Please.... for your own peace of mind!

[Trouble]

Image your disk prior to the upcoming Windows 10 release.
With any number of options.... most providing at least a limited free trial version.

Not recommendations or endorsements.... just options.
Acronis True Image http://www.acronis.com/en-us/personal/pc-backup/
AOEMI BackUpper http://www.backup-utility.com/
EaseUS ToDo http://www.easeus.com/backup-software/tb-free.html
Macrium Reflect http://www.macrium.com/product/7/macrium-reflect-v6-home-edition.aspx
Paragon https://www.paragon-software.com/home/br-free

There is no good excuse for not being able to safely and reliably recover in the event of a catastrophic event or if you decide you simply don't like or want Windows 10.

 

[jmccleary50]

Good advice. I have 2 Dell laptops with 7 and 8.1. After an article in How-To-Geek I downloaded Macrium Reflect and made an image of 8.1. I plan to leave 7 untouched and indications seem to be that 10 will be somewhat similar. So as a last resort I can revert to 8.1 if I don't like the results.

 

[BigFeet]

Nah. I just run regular backups with AOEMI. A disk image on this thing would be way too big for my external drive. And the only PC that's going to see Windows 10 anytime in the near future, is my tablet. There's nothing of significance on that.

But good advice,. A good backup at the very least, is a must.

 

[Dipsy]

EaseUS Todo was probably one of the best program purchases I've made for my computer. It just bailed me out yesterday when an NVIDIA and sound issue caused some problems. Over the last few months I've resorted to backups several times to rescue a system gone wrong and on one occasion even used the disk/partition backup to replace a whole partition. Sure beats a clean install and having to reinstall and reset a bunch of stuff.

 

[jmccleary50]

Just completed a Windows Easy Transfer of documents and pictures from 7 to 8.1. Desktop icons went along even though I have no idea why. Lots of deletions fixed that. I'm consolidating things on the 8.1 laptop in preparation for upgrading to 10. So far so good.

 

[sandyvc]

Image your disk prior to the upcoming Windows 10 release.
With any number of options.... most providing at least a limited free trial version.

There is no good excuse for not being able to safely and reliably recover in the event of a catastrophic event or if you decide you simply don't like or want Windows 10.

Don't understand what "image your disk" means. I have Carbonite, will that work?

 

[SglGrma]

I have Windows 7 cd's from HP, so if I don't like Windows 10, I can just reinstall 7 using those cds right??
Or do I still have to image my hard drive?

 

[Rompin Raider]

You can use the CD's...but remember, you will need to go through all the "updates" that have come out since that CD was made. It can be tedious and time consuming but I have done it a few times. Plus any programs you added etc. Imaging, with say an external hard drive plugged in, can put you back where you left off when the change to Windows 10 occurred. It's a snapshot in a sense of what you had at that time. I am sure one of the moderators can give you some recommendations.

 

[jmccleary50]

I have gone through the tedious hassle of factory restoration. I do not recommend it. For something like 20 bucks or so buy a usb thumb drive and create a system image or a complete recovery backup. Do some research on the net for how to do it. I have a 500GB external hard drive which is total overkill. A 16 or 32 GB thumb drive is more like it. I just made a Windows Easy Transfer file to move stuff from a W7 laptop to a W8.1 laptop. Capacity was not an issue. After upgrading the 8.1 to 10 I can forget I ever had any version of 8. 10 is fantastic and the original 8 sucked worse than anything i'd ever seen. Good luck!
EDIT: I just checked a system backup of 8.1 made with Macrium Reflect which can be found on the net. It is 22.2 GB on a 32GB drive. I made that in case I didn't like W10. So an entire system isn't that big.

 

[TGMcCallie]

I can vouch for Acronis True Image software. I use it for backup all the time. I have a complete
ongoing backup of my computer but I am going to do another one just in case which will be
installed on another exterior 500 GB hard drive. I can then delete it when I am pleased with
OS 2010 of windows.

 

[Rompin Raider]

This will be interesting...may be a lot of padded walls in the next 48 hours! LOL Good luck and be patient.

 

[Ron]

Are there any difference between the Windows 7 and Windows 10 backup/restore options that we should be aware of? I could not find the time to play with the technical pre-versions of W10.

 

[greenhavenn]

Image your disk prior to the upcoming Windows 10 release.
With any number of options.... most providing at least a limited free trial version.

There is no good excuse for not being able to safely and reliably recover in the event of a catastrophic event or if you decide you simply don't like or want Windows 10.

Thanks so much for the links. I chose AX64 and just completed my backup with no problem at all. It worked great. I really appreciate your help!

 

[MyloTcat]

Are there any difference between the Windows 7 and Windows 10 backup/restore options that we should be aware of? I could not find the time to play with the technical pre-versions of W10.

A good question! I use both Acronis and native Windows to create images on different drives. I was planning on creating a fresh image using Win7 prior to installing Win10, but wouldn't it be a hoot if Win10 doesn't restore a Win7 image!

 

[jmccleary50]

I just finished a system image of windows 10. Of all things you go to control panel and click on backup and recovery (windows 7). From there it's just like it always was with an option for rescue disk at the end. Time seems about the same. 54.1GB is what used space shows.
I also made new restore points the same as before. I live and die by restore when I do something dumb.

 

[nnicc1]

Image your disk prior to the upcoming Windows 10 release.
With any number of options.... most providing at least a limited free trial version.

There is no good excuse for not being able to safely and reliably recover in the event of a catastrophic event or if you decide you simply don't like or want Windows 10.

I'm feeling really stupid here re this 'image disc' thing. I'm running 8.1 on a lenovo pc with a 1 terrabyte HD split into 2 parts,C for windows and programs and E for storage,movies,pics,whatever.
my C drive currently is using 41.6 GB,and my E 88.1GB
If I create an 'image' will it require the full 130 GBs?
I have a toshiba external with 700 GB free.I also have one of those thumb things with 29 GB free.

i have to quote Denzel from the movie 'Philadelphia' here
" explain it to me like I'm a 4 year old "

thanks

 

[jmccleary50]

Do some looking on the internet for what system image is. I used it as a backup in case of a major failure. If you have 700GB available that's more than enough. My copy of 8.1 was 22.2 GB and the system image of 10 was 54.1 GB. I'm going to delete 8.1 because 10 is so much better.
Just thought of something else-system image includes all your files, pictures, games, whatever as well as settings of how your computer runs. It's like a carbon copy of everything you need to keep.

 

[MyloTcat]

I'm feeling really stupid here re this 'image disc' thing. I'm running 8.1 on a lenovo pc with a 1 terrabyte HD split into 2 parts,C for windows and programs and E for storage,movies,pics,whatever.
my C drive currently is using 41.6 GB,and my E 88.1GB
If I create an 'image' will it require the full 130 GBs?
I have a toshiba external with 700 GB free.I also have one of those thumb things with 29 GB free.

i have to quote Denzel from the movie 'Philadelphia' here
" explain it to me like I'm a 4 year old "

thanks

It sounds like you have one "physical" hard drive with a capacity of 1TB (1 terra-byte). This single physical hard drive has been "partitioned" into two "logical" drives, drive "C" and drive "E". Your Windows system and program/application files reside (and other files as well) on the logical C drive (the Windows, AKA "boot" drive), while your movies, pics, and other user files reside on the logical E drive. When you create an image, you usually (or always) image the physical drive, not the logical drives. Remember that the two logical drives exist as partitions which share space on a single physical hard drive. To keep it simple we won't go into why people choose to create logical drives. Therefore, when you image your single physical hard drive (the source drive), you will create an image (or file) that will consume approximately the same amount of space on the target drive/device as that contained on the source drive, in your case about 130GBs. If it was me, I would create the image on the Toshiba external hard drive. The USB thumb drive does not contain enough free space to create the image.

As "jmcleary" points out, the "image" process makes a carbon copy (duplicate bit-for-bit copy) of whatever is being imaged. Unlike a simple copy-and-paste, an image, when restored, is fully functional in terms of being able to boot up Windows and run any installed programs/applications that we installed at the time the image was created.

Hope that's somewhat clear and helps.

 

[jmccleary50]

That's a much better explanation.

 

[nnicc1]

It sounds like you have one "physical" hard drive with a capacity of 1TB (1 terra-byte). This single physical hard drive has been "partitioned" into two "logical" drives, drive "C" and drive "E". Your Windows system and program/application files reside (and other files as well) on the logical C drive (the Windows, AKA "boot" drive), while your movies, pics, and other user files reside on the logical E drive. When you create an image, you usually (or always) image the physical drive, not the logical drives. Remember that the two logical drives exist as partitions which share space on a single physical hard drive. To keep it simple we won't go into why people choose to create logical drives. Therefore, when you image your single physical hard drive (the source drive), you will create an image (or file) that will consume approximately the same amount of space on the target drive/device as that contained on the source drive, in your case about 130GBs. If it was me, I would create the image on the Toshiba external hard drive. The USB thumb drive does not contain enough free space to create the image.

As "jmcleary" points out, the "image" process makes a carbon copy (duplicate bit-for-bit copy) of whatever is being imaged. Unlike a simple copy-and-paste, an image, when restored, is fully functional in terms of being able to boot up Windows and run any installed programs/applications that we installed at the time the image was created.

Hope that's somewhat clear and helps.

thanks
i not only saved your reply as a document,i printed it on paper