Backing up Your Data - Disk Imaging Software

Disk imaging software is by far the preferred method of backing up my own system.

It's a simple, yet very powerful type of backup software. Disk imaging software allows you to make a backup of an entire disk or partition. This approach not only backs up your precious data files, but also backs up your entire system in its current state.

If a failure occurs that blocks access to your information, or that affects system operation/performance (if necessary system files get accidentally deleted for example), you'll be able to easily restore the entire system and lost data in one simple operation.

This exact, 'sector-by-sector' disk backup includes all of your operating system files, applications and configuration files, software updates, drivers, personal settings and all of your personal data that was on that disk or partition.

It's like taking a 'snapshot' image of your computer the way it is now, and then restoring that snapshot of your computer in a working state at a later date.

Disk images are often quite large due to the nature of this type of backup, but if you have an extra disk partition, an external hard disk, or a DVD-RW, then you'll be able to make backups with ease. (a local disk partition / USB 2.0 disk is recommended for the fastest backup/restoration speeds).

The disk imaging software I recommend to everyone is Acronis True Image, as it is by far the most reliable, simple to use, and overall fastest disk imaging software I have ever used - this is therefore the imaging software I will outline the use of here.

Backing Up

Click to enlarge the image.

Click "Create Image" and click "Next". The 'Create Image Wizard' will now ask you which partitions you wish to backup. Place a tick next to any disk or partition you wish to add to the image:

Now choose a location for the backup image to be saved:

I like to make the image name the current date, to make restoring at a later date more simple.

You can store Acronis True Image backups on almost any PC storage device: local hard drives, network drives or a variety of IDE, SCSI, FireWire, USB (1.0, 1.1 and 2.0) and PC Card removable media drives, as well as CD-R/RW, DVD-R/RW, DVD+R/RW, magneto-optical, Iomega Zip and Jaz drives.

Once you've chosen your backup location and clicked 'Next', you're asked what sort of backup you would like to make, an 'incremental' backup, or a 'full' backup image archive. In most cases I would suggest the full backup option.

Incremental backups only contains data changed since the last full or incremental backup creation. Therefore, it is smaller and takes less time to create. But as it doesn't contain all data, all the previous incremental backups and the initial full backup are required for restoration.

On the next screen you will be asked whether you want to split the image archive. In some cases disk images can be several gigabytes big, this option therefore allows you to split the archive into more manageable pieces. For instance, if you specify 700MB on this page, you will get several 700MB 'chunks' instead of one large file. If you have no reason to do this, then just leave it set to 'Automatic'. Click 'Next' to continue.

On the following screen you will be asked how much you want to compress the image archive. The default setting is "Normal".

If you select "None", the data will be copied without any compression, which will significantly increase the backup file size and the time it takes to complete the backup (due to the large amount of data that has to be moved around).

If you select "Maximum compression", the archive will take much longer to create due to the increased processing power required to compress the data so well. The archive will however be 10-20% smaller in some cases, depending on the files stored on the disk.

For the fastest disk imaging, leave the compression set to "Normal". This will produce a file that's pretty well compressed, while letting the backup process complete fairly quickly.

The last few screens will ask you if you want to password protect the image file, and if you want to add a comment to it to help you remember what's in it. After this, Acronis will start backing up your selected disk(s)/partition(s):

On most modern systems, this process will complete in just five or ten minutes.

Restoring your data

Restoring a few files and folders:

Simply browse to the disk image you want to restore data from, and double-click it. A new window will now open asking you what drive letter you want to mount the image to:

Just choose a free drive letter and click "Next" - the image will now appear in My Computer under the chosen drive letter, allowing you to easily copy off whatever data you want. Once you're complete, right-click the disk, and choose "Unplug", or just leave it (it'll vanish the next time you restart) *note* - this is a read only disk, you can't copy things onto it!

Restoring a whole 'non-system' disk:

1. Open Acronis True Image,
2. Click "Restore Image",
3. Click "Next" and browse to and select the image you wish to restore,
4. Click "Next" and choose whether to verify the image (verification will take more time, but it ensures the disk image is okay before trying to restore it,.
5. choose which partitions from the image you want to restore and click "Next",
6. Highlight the partition you want to replace, or some free disk space for the partition to be restored into and click "Next",
7. Choose whether you want the restored partition to be 'Active', 'Primary' or 'Logical' (it will select what the disk was before by default),
8. Click "Next", you will be asked if you want resize the partition - in most cases you should leave this alone and click "Next" again,
9. Choose a drive letter for the image to use, and whether you want to check the consistency of the disk after restoration
10. Lastly, you will be asked if you want to restore anything else as well, 99 times out of 100 you will just want to click "No" and continue,
11. The disk image will now restored, bringing the destination disk/partition back to its previous state.

Restoring a whole 'system' disk:

To restore the partition that Windows is installed on, you obviously can't be using Windows at the time (it can't replace a file that's in use). Acronis True Image has an elegant solution to this though, in the form of a bootable version of Acronis True Image that doesn't require Windows to be running.

To create this disc, simply open Acronis and click "Create Bootable Rescue Media", insert a blank disc into a CD-RW/DVD-RW, choose the drive with the disc in Acronis, and click "Proceed" to burn the disc.

This bootable version of Acronis looks exactly the same as the Windows version (for ease of use), so all you have to do is boot from the disc and follow the same instructions as above for your system partition disk image. After it's complete, restart your computer, and you will be greeted by the same desktop you had when you made the image!

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Navigation:

• Backing up your Data
  • Backing up your Registry
  • Backing up your system files with Microsoft System Restore
  • Making a backup of your documents using Windows Backup
  • Making a full backup image of your hard disk