earlier attempt at a restore, unless something went south during the restore itself (but I'm not going to test that again) However, I'm still not clear how I could re-size my partitions during a restore (using the System Restore disc), which was the reason for this entire procedure. But that's a different issue, I suppose. But thanks for clearing-up my confusion. DT PS: when I attach a .vhd and check "read-only", it doesn't assign a drive letter, Disk Management shows the drive as "unallocated", and the drive isn't visible in Explorer.

Hi there, I think it’s necessary to difference between File Backup and Image Backup. There is an Official FAQ for Backup feature in Windows 7 and I think you should review it first. Back up and restore: frequently asked questions http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows7/Back-up-and-restore-frequently-asked-questions If you would like to get a full backup of the whole system, you should use “Image Backup” (from Backup and Restore -> Create a system image) and make sure you have select all drives in “Which drives do you want to include in the backup” list. Windows 7 will create a backup folder with your computer name as it’s folder name and you can find a .vhd file inside. This vhd file is a full mirror copy and contains all file data and partition info so you can use this image backup to restore the whole system if necessary. If you want to check and make sure everything was included in the image backup, please run Diskmgmt.msc to open the Disk Management and load the vhd file via Action -> Attach VHD – Browse… Meanwhile, you should use File backup in Backup and Restore to backup your personal files or system settings. You have read "somewhere that "program files" are excluded", yes, this is correct, but it only occurs in File backup and it’s not recommend to backup programs via File backup. You can refer to the following thread: http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/w7itproperf/thread/be671519-2567-4598-b665-af2ae93b369e PS: Which kind of backup you have performed and do you find any file missing except “program files” folder? Personally, I think backup in Windows 7 is helpful for home user and add the support to attach .vhd is a great feature (for me, at least). Is there anything unclear? Hi, I too have been struggling with a similar issue with Windows 7 and the answer above has clarified some aspects. However, I am trying to do something slightly different. I have bought a spare harddrive and mounted it in an external enclosure and made a System Mirror on it via the USB connection. Checking the mirror as described above shows that all is well. What I wanted to do was to simply install the spare drive when the internal PC harddrive fails, so that I could continue seamlessly to run the computer. But on swapping the drives to test this I get a message "Bootmgr missing". Is there any way of achieving this or am I trying to do the impossible? - Astrikor

Hello Astrikor, Yes, there is a solution to your question. Once you have completed 'Create Image', then you can select 'Restore' image and read screens. Next it will reboot and display the image you just created in the list, which will be the name of your PC. Remove the PC's side cover and unplug the 'C' drive data and power cable and plugin them into the spare hard drive. Then choose the image to restore and continue selecting the 'Next'. (Please read the info, so you become familar with the Microsoft screens.) Once it wants to reboot, please allow it to continue to make sure it boots up and you can login. If you want, then you can shutdown the computer and recable back to the original 'C' drive.