Win 8 Back up

[Tight Git]

Good evening,

I've just treated myself to a basic lap top for iPlayer, web browsing etc.

In case of HDD failure, I'd like to back up the system files (Win 8) to an external USB drive.

I've bought a 64Gb flash memory, but it doesn't seem to be acceptable, even after formatting.

Is this because you can't make a bootable system image on a flash drive or am I overlooking something?

If a flash drive won't do the trick, what USB connected drive do I need, please?

Many thanks.

 

[dogbot]

A system disc image is just that, it is a copy of the system drive and is not bootable.

The backup software that you use will normally create the disc image on an external USB harddrive. To restore the image back to a new drive or partition, the backup software should be on a bootable media or you should have previously made a bootable 'rescue' disc with which to restore the disc image.

I am not sure what the position is now for W8 regarding backing up. Some time ago I understood it was being phased out. Many use 3rd party software, I use Acronis, but there are free ones out there.

 

[Tight Git]

Thanks DB!.

When I bought my desktop from PCS a year ago, I was advised that the Windows back up utility was all that was needed although (being my main computer) I actually use Norton Ghost.

Since the lap top won't be used for anything special, I was hoping that the Windows back up to a flash memory would be sufficient to cover HDD failure.

 

[Pagey]

Yes Windows 8 does have a backup utility.

To access:

Control panel > System and security (in category view) > File History > At the bottom left of the window is "system image backup" (Win 8.1), think it's called "Win 7 backup" on Win 8. Hit that and follow the instructions. You will NEED to make a bootable device, (rescue disc), to use the backup to restore. Not sure if you can turn a usb drive into a rescue disc and put the backup on it.

 

[ubuysa]

Or you might like to get hold of Macrium Reflect (which is free). It lets you take disk and/or partition images. The main reason I use Macrium is because you can mount a Macrium image as a virtual drive and thus access all the files and folders inside the image without having to restore it.