- Win8 Refresh removes all desktop apps.
Reinstalling them did cost me a day.
- Restoring via Windows 7 file recovery seems not to work
RecImg
- does not to support backing up to network drives
- seems not to restore all settings (Ex: Outlook 2013 account settings)
- lets the PC go to sleep while backing up
I am reluctant to go back to using Acronis because with Win7 I could never get automatic backups waking the PC from sleep to work properly and looking in their forum there are problems like this again with TI 2013 and Win8.
I read Windows Backup vs File History vs Volume Image (Wbadmin)
Hi,
You could try to Create a System Image to back up your system. When you need to restore the system, just go to Windows RE and restore this image.
Hi Juke,
as stated in my initial post, restoring a system image seems not to work.
Here the link (including steps to reproduce) again:
How to restore a Windows 7 file recovery image?
The Windows "7" Recovery option in Control Panel does work, but make sure you make a System Repair Disc from that option in Control Panel as well. I made it onto a USB Key. Using a Windows 7 System Repair Disc will not work, it has to be a Windows 8 Repair Disc.
RECIMG works but you do have to do a lot of work on the desktop. Making a total image is better as this will re-instate the machine (while getting on with something else in life!).
Hi,
Boot from any Linux live CD, then open a terminal window and run the following command
su -
dd if = /dev/sda bs=64M of = /dev/sdb
It will copy the whole contents of your main disk (typically /dev/sda to an external disk /dev/sdb)
It's a byte-by-byte copy, it's an exact copy of the disk. I used it in XP and 7, runs perfectly well.
To restore, you just run the inverse process
su -
dd if = /dev/sdb bs=64M of = /dev/sda
Tony,
good to hear that re-imaging Win8 using Windows 7 file recovery does work.
Did you re-image from a directly attached drive or from a network drive?
I am unable to re-image from a network drive:
- From within Win8 I get the error "..not able to find any backup sets" as described in the thread linked above.
- From the Win8 install DVD or a recovery CD it get "Access is denied".
Recreating the network share and its permission did not help. The machines are not in a Domain. I am trying to connect with an admin account of the workstation sharing the backup disk.
Hi,
I backed up the image to a directly attached external USB HDD. The System Repair Disc was saved to a USB Key. Re-installing an image is far more efficient to me than fiddling with RECIMG as that basically zapps all "desktop" programs - or did when I experimented with it !!
(FYI My main drive is a 500 GB SSD, the directly attached external HDD is a 500 GB "Spinner")
See the following thread as well regarding the System Repair Disc:
So the resume of this discussion is: the best way to do a complete Win8 backup/restore with built-in tools still is using "Windows 7 file recovery".
EDIT:
My conclusion above is only valid if one has a substantial amount of desktop applications. If one only has "modern" apps using Win8 Refresh seems to be find.
I still did not find a solution for
How to restore a Windows 7 file recovery image from a network drive?
Norton Ghost 15 will not work with Windows 8.Ghost 11 does, it might even be freeware now but I am not sure. Booting from a bootable CD/DVD does the trick ;)