Good day.

There are two types of users: those who make backups (also called backups), and those who do not yet. As a rule, that day always comes, and users of the second group go to the first ...

Well, okay 🙂 The moral of the line above was only intended to warn users who rely on Windows backups (or that no emergency will ever happen to them). In fact, any virus, any hard drive problems, and other troubles can quickly “close” access to your documents and data. Even if you don’t lose them, you will have to restore them for a long time ...

It's another matter if there was a backup - even if the disk "flew", bought a new one, deployed a copy on it, and after 20-30 minutes. you can easily work on your documents. And so, first things first…

This copy can help only in some cases, for example, you installed a driver - but it turned out to be faulty, and now something has stopped working for you (the same applies to any program). It is also possible that they picked up some advertising "add-ons" that open pages in the browser. In these cases, you can quickly roll back the system to its previous state and work on.

But if suddenly your computer (laptop) stops seeing the disk at all (or half of the files on the system disk suddenly disappear), then this copy will not help you in any way ...

Therefore, if you not only play on the computer - the moral is simple, make copies!

What programs to choose for creating backups?

Well, in general, now there are dozens (if not hundreds) of programs of this kind. There are both paid and free options among them. Personally, I recommend using (at least as the main one) - a program that has been tested by time (and other users :)).

In general, I would single out three programs (three different manufacturers):

1) AOMEI Backupper Standard

One of the best programs for Reserve copy systems. Free, works in all popular Windows operating systems (7, 8, 10), a time-tested program. It is to her that the rest of the article will be devoted.

2) Acronis True Image

3) Paragon Backup & Recovery Free Edition

A popular program for working with hard drives. To be honest, while the experience of working with her is minimal (but many praise her).

We will assume that you have already downloaded and installed the AOMEI Backupper Standard program. After starting the program, you need to go to the “Backup” section and select the System Backup option (see Fig. 1, copying Windows ...).

1) step 1 (step 1) - specify system disk with Windows. Usually this is not required, the program itself determines quite well everything that needs to be included in the copy.

2) step 2 (step 2) - specify the disk to which the backup will be made. Here it is highly desirable to specify another disk, not the one on which your system is installed ( I emphasize, otherwise many people confuse: it is highly desirable to save a copy to another real disk, and not just to another partition of the same hard drive ). You can use, for example, external HDD(they are now more than available, here) or a flash drive (if you have a flash drive with enough space).

After setting the settings - click the Start backup button. Then the program will ask you again and start copying. The copying itself is quite fast, for example, my disk with 30 GB of information was copied in ~ 20 minutes.

Rice. 2. Start copying

Do I need a bootable USB flash drive, should I make it?

The point here is: to work with the backup file you need to run AOMEI program Backupper Standard and open this image in it and specify where you need to restore it. If your Windows OS boots up, then there is nothing to do to run the program. And if not? In this case, a bootable USB flash drive will come in handy: the computer will be able to load the AOMEI Backupper Standard program from it and then you can already open your backup.

To create such a boot flash drives will do any old flash drive (sorry for the tautology, for 1 GB, for example, many users have plenty of these ...).

How to create it?

Simple enough. In AOMEI Backupper Standard, select the “Utilites” section, then run the Create Bootable Media utility (see Figure 3)

In the next step, you will need to specify the drive letter of the flash drive (or CD / DVD disc and press the record button. A bootable flash drive is created quite quickly (1-2 minutes). I can't tell you the time of the CD / DVD disc (I haven't worked with them for a long time).

How to restore Windows from such a backup?

By the way, the backup itself is regular file with the extension ".adi" (for example, "System Backup(1).adi"). To start the restore function, just launch AOMEI Backupper and go to the Restore section (Fig. 5). Next, click on the Patch button and select the backup location ( many users get lost at this step by the way).

Then the program will ask you which disk to restore to and proceed with the recovery. The procedure itself is very fast (it probably makes no sense to describe it in detail).

By the way, if you boot from bootable flash drive- you will see exactly the same program as if you launched it in Windows (all operations in it are done in the same way).

There may, however, be problems with booting from a USB flash drive, so I will give a couple of links:

How to enter the BIOS, buttons to enter BIOS settings:

If the BIOS does not see the bootable flash drive:

This concludes the article. Questions and additions are, as always, welcome. good luck 🙂

The article describes how to backup Windows 10 using the tools integrated into it and using free apps. It is necessary to perform a system restore when a critical situation occurs or when Windows needs to be reinstalled.

Windows 10 backup - is a comprehensive image of the system volume with drivers, installed applications and user documents. This image is used to return the system to the state in which it was at the time the copy was created. Resuscitation takes much less time than a clean installation of Windows 10 with all the software and configuration. This method of reinstalling the system is ideal for beginners: once you have solved all the problems, you reserve the system and use it as much as you like.

Microsoft took care of introducing several tools into the "top ten" created to create backup copies of the operating system. The first of the methods that we will consider is the formation of an OS image, which is useful for restoring it through the Control Panel applet.

To call the tool, enter "reserve" in search string and call "Backup / Restore".

The second option: in the Control Panel, we call the "File History" applet, where we follow the link "Backup copy of the system image".

In a new window, we call the command to create a system image.

Specify the storage for writing a backup copy of the current snapshot of the operating system (any magnetic / solid state drive, including network, or removable storage).

Specify the partitions that will be added to the backup. Without changing the configuration, a system volume with a reserved (stores the boot loader) volume is added to the archive.

We click on the button to start archiving and wait for the operation to complete, which will last about half an hour. At the end of the process, you will be prompted to create recovery media if not available bootable media. It will be needed when resuscitating the "tens" from the created image.

How to use the received archive?

Rollback system partition to the state captured in the archive is performed in the environment Windows recovery. You can enter it from under the OS itself, having administrator privileges, from the recovery drive that was proposed to be created earlier, or from a bootable USB flash drive.

1. We call "Settings", in the "Update / Security" section, click on the "Recovery" icon. In the right frame, click "Restart now". Another way to get into the “tens” resuscitation environment is to click on the computer restart button in Start while holding down the Shift button.
2. If you have an installation flash drive, boot from it through the Boot Menu. After selecting the language, in the window with the "Install" button, click "System Restore".
3. Starting the PC from the recovery disk will immediately start the desired mode.

In the window, click on the troubleshooting / troubleshooting item, in the advanced options, click on "Restore System Image".

If there is an external HDD, the program will start searching for images on it. If the option is not suitable, specify the appropriate file manually.

Depending on the number of reserved volumes, a window will appear or not (usually the system disk is backed up and such a suggestion does not pop up) for selecting disks, the contents of which will be replaced with data in the image.

After confirming the operation, the program will restore the partition captured in the archive, after which it will start Windows 10.

Creating a Windows 10 Disk Backup Using the DISM Utility

The operating system has a DISM console utility. Its tasks are to backup and restore the system from the created copy. The program works in the same way as the method given earlier, but without a graphical interface (actions are carried out through command line control). In order to use the utility, we boot into the Windows recovery environment, as described in the section above, just select " Command line”, instead of system restore. We enter in it a list of the following commands:

1. diskpart - call utility for working with HDD partitions;

2. list volume - define the label of the partition with Windows and the volume where the backup will be performed;

3. exit - close the application.

The next step is to execute the command

"dism /Capture-Image /ImageFile:D:\WindMicrosoft.wim /CaptureDir:E:\ /Name:”Windows10I”"

D - archive storage volume or path, E - active system volume.

When the operation is completed, the message "Operation completed successfully" will appear.

Restoring "dozens" via DISM

Rollback of the state of the system volume to the one captured in the image is carried out with its preliminary formatting. Ensure that personal files are copied to another drive or logical partition before image deployment.

Option number 1 - recovery while maintaining the HDD layout.

1. As before, we call the console in the recovery environment.

2. Execute commands:

• diskpart;
• list volume - write down or remember the letter designation, file system redundant volume;
• select volume N - specify the number of the system disk;
• format fs=ntfs quick - perform quick formatting to NTFS.

3. Execute "dism /apply-mage /imagefile:D:\WindMicrosoft.wim /index:1 /ApplyDir:E:\" to restore system partition D from WindMicrosoft.wim file on partition E.

Close the console and reboot to boot into the Windows 10 environment.

Reserving "tens" through Aomei Backupper Standard

Let's see how to back up Windows 10 through third party application which is distributed free of charge.

1. Having launched the program, in the “Backup” tab, select the type of backup to be created.

In our case, this is the "System Backup" option - backup Windows files or volumes with it.

2. Write the name of the backup in the “Task Name” form, select the partitions to be copied below, and in Step 2 specify the location to store the image (adjacent volume, removable drive or network storage).

3. Click on the "Start Backup" button and do not touch anything until the process is completed.

Through the application, the OS is also returned to any of the captured states, both through the program interface and through the bootable media with Aomei Backupper, which acts as a Windows resuscitation tool. You can create such a flash drive through the "Utilities" menu, where we select "Create Bootable Media".

Booting from the media with Aomei Backupper, you will see the classic utility interface. On the "Restore" tab, select the path to the image in the "Path" item and click "Next".

We check if the image deployment destination is selected correctly and click "Start Restore" in order to start the recovery procedure.

The application is downloaded from www.backup-utility.com.

Macrium Reflect Free

Free for non-commercial use, Macrium Reflect is designed to work with backups and images of any drive. The operation of the application is not much different from Aomei Backupper Standard, except that clicks on buttons and links are carried out in a different graphical environment.

From the main menu, select "Backup", then click on the "Backup Windows" item.

1. Check the boxes for the sections that will be backed up.
2. Specify the directory to write the archive to.

There are two ways to restore Windows 10 from an image: through the interface of an application running in the OS environment, and through a bootable flash drive based on Macrium Reflect. It is created in the "Other Tasks" menu. For the record boot files click "Create Rescue Media" after connecting the flash drive. During the recording process, about 510 MB of files will be downloaded from the Internet.

The application is downloaded from www.macrium.com/reflectfree.aspx.

In addition to the above programs, there are a number of similar applications for performing the task in question, for example, the popular ATIH. Also in Windows 10 there is an integrated recovery image for full reset system - its quick reinstallation from the interface of the operating system itself. The reset is carried out through the update and security section of the Options menu. In it, on the "Recovery" tab, click "Start" and follow the instructions.

More and more, fragments of your life exist as particles on a disk installed inside a computer - disks are sensitive to temperature changes, power surges, fires, theft, static electricity, and simple wear and tear. Hard drives fail. This is a fact of computing life. It's not a matter of your computer's drive failing; it's a question when. The question is how much it will ruin your life and it won't if you have a backup. Backing up data is boring, but the most indispensable thing you do on your computer. Here's how to automate regular backups on your computer, both on-site (to an external hard drive or other computer) and off-site (on the Internet).
This system can even e-mail send an email if something goes wrong, so you just have to set up and forget this situation. Once set up, you will never have to worry about losing data again.

Local Backup and Online Backup

External drives are great for quick recovery when you accidentally delete a file, or if your computer's internal hard drive freezes. But what if your house burns down or gets robbed, including backing up your drive? Katrina victims can tell you that no matter how hard you try to back up your computer to a local hard drive, you will still lose your photos, documents, and other important files if you don't keep a copy. Some users keep an extra hard drive with a copy of their important files at their mother's office or home in case of theft or fire. But that requires manually transporting your hard drive back and forth on a regular basis, and you want to set it and forget it.

What You Need

• Windows, Mac or Linux PC
• crash plan: Free to download for all three platforms.
• External hard drive or other computer for local backup. You can either purchase an external hard drive for backup or use CrashPlan to backup files to another computer in local network. When determining capacity, consider 10 times the amount of data you want to archive. For example, if your My Documents folder is 10GB, then consider purchasing a 100GB hard drive. (If the disk size is not available to you, calculate the size of your home directory without spaces and subdirectories, for example, my music, my videos, my pictures. You have the option to reduce the number of copies you keep of these large files to save space.)
• CrashPlan outside of backup territory. In addition to local archives, CrashPlan can also back up your files off-site to their servers (which they call CrashPlan Central). As of this writing, unlimited backups on CrashPlan cost $5 per month per computer, or $10 per month for two to ten computers (if you pay a year in advance). You, strictly speaking, should not pay for CrashPlan+, but I highly recommend doing so for off-site backups.

Note: as we have already noted, there is no shortage of available tools that offer unlimited possibilities to make backups. All things considered, Crashplan is my favorite tool for the job. $10/month gives you unlimited backups of up to 10 computers, which is better value for money than many services offer for a single computer.

Setting up a backup system

The first time you install the CrashPlan software, you must also register account. (You must register if you will pay for off-site backups with CrashPlan+.)

Select the files and folders you want to archive

Once registered, the program scans the system, indicates which directories should be backed up, and lets you know how much space those files will use in the Files section of the CrashPlan backup. If you don't want to go with CrashPlan's suggestions, you can manually choose which files and folders it will back up. To do this, click the Change button.

Select archive destination

You have four options for the destination to which you can back up your files, all of which are available through the routes tab in CrashPlan desktop application. You can archive your files in any combination of these directions. You can choose to simply use CrashPlan to backup files to an external hard drive (select folders option) to another computer in home network(select computers), on another computer over the Internet (select friends), or CrashPlan servers (select online). CrashPlan can be used absolutely free from any destination but online, which requires a paid CrashPlan+ account. To achieve both on-site and off-site backups, you should seriously consider backing up on local disk and CrashPlan servers with a paid CrashPlan+ account.

Tip: If you don't want to pay for your off-site backup, CrashPlan has a clever trick up its sleeve: it allows you to create a backup on another computer over the internet. Your friend needs CrashPlan installed and on your hard drive to host you, but this is a handy option if you're not backing up a large number files.

Choosing a backup destination is simple: go to the routes tab, select the type of destination you want to set up, and point CrashPlan to the appropriate hard drive, folder, computer, or CrashPlan+ account you're setting up.

Set your preferences

CrashPlan settings also contain automatic scheduled backup options. By default, CrashPlan backs up your files every 15 minutes so you're always backing up (you can change it as often as every 1 minute), but if you'd rather schedule your backups, less often—for example, when you are away from your computer or not using the Internet. You can change the settings by following these steps:

1. Go to the archive tab.
2. Choose between the specified times from the backup will work drop-down menu.
3. Set the desired backup time. From the settings panel, you can also customize how it should notify you and how much bandwidth and the processing power he needs to use to get his job done.
4. After setting up the CrashPlan settings the way you want, click the Save button.

Starting a backup

After configuring CrashPlan to your liking, go to the Backup tab and click on the Start Backup button, then click the Start button to the left of the progress bar. (It looks like a play button.) The first backup can take a long time depending on how much data you have back up and, if you're off site again, how fast your Internet connection is. On a laptop, CrashPlan estimates it will take days to complete the backup on the CrashPlan servers. For local backup, it only takes a few hours.
CrashPlan makes differential or incremental backups, i.e. backing up only parts of the files that have changed since the last time they were archived, so while your initial backup may take a long time, subsequent backups will take significantly less time, so don't let the first backup discourage you.

What CrashPlan+ account adds to your backup plan

The main advantage of a paid CrashPlan account is that it is a reliable, off-site storage option. If someone stole both your laptop and external hard drive, for example, you could still restore all backup files from CrashPlan servers. As mentioned above, CrashPlan allows you to create a backup on another computer (assuming the friend is also running CrashPlan on their computer); and what could be better than No off-site backup, it's not as solid as using CrashPlan servers.
The CrashPlan backup process encrypts files on your computer, either using an encryption key it chooses or your own private key. CrashPlan uses stronger encryption algorithms with paid accounts than it does with a free account (although both are encrypted), so you don't have to worry about anyone intercepting files when they are transferred over the Internet.
If you delete a file on your computer, CrashPlan marks it as deleted on its servers, but keeps a copy on its side forever- unless you tell me. So you can restore remote file no matter how much time has passed.

Restore files copied from CrashPlan

After completing at least one backup with CrashPlan, you can restore the files copied to your servers or other backup storage locations in one of three ways:

• Open Crash Plan software on your computer, go to the restore tab, select the backup target you want to restore, and select the files you want to copy back to the system from the backups. Click on the restore button.
• On the CrashPlan website, on the "My Account" page, click on Computers, and then click on the Restore button next to the computer you want to restore files to. You can view your backups, check the files you want to restore, and click Restore.
• If you are not using a computer with the CrashPlan software installed, you can download the recovered files as a ZIP archive. This feature is only available for paid CrashPlan accounts.

My CrashPlan settings

As mentioned at the beginning of this guide, CrashPlan is far from the only option for backing up your files. Apart from some other unlimited backup tools, many people are perfectly happy backing up only their most important files using the popular sync-and-then-some tool, Dropbox. It's really a matter of preference.
With my laptop, for example, I use Dropbox for important documents in addition to CrashPlan (maybe I'm a bit of a redundant nut). With CrashPlan, I'm back up Windows desktop online as well as CrashPlan servers with CrashPlan+ unlimited account. In local backup (I have Windows computer) happens very regularly while I'm on my home network - something like every couple of minutes, which is reassuring. I have set my off-site backups of CrashPlan servers to run whenever my laptop is idle for 15 minutes. If you wish, however, you could set CrashPlan to send backups more frequently than once per minute. I'm not doing this because my Dropbox has more instant backups.
Bottom line: I worry very little about losing an important (or, frankly, not that important) file. It will take a little time, effort, and yes, sometimes some money, but for me peace of mind is very much worth it.
If you haven't committed to a backup plan, maybe an event like World Backup Day and a step-by-step guide like this one might convince you it's worth it. If you already have a verified backup plan: what does your full backup plan look like? Show off your file redundancy in the comments.

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Friends, before you learn how to backup Windows, let's first deal with the concept itself. This will help you not only decide whether you really need to do it, but also understand the principles of operation of such a mechanism. This way you can make the most of this feature for your own purposes.

So, Windows 7, 8.1 or 10 backup allows you to save all the information on your device to external media. That is, if you have a hard drive with a large amount of memory, then you can burn a complete copy of what is stored on your computer or laptop and use this data in the future. In what cases can it help you?

• For example, if you are afraid that at any moment your Personal Computer can “fly” (that is, all or part of your data may suddenly disappear), then the backup will be, more than ever, by the way.
• If you want to reinstall the operating system to a similar one.
• When selling the old and buying a new device. You create a copy of the data of the old computer and completely transfer it to the new device. That is, you do not have to reinstall programs, record songs, photos, videos, and so on.

This list can be continued for a very long time, as there are a lot of reasons to create a backup. Everyone has their own, so we will not describe it for a long time here. Let's jump straight into the steps that will help you reach your goal for today.

Making a copy

We will look at the three most commonly used operating systems from Microsoft: Windows 7, 8.1 and 10. There are no particular differences between the manipulations in these operating systems, but some little things can confuse inexperienced users. Therefore, it is better to consider the process in detail using the example of all systems. Select your version and go directly to the corresponding block.

It is worth noting that for all systems, you will first need to insert an external storage medium into the USB connector, which can be a flash drive (in very rare cases) or a hard drive. Make sure their storage capacity matches yours. That is, if your computer stores 260 gigabytes of information, then a 250 gigabyte hard drive will definitely not work. We will make a copy of the regular means of the operating system from Microsoft. Of course, you can also use the services third party programs and utilities, but no one can guarantee you successful copying of information. If you're ready, let's get started!

Windows 7

• Go to the "Start" menu located in the lower left corner of the taskbar.
• Go to the "Control Panel" and open the "System and Security" tab.
• Be sure to create a system recovery disc before backing up your data. You can do this using the corresponding tab on the left. After successful completion of the operation, return to the page from the second paragraph.
• Now click on "Backup and Restore".

• Next, we need to set up backup using the blue button of the same name.

Go to Configure Backup

• Then you will see a dialog box with archiving settings. Select your hard drive and click on the "Next" button.
• In the next window, the system will ask you to clarify what exactly should be archived. It is recommended to use the first option ("Let Windows choose") as it saves everything and updates the data regularly. More experienced users can use the second option.

Choosing the first option

• Next, we check the set parameters. Here you can set a schedule for automatic copy creation using the "Change Schedule" button. When everything is installed and verified, click "Save settings and start backup".

• Wait for the process to finish, then check your external hard drive to see if your data has been written to it. Ready! You can continue to use your computer or laptop as usual. We were able to back up Windows 7.

Windows 8.1

• Launch the toolbar on the right side of the screen. To do this, move the mouse to the upper right corner, then click on "Search".

Click search

• In the search bar, type "File History" without quotes and press Enter.

Enter "File History"

• In the results, click on the folder of the same name.
• You will be taken to a window where you will need to click on the "System Image Backup" link, which is located in the lower left corner of the window.

• We select the location for storing the archive (as we agreed above, it should be an external hard drive). Click "Next".

• The next window will show you the amount of memory you need. Check all the data and click the "Archive" button.

Click the Archive button

• Wait while the system backs up Windows 8.1 to an external storage medium. This process may take some time, so do not rush to panic. When finished, you can remove the hard drive and continue using your device as usual. Ready!

Windows 10

• Click on the search button on the taskbar at the bottom of the screen.
• Type "Backup" without the quotes in the search field and run the found program.
• In the window that appears, click "Create a system image" and specify the location where your data is stored. As noted above, it is best to use an external hard drive as it to eliminate problems with information loss. We press "Next".

• The next dialog box will show you how much memory is required to store operating system files. Check everything and click the "Archive" button.
• After completing this operation, the system will prompt you to create a system recovery disc. Be sure to do it by clicking the "Yes" button.
• Next, we need to archive your personal data. To do this, go to the menu from the third item.
• Here you will need to click on the "Set up backup" button. The procedure is similar to that described in the Windows block. Go there and follow the steps from the sixth to the ninth paragraph.
• Ready! You can continue to use the system.

Summing up

Dear friends, today we have learned how to make and create a backup copy of Windows 7, 8.1 or 10 on an external hard drive. From the above, the following conclusions can be drawn:

• To store data, you will need an appropriate hard drive. For example, if your device stores more than 400 gigabytes of information, then you will need an external media of at least 500 gigabytes.
• You can create a backup standard means Windows without resorting to third-party utilities.
• All actions are similar to different versions operating system.

We hope that everything worked out for you and there are no questions left. Don't forget to share your opinion and experience in the comments.