How to:
Choose a backup process for you
Perform various types of backups
Restore data from these backups
Why do we backup?
Have you ever lost data?
Hardware failure (hard drive, CPU, motherboard, power
failure or spikes)
Software failure (OS or program crashes, programming
bugs, virus attacks)
Environmental factors (fire, flood, theft)
Operations errors (accidental deletion or overwrite)
What would you do to not have to feel this pain?
Here are some ideas:
Data File Backups
• Any media may be used to backup to:
– A different folder on the same media
– A different partition on the same media
– A different hard drive in the machine
– Removable media
• Floppy disk
• CD / DVD
• USB flash drive
• Remote external hard drive
– Any of the above on another machine on your network
• Drag file(s) and/or folder(s) to backup location
Data File Backups
On line backup services
Data only, such as Document, Pictures, Music
Manual execution or scheduled
$5 to $55 per month based on amount of data saved
Recommendations from PC Magazine
SOS Online Backup Home Edition 4.7.4 $79/year/50Gb
IDrive (2011) $50/year/150Gb
KineticD $2/year/each Gb
MiMedia $99/year/100Gb
Norton Online Backup 2.0 $50/year/250Gb
Mozy Home 2.0 $55/year/unltd
System Restore
Windows 7, VISTA and XP protect themselves by creating
Restore Points before performing some critical operations
such as installing updates or new software
Restore Points save the system configuration and
program settings. They do NOT affect user data such as
documents, pictures or music.
The Windows task scheduler is SUPPOSED to create a
Restore Point daily (by default) but I have not seen it
done
If, after installing a program or an upgrade, your system
starts to act strange, you can restore the system to it’s
condition just before that install or upgrade
System Restore
Run System Restore (upgraded for Windows 7 &
VISTA)
Type System Restore in the search box and run that
program OR
Run Backup and Restore and take the Recover system
settings or your computer option
On the System Restore screen, you can use the
Recommended restore (this will be the most recent
Restore Point) or Choose a different restore point by
date/time/description
System Restore
The System Restore removes any programs that have
been installed since the last Restore Point or RE-
installs programs that have been removed since the
last Restore Point
It repairs the registry files that may have had links to
these unwanted programs
It does not restore any previous versions of data files
It MIGHT be able to reverse virus damage. A good
virus scanning tool is still needed.
System Restore
Volume Snapshot Service (VSS) or Volume Shadow Copy
Service (VISTA or Windows 7)
Enabled by turning ON System Protection (by drive)
Run Properties from (My) Computer then System Protection
Each time a Restore Point is created, a copy of any file changed since
the last Restore Point is saved
To access, select the file, right click and select Restore previous
versions
Select the copy to restore based on name, date, time and location.
Included in this list will also be copies of this file saved on a Full
Windows Backup (see Windows Backup below). Click Restore to
replace the current version with the previous version
Macrium Reflect
• Full Image
– Exact copy of the data on your hard drive
– Structure of partition(s) and file system(s)
– Standard compression image is typically 60-70% of the
size of the data on the original disk
• Differential Image
– Available only with the purchased edition
– Saves changes made since the last FULL image
– Reduces the time and resultant file size
– To restore from, requires Full & Differential images
Macrium Reflect
Incremental Image
– Available only with the purchased edition
Saves changes made since the last Full or Differential or
Incremental image
Quickest and smallest resultant file size
To restore from, requires all previous Incremental
images to be present
Macrium Rescue Media
You MUST have bootable media that runs
Macrium in order to restore a disk image
Open Macrium Reflect
Click Other Tasks on the left side
Click Create bootable Rescue media
Select Linux or Windows PE (I found Linux did not
work for me), click Next >
On the next screen, click Continue. Windows PE now
installs Windows Automated Installation Kit (AIK). This
may take hours.
Macrium Rescue Media
Create rescue media – cont.
At the bottom, select either CD/DVD or USB and then
the specific device to be used, click Finish
Once the media is finished, remove it and label it
appropriately
Macrium - Disk Image
• Manual Option
– Attach your backup media – specifically the External Hard Drive.
Check My Computer to get its drive designation (D: or E: etc.)
– Open Macrium Reflect – this takes some time to discover all the
media
– Select Image all local drives on this computer in Backup Tasks on
left side
– In Source box, DE-select (un-check) the External Hard Drive, if
necessary
– In Destination box, select Folder
– If not already entered, select Browse and select the External Hard
Drive and folder location
– Click Next
– Review the Imaging Summary and click Finish
Macrium - Disk Image
• Manual Option – Cont.
– On the Backup Save Options screen:
• Check Run this backup now box if you want to do so
• Enter a name for this backup definition, if desired
• Check Save this backup…File box if you want to do so
• Click OK
– Backup will start (if the Run this backup now box was
checked)
– You may monitor the progress, or Hide, as you desire
Macrium - Disk Image
• Automatic Option
– Attach your backup media – specifically the External
Hard Drive. Check My Computer to get its drive
designation (D: or E: etc.)
– Open Macrium Reflect – this takes some time to
discover all the media
– Select Disk Image tab on left side and Scheduled
Backups in the Action box in the center
– If there is not already a schedule defined, click the Add a
new schedule task button
Macrium - Disk Image
Automatic Option – Cont.
Add a new schedule task - cont.
Select a Backup Definition, click Next>
Select Backup Type = Full
Enter User and Password , click Next>
Select time period type, day(s) and time(s) on the next screens
Click Finish to complete
If there is a schedule already defined, you can edit it by
clicking the Edit the selected schedule task button
See above
Macrium - Disk Image
Automatic Option – Cont.
At the scheduled time, the computer must be running
and the External Hard Drive connected for the backup
to proceed properly
Macrium – Disk Restore
• Select backup image
– Connect remote hard drive with backup image
– Open Macrium
– Select Restore tab on left
– If the latest image file does not come up automatically,
select Browse for an image file…
• Select and Open backup image file on remote hard drive
(xxx….mrimg)
• Check that this is the image you want from the data in the
lower pane
Macrium – Disk Restore
Restore image
Select Restore Image on the lower pane
Check Source and Destination locations
Check Restore Summary and click Finish
NOTE: you cannot restore the active (OS) partition from
this screen – see Restore the entire image below
Restore individual files
On the bottom of the Image Restore tab, select Browse
Image
Select the disk/partition with your data (normally C:)
Macrium – Disk Restore
Restore individual files – cont.
Take default or select an unused Drive Letter (E:, F:),
click OK
You can now use Windows Explorer to navigate into the
drive you just defined, find individual folders or files and
copy them back to your active directories. If the
folders/files already exist when you copy them, you can
choose to Replace them or not.
Macrium – Disk Restore
You will not be able to restore an active disk or
partition, i.e. the one from which the operating system
is running
See below to restore the OS image
Macrium – Disk Restore
• Restore the entire image
• In order to restore an active disk/partition you will have to boot to some
device other than the primary OS disk
• Install the Macrium Rescue media, CD or Flash Drive, you created
earlier, see Macrium Rescue Media above
• Shutdown down your computer
• Power on your computer and press the function key to get to the Boot
Menu, normally F12
• On the Boot Menu, select this device (CD or USB)
• If you get an Unsupported Devices screen, Close it
• When Macrium Reflect comes up, select the backup location and file,
then restore as noted above
• The entire disk or partition will be replaced with the one from the
backup media
Macrium Reflect
Macrium Reflect is available at:
http://www.macrium.com/reflectfree.aspx
XP, Vista, Windows 7 (32 and native 64 Bit)
FREE
“Standard” edition - $50
Windows Backup
• Full backup
• For all users defined on the system:
• Data in the Library folders (Documents, Pictures, Music &
Videos)
• Any folders that you have added to the Library
• Desktop, Contacts, AppData, Downloads, Favorites, others
• If destination is NTFS and has sufficient space, it may also
include a System Image. This can be de-selected.
• System Image
• Operating system – user settings
• Installed programs
• All user data
Windows System Repair Media
You MUST have bootable media that runs Windows
Backup in order to restore a disk image
Open Backup and Restore
Select Create a system repair disc
Select the appropriate CD/DVD drive, click Create disc
This will install Windows PE (Preinstallation Environment)
When completed, remove it and label it as directed
If your machine does not have a CD/DVD drive, see your
manufacturer’s tools programs. It may have a way to create
a bootable flash drive that will run the Windows repair
program.
Windows – Backup (Disk Image)
• Full backup
– Attach your backup media – specifically the External Hard
Drive. Check My Computer to get its drive designation (D: or
E: etc.)
– Open Backup and Restore program
– If you have never used Windows Backup before, click on Set
up backup and follow the wizard
• Select the External Hard Drive when prompted for the Backup
Destination
• Select Let Windows choose for What do you want to back up?
• On the Review your backup settings screen, select Change schedule
and enter a schedule, if desired
Windows – Backup (Disk Image)
Full backup – Cont.
On the main Backup screen, you can click Back up now
or let the schedule initiate the backup
If you have run a backup before, the program will look
for the same media you have used before
If it finds it, you can select Back up now
If not, click Change settings and select the remote
drive or select a different drive
Windows – Restore from Backup
You can only restore from a Full Backup when
Windows 7 is running, not when booted from CD/USB
You can restore individual files/folders by searching by
name or browsing
To restore
– Attach your backup media – specifically the External
Hard Drive. Check My Computer to get its drive
designation (D: or E: etc.)
– Open Backup and Restore program
Windows – Restore from Backup
In the Restore section a the bottom, click the Restore
my files button or the Restore all users’ files link.
These both bring up the same screen.
Use Search, Browse for files or Browse for folders to
select one or more file or folder
If you have multiple backups, you can choose which
backup file to use by clicking Select another backup to
restore files from. This option allows you to choose a
different backup period by date OR a different machine’s
backup.
Windows – Restore from Backup
You will be prompted for a restore location, i.e. the
original location or another one
If the file already exists on the destination location,
you will be prompted to Replace it or not
You can also initiate a System Restore by clicking
Recover system settings or your computer. See
System Recovery above.
Windows – System Image
A System Image, as the instructions say, “…is a copy of the drives
required for Windows to run”
It can be used to restore your system completely if you cannot
boot your operating system or get access to your data, e.g. your
hard disk “crashes”
You cannot individually restore files or folders
It takes less time and uses less destination disk space since the
backup is compressed
It overwrites the previously created image
To save a previous image, rename the folder (machine name)
under the WindowsImageBackup folder on your remote drive
Windows – System Image
To backup to a System Image ONLY, select Create
a system image from the Backup and Restore
program
Windows Recovery Options
If Windows does not boot or hangs during boot, you
may be able to recover it short of restoring the System
Image.
• Install the Windows Repair media, CD or Flash Drive, you created earlier,
see Windows System Repair Media above
• Shutdown down your computer
• Power on your computer and press the function key to get to the Boot
Menu, normally F12
• On the Boot Menu, select this device (CD or USB)
• If prompted, select System Recovery Options
• Click Next > on the first screen
Windows Recovery Options
Recover Windows – cont.
The Recovery program will search for an operating
system
If it finds one:
Select Use recovery tools… and Next >
You will get a menu from which you can choose an appropriate
action to try to restore your system to operation
If it does not find one, you will be given options to install
required drivers prior to performing the restore of the System
Image
Windows – Restore System Image
A System Image backup will show up ONLY when
booting from a removable device (CD or USB).
It automatically selects the most recent system
image
Restores your complete system; operating system,
users settings, installed programs, user data
Allows you to choose from multiple system images
on your backup media
Windows – Restore System Image
• Restore the entire image
• Boot to the Windows Recovery media as shown above
• Use the image that the program finds, or select the desired image
from the ones presented
• Since the System Image contains only the files needed to boot
Windows, you may need to run the Restore program after getting
your system running again
Conclusion
Whatever you do:
BACKUP
BACKUP
B A C K U P