Just the other day, I had to use this feature because my Microsoft Outlook Personal Folder became corrupted. Lucky enough, I had a backup installation. Let’s take a look at how to copy files from a .VHD Image.

First, connect the external hard disk where you have the .VHD file stored or the backup of your Windows 7 installation, then turn it on. I am using a USB External hard disk.

Click Start, right-click Computer and click Manage

In Computer Management, expand Storage then click Disk Management

There you should see your external hard disk listed. Click the Action menu and click Attach VHD

Uncheck Read-only and click Browse

Browse the External Hard disk, open the WindowsImageBackup folder where Backup and Restore stores system images. Open the desired image you want to copy files from.

Open the folder with the name Backup you should also see the date in the name of the backup

Select the .vhd file with the alpha numeric name then click Open

Click OK

Windows 7 will now detect the VHD file as a hard disk volume.

Once the VHD file is initialized, it will be assigned a volume name and you can browse it like any normal hard disk you have installed or connected to your computer. In the above screenshot, I am browsing the VHD file of a Windows Vista Ultimate computer, you can see the folders normally found at the root of the drive such as Users, Windows, Program files folders.

When you are finished using the VHD file, simply click the Eject button in the notification area and eject the listed external Virtual Disk file.

How to Browse and Copy Files From a VHD (System Image) Backup is a post by Andre from Notebooks.com.

The next best option is Backup and Restore. First introduced in Windows Vista, this enhanced recovery solution replaced Windows XP’s dated NTBackup utility.

The benefits are convenient too, you can individually backup individual user accounts, libraries and folders. In fact, I discovered, Backup and Restore is most preferable over solutions such as Windows Easy Transfer. One of the ill-effects I discovered from using WET for backup is, it messes with your Microsoft Outlook Personal Folders.

WET does not have any idea about other locations you store important information. Neither does Backup and Restore, but you can change that easily. An example, right now I am testing Windows 7 SP1, what I realized, when I did WET Backups, then restoring on an updated build, my Windows XP Mode which I use for compatibility was never backed although its something I regularly use. With Backup, I can ensure that the specific directory where XP Mode stores its .VHD file is included all my backup sets.

Types of Backup

One of the important things to know before beginning a backup is  to know the types of backup there are.

• Normal Backup – A normal/full backup archive all files selected to the medium. These files are marked as having been archived by clearing the archive bit.
• Copy Backup – All selected files are copied, it however does not mark the files as having been archived.
• Differential Backup – Back up is performed on All the files and folders that have been created or modified since either the last normal backup or the last incremental backup. Files are not marked as having been archived. Copies will be made from the same starting point until the next incremental or full backup is performed. Making differential backups is important because only the last full and differential backups are needed to restore all the data.
• Incremental Backup – An incremental backup procedure backs up all the files and folders that have been created or modified since either the last normal or incremental backup. It marks the files as having been archived by clearing the archive bit. This has the effect of advancing the starting point of differential backups without having to re-archive the entire contents of the drive. If you have to perform a system restore, you would have to first restore the last full backup, then restore every incremental backup in order, and then restore any differential backups made since the last incremental backup.
• Daily Backup – Daily backups only back up the files that are modified on the day of the backup. Daily backups do not modify the archive bit.

In the case of Windows 7 Backup and Restore, the initial backup is a full backup, subsequent backups are Incremental - i.e – only changed files are backed up. When certain rules (eg. a long time has passed since the last full backup or the amount of data being backed becomes too large compared to the previous backup sets) Backup and Restore runs a full backup which automatically deletes the older backup sets through ‘Manage space’. You will see a new entry with a newer backup period in the Manage space wizard whenever a new full backup is created.

External Hard disk

To efficiently, effectively, reliably and safely backup your computer, please invest in a External Hard disk. I am imploring on you seriously, please do so.

Why? Well, they are cheap, you can get a good 1 TB external hard disk below $70. Backing up gigabytes of data to DVD’s which store about 4.7 GBs of information is inefficient and is likely to produce a number of coasters in the process. I can tell you this personally from experience when I had to backup a friends computer. I remember successfully backing up a small amount of data to DVD’s, when I tried to restore the data, it just would not happen. External hard disks allow you freedom and wide open space to do more innovative types of backup. For instance, you could do a Standard Backup, create multiple system images, a Windows Easy Transfer file and if you are using Windows 7 Enterprise or Ultimate, create a bootable copy of Windows 7 installation on a partition called a .VHD Boot, so you can use a Windows 7 installation with a Virtual Machine or another computer.

Uninterruptable Power Supply/AC-DC Power

The worst backup is when the power goes or your battery dies during the backup, that’s called an immediate disaster. It is recommended you plug the External hard disk into a UPS to ensure consistent power even if a power outage occurs. A UPS might not guarantee you that you will be able to complete the backup, since most of them provide a max 30 mins of juice. But if you only have a few minutes remaining, it can be very handy or it allows you to safely cancel the backup without causing damage to external hard disk or computer. By default, laptops must be plugged in when running backup.

Starting your backup.

Click Start, type: Backup

Then hit Enter on your keyboard

This will open the Backup and Restore center. From here you will see an overview of information about your backup activities, such as your storage devices used (CD/DVD, External hard disk), time you did your last backup, when backups are scheduled, settings for adjusting backup, and information for restoring backups.

There are multiple backup methods available in Windows 7. You have System Image which creates a replica of your entire Windows 7 installation along with your personal files, installed applications and personal settings. An External hard disk is most certainly recommended for this type of backup. Notebooks.com took a look at how to create a System Image and Restore it here Then there is the Standard backup or what is known as the full backup this only backs up your accounts and libraries, along with important information such as your personalized settings.

Beginning your Backup

Connect the External hard disk (I will be using an external USB hard disk), turn it on.

Note: If you are backing up a laptop, please make sure you are connected to AC/DC power since Backup will not execute on battery power.

If you don’t see your external hard disk show up as a backup location in Backup and Restore, click the Change settings link.

Select the Backup Destination and click Next.

Next, you will be asked to select what you would like to backup.

Let Windows choose

If you let Windows choose what is backed up, the following items are included in your backup:

• Data files that are saved in libraries, on the desktop, and in default Windows folders for all people with a user account on the computer.

  Notes

  • Only local files in libraries are included in the backup. If you have files in a library that are saved on a drive located on a different computer on a network, on the Internet, on the same drive that you are saving the backup on, or on a drive that is not formatted using the NTFS file system, they aren’t included in the backup.
  • Default Windows folders include AppData, Contacts, Desktop, Downloads, Favorites, Links, Saved Games, and Searches.
• If the drive you are saving your backup on is formatted using the NTFS file system and has enough disk space, a system image of your programs, Windows, and all drivers and registry settings are also included in the backup. This image can be used to restore the contents of your computer if your hard drive or computer stops working. For more information, see What is a system image?

Let me choose

You can choose to back up individual folders, libraries, or drives.

Notes

• All files in known system folders (folders that contain files that Windows needs to run), and known program files (files that define themselves as part of a program in the registry when the program is installed) will not be backed up even if they are in a selected folder.

• If a folder or drive is not selected, the contents of that folder or drive are not backed up.

I personally will be going with the Let me choose option because, there are certain directories that are not included in the default Backup option. Click Next

Individual folders I have selected and excluded for backup

Here you can see Backup allows you to select which locations you want to backup, these include user accounts, drives and folders. I personally would like to have my Windows Virtual PC folder backed up since I use it regularly and make changes to it. After I have selected what I want to backup, click Next

Backup now provides a review of the items we have selected and excluded in our backup. Your options will likely be different. Once you are happy with the options (you can always click the Back button and make adjustments if needed), click Save settings and run backup

You will then be taken back to the Backup and Restore window where you can monitor the progress of the Backup. The time it takes to backup will vary depending on the size of the backup. Other factors include processor and memory. For this particular backup I did, which is about 16 GBs of data, it took about 2 hours.

Once the backup is complete, you can click close, eject you’re your external hard disk and turn it off. That’s it! In a future article, we will take a look at restoring the backup.

How to Backup to an External Hard Drive is a post by Andre from Notebooks.com.

The upgrade version of Windows 7 requires that you have a qualifying version of Windows (XP or Vista) already installed on your system to be in compliance with the upgrade license. In addition to that, the qualifying version of Windows must be activated, this is unlike past versions of Windows which only required that you provide the Windows disk for verfication. So creating a System Image right after installing Windows 7 can avoid these procedures if the need ever arises in the future. Of course, you will need to have an external hard disk if you plan on backing up your installation, especially if you have a large data set (install size of all your personal files, installed programs combined). External hard drives are abundantly affordable today, you can pick up a 1 TB hard drive for less than $80 from some computer retailers. So its a definite recommendation, especially for this guide.

Windows Vista introduced a powerful suite of backup tools that made securing your installation of Windows a more confident experience. All editions of Windows 7 include System Image, which provides options for backing your personal data such as Libraries, Documents, Pictures, Music and Videos and other application files or your entire installation of Windows 7 either to an external hard disk or remote location such as a Network drive (Professional, Enterprise and Ultimate editions only).

Pre-requisite: To do a successful backup of Windows 7, you must have a few things in place:

• Enough available storage to perform the backup, whether you are backing up to a Network drive or an external drive is necessary. A System Image will create a backup of your entire installation of Windows 7. If you are doing an initial backup, each successive backup copies only the files that have changed since the previous one. The old copies are saved, just in case one of your backups are altered or a file has been deleted and you need to go back to a previous version. So enough space to accommodate these scenario’s is very important. Backup and Restore intelligently manages storage space, if there is not enough space on the disk, one ore more of the older backups will be discarded starting with the oldest.
• If you are backing up your laptop, ensure that your AC/DC power adapter is connected, since a backup might take longer than the available battery power can support. For my desktop, I have a UPS connected just in case a power outage occur’s.

Windows 7 backup and restore features are designed to make protecting your data and system easier. The combined file and system backup wizard delivers a simplified configuration experience, and the folder selectivity functionality for file backup provides users greater control over their backup content. Managing backup is easier with the new space management user interface and integration with Action Center. Recovering your system is made easier with simplified interface and better guidance for choosing a recovery method. Lets get started:

Click Start, type: Backup

Hit Enter

New backups must be setup before beginning

Searching for available Backup devices

If this is your first time creating a backup, you will need to set it up first. Click the Setup Backup link which will initiate the Backup wizard. The wizard searches your computer and displays a list of all destinations that you can use to store your backup. Because I have not turned on my External hard disk which is where I plan to save the system image of Windows 7 installation, it does not appear in the list. I will now turn on my External Drive and click the Refresh button.

Now that the backup device has appeared, I can select it and click Next to proceed with the Backup. Windows provides two options for back up in version 7:

Let Windows choose (recommended) Windows will back up data files saved in libraries, on the desktop, and in the default Windows folders. Windows will also create a system image, which can be used to restore your computer it stops working. These items will be backed up on a regular schedule.

Let me choose You can select libraries and folders and whether to include a system image in the backup. The items you choose will be backed up on a regular schedule.

The decision primarily comes down to available storage. Letting Windows choose is the best choice because everything will be backed up and provides the best option in the case of scenarios such as Windows unable to boot or the Startup Repair is unable to get your Windows installation working again. If you want some detailed options, the ability to choose is also great because you might have libraries you might not want to backup because they contain large amounts of data that might exceed your available storage space, so the option to exclude those makes it easier to backup what is most important to you.

I have chosen to backup my entire computer which includes all accounts along with a System Image of my Windows 7 Installation. The Review your backup settings, notes that you will need a System Repair disc to restore an System Image. Please refer to my recent recovery options article here for more details if your PC does not include one. You can also use your Windows 7 installation DVD to assist with the restoration of your System Image. Once you have reviewed everything, its time to start the back up, click Save settings and run backup button.

Preparing to Backup your Windows 7 installation

One of the changes you will notice in Windows 7, the Backup and Restore explorer is utilized for monitoring the progress of your backup. You can click the View Details button which will reveal more information such as percentage completed and what is happening during the backup itself. The time it will take to complete the backup will vary depending on the amount of data. Based on past experiences, if its your first backup, it will take some time, future incremental backups will be shorter.

Hiccups

I did come across some problems during my backup experience. The program seem to not be responding at all and remained stuck at 7% trying to create a Shadow Copy. After several failed attempts and restarts, I tried the following:

Click Start, type Services, hit Enter. Scroll down down to Windows Backup and Restore service make sure that it is set to start automatically. Right click the Service, click Properties > under the General tab > click in the “Startup type:” list box, and select ‘Automatic’, click Apply and OK. Click the ‘Play’ button on the Toolbar to Start the service. Do the same for Windows Shadow Copy service. My installation of Windows 7 was actually an upgrade from Windows Vista SP1, so its possible there was some anomaly that occurred during the upgrade that caused problems with certain services and tools. After doing this though and clicking the ‘Create a system image’ task link in the Backup and Restore explorer, I was presented with the option to backup my Windows 7 installation which proceeded without any issues from there on.

Doing the Restoration

Doing the restoration is a very simple process, if you need guided assistance you can use the the System Recovery Environment item in Action Center located in Control Panel to help. In my case, I will simply insert my Windows 7 DVD, boot from it and choose the the System Image Recovery option. Lets take a look at doing that.

Booting from my Windows 7 DVD which is loading the Recovery Environment

After selecting your Language, click the ‘Repair your computer’ link which will take you to the recovery options.

Checking for Windows installations

In our case, we will be doing a restoration, so select that option

The System Image Wizard will now begin, click ‘Next’

Here you can see I have a collection of System Images, I will select my desired image, in this case WIN7X64-ACER and click Next.

The Backup name and date listed will be restored to the selected location, in this case ‘C:’

If I had created any changes to the drive lay out after my last System Image Backup, such as creating additional partitions, I can have those partitions formatted and removed so it matches exactly to the System Image I am restoring from my external hard disk. You do have the option however to exclude attached storage devices and partitions.

Confirm your selected options, and click Finish to Start the restoration of your System Image.

Once the restoration is complete, you will be prompted to restart your computer.

The restoration will take some time depending on the size of the image, my Windows 7 System Image which totaled about 69 GB’s took more than an hour to restore.

Conclusion

There you have it, a powerful way to protect your computer and personal files. Backup in Windows 7 has never been easier. You can also schedule your backups, which will ensure that your information is always safe. I am very impressed by how easy the process is both backing up and restoring. My recommendation is to get a dedicated external drive, backing up GBs of data to DVD which is an available option is both time consuming and unreliable. Also, backing up to an internal partition defeats the purpose of Backups in the first place. With System Image and External hard disk, you are able to keep a protected off site copy of your Windows 7 Installation in case something catastrophic happens.

How to backup your installation of Windows 7 is a post by Andre from Notebooks.com.