I have watched close to 10 videos on windows backup today. This was going to be my last before I go ahead and initiate a backup. It turned out to be the best out of them all. Thanks for making the video.
Seriously great tutorial. Love your style and really appreciate your expertise and ability to explain to the less knowledgeable BUT at the same time not talking down to anyone who may be an intermediate user. Nice job and thank you.
Veeam sounds like the dream solution, automatically backup system image and volumes daily. If only Id known about it years ago. All those times I wasted to recover my programs, settings and games one by one...
Finally! Someone who actually explains how to do a real back up of my laptop! Your explanation is easy to understand, easy to follow and most importantly accurate! Thank you very much!
thanks Andrew for this video, especially that you didn't click on W10 first option "backup to Onedrive" and this lunatic wording MS uses since 2 years to sell a cloud storage solution aka "...save your local files on Onedrive and then work with it as well" as a backup and even calling it backup, MS: it's not
I'm way behind on my Windows knowledge so I wanted to beef up my backup options know-how. Your professionalism and explanation transitions are great and you now have yourself a new subscriber. Well done, and thank you for the introduction to Veeam. This is exactly what I wanted especially with their recovery media creation and ransomware prevention. I've spent the past two hours viewing your content, but sleep calleth. I'll be back for more. Cheers!
Thanks a lot for this great video. The options you showed are excellent. I never realised the usefulness of the Windows 10 or 7 inbuilt Backup utilities before seeing this. Just one request. Can you please comment on the Macrium Reflect free edition vs the Veeam edition you have mentioned? Thanks in advance.
Thanks! I've used Macrium to clone disks before and it worked perfectly for that use, so I have no reason to think they'd be a bad choice for backups of a home computer. I've been saved a few times by Veeam, though; and been impressed by how well it worked when stuff hit the fan. The one thing that matters most for backups is reliability. I've used Veeam's enterprise products to protect thousands of servers with billions of £/$ potentially on the line and it's never (yet) let me down. That's not to say there's anything wrong with Macrium, but if Veeam will let me use their tool in a more limited capacity for free I'll pick it almost every time because of that track record.
Hello again! silly question, at 8:26 you mention installing to a bigger hard drive than the one youve backed up from. I am looking into changing the 500GB ssd of my laptop for a 1TB one, and from everything ive read on disk cloning its a very risky process that may damage both drives if interrupted, AND may not be perfect. I dont really care about data as I have a secondary drive, but I can be bothered to go looking for drivers. Can I use the windows backup tool as a "poor mans" way to swap disks? my plan would be 1. Make a windows backup from the Original disk to a Spare disk 2. take out original disk and insert New disk 3. connect Spare disk and usb with windows installer 4. go to live boot environment, and load windows backup to 1TB drive 5. Profit?
You should be able to, and if it goes wrong you will still have the original unmodified drive, so the risk is pretty low. That said, I would suggest using Veeam rather than the built-in image backup tool. It hasn't been supported for several years now, and while it worked fine the last time I used it, there is no guarantee.
@@ProTechShow You absolute Legend, still replying! 😆 in the interest of Science, im gonna try both and make comparisons/documentation :D But you are right that we should have alternative options with the whole microsoft depretiation of task manager, and Veeam does look pretty legit...
EJH - Excellent Job Here. L00K no Further... 👌 I've been on this topic for my personal use and found this to be the ultimate conclusion and you have given me the "slam Dunk" on the topic. Simple, to the point. Not multiple comparisons, just the ones that count and the best part is the 3rd party option obtainable from veeam. definitely going to use it futuristic-ally. Great video thank you. keep it up. I have Liked, Commented and Subscribed. I'm a happy that I came across your vid.
They're huge in the business IT world, but don't market their products to home users. The rationale behind the free versions is to get IT pros hooked so they buy it for their company, but I'll happily use enterprise-grade tools at home for free!
It's the one I trust with my data, which is about as strong a recommendation as I can give it. Whether it's the "best" for someone who considers themselves "non tech", I'm not sure. Veeam is the market leader on the business/enterprise side of things, but they don't target home users so there are probably other products with a friendlier interface. That said, my parents are both retired and managed to use it without any problems.
@@ProTechShow Windows 7 backup and restore backs up file and folder plus windows system but backup half way and then it stop in the middle. Got a bug. Reinstalled fresh windows 10 home both the same problem and I've never had this before. I would use to restore my system backup. I see Veeam. How do i do a backup of my windows system with Veeam besides system image?
Hello, AMAZING tutorial, very concise, very clear! However, I had one issue when following the "windows backup" method. Specifically, my external HDD is encrypted with bitlocker and when I went into recovery mode (just to test it, thankfully) the external drive did not appear... Is this becase the disk is encrypted?
It could be. If you don't have an option to unlock it, you should be able hit Shift + F10 to bring up a command prompt and run "manage-bde -unlock D: -password", replacing "D" with the drive letter for your HDD. If you don't know the drive letter (it might change in the recovery environment) you should be able to find it with "diskpart", "list volume", "exit".
OK, for anyone wondering in the future (and for my own personal reference lol) I couldnt get Shift+F10 to work (Win10 22H2), BUT: 1) as shown at 7:32 in the video, you go to "Troubleshoot" -> "advanced options" -> and you can see "command prompt" 2) I would reccommend starting with "Diskpart", "list volume", and verify your hard disk letter (I figured mine out from the size, even if it said "unknown" despite it being NTFS when I set it up, probably due to the encryption) 3) "exit" (to leave the diskpart) 4) run "manage-bde -unlock [your_disk]: -password" 5) close the command prompt window (you know, the red "x" on the top right) 6) you should be back in the "advanced options" menu now, so you can go to "system image recovery" and be on your merry way! (although I wish you never actually get into a scenario where you have to use this!) Huge thanks again @pro Tech Show!
Great content!! One ques though.. if I do system image for just "C" partition only and not include "D" and "E" partitions of that same internal hard drive, so suppose in future if I need to restore my system image which has just the "C" partition, so will the other partitions (D,E) be affected or formatted/deleted upon the restoration of that system image? Or will the other partitions remain intact as original states as they weren't disturbed in the first place ?? Thanks once again. Truly helpful indeed.
If you're using Veeam then this is definitely possible. Just be careful to select the correct options when you're restoring so you don't overwrite the entire disk. If the backup differs from the live disk Veeam will usually force you to manually confirm partitioning anyway, but better to be safe and read each option before starting! I think it's possible with the built-in Windows one (again, paying careful attention to options during restore), but I haven't used that in a while to be 100% sure.
This really eats me... maybe I'm doing it wrong but when I got to the point where it shows the DESTINATION folder to backup my C drive it says: Free edition does not support multiple jobs. This was after I had given them all my personal information to even get the supposed FREE freakin' software. So, my question is, do I need to pay for the upgrade now to get a simple C drive backup to another drive or what? IF so, I'm sticking with Windows backup.
Sounds like you've already created a job and are trying to add another. Remove or edit the first one. It should appear in the main "burger" menu between "Add New Job" and "Settings".
Good information, thank you. I have question, if I use the Windows media tool to boot uo my windows image drive with Windows 10 Pro, will change to Windows 10 Pro OS?
Great tips, everything perfectly explained. Thanks! The thing I didn't like about the old windows7 backup and restore was that it wouldn't let me back up to a USB thumbdrive, it wanted a "disk"....
The version of Backup Win7 has NEVER been further developed and so staying still is under Win10 and so it is for Win11. Urgent advice, DO NOT USE IT, use an external Backup tool with of course a rescue stick, with usually fifteen minutes later your IMAGE is back on the C-drive, this from the external HD or even from a Network drive (a bit slower then). To do this, use the 3-2-1 backup strategy and test it as well. I myself have been using AOMEI backupper for more than 6 years and it has helped me out many times, is completely Freeware.
Great tutorial. The Backup and Restore have saved from disasters, but i was checking this Veeam Agent in the video and wante to test it because have not heard about it before, but when i read that the size of the application is 12.2 i stopped. Is the program really this big or is an error in their site details?
Check you're downloading the right thing. It's the Veeam Agent for Windows you're after. Based on the size I suspect you're looking at Veeam Backup and Replication, which is a server product for backing up a full business infrastructure.
Yes. Depending on how different the hardware is you might need to install a few drivers, but you can use the Windows or Veeam backups to restore to a different computer.
@@jingthethief They won't delete the images. They should be stored on an offline drive so that they couldn't, anyway; but Microsoft won't deliberately delete customers’ data as that would leave them open to lawsuits. I can't make promises on their behalf, but usually they'll announce changes like feature removals and implement them as part of an annual feature update. They won't contact you directly, but this is a good place to read about the changes in each release: learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/whats-new/ There is a known exception to this rule. If a serious security vulnerability was discovered in the old backup tool then because it's deprecated they might yank it in an emergency Windows update rather than fix it.
I have, numerous times, backed up Windows, not personal files, apps, just windows, so if ever I need to do a recovery, and the recovery is not working, I just put in the flash drive and there it is. But I can not find that tutorial, and everything that is on this tutorial does not exist on my pc.
Thank you for a terrific backup explanation. Unfortunately, after trying out the free backup, everything seemed to be OK, but after I validated the backup, it said that there was an error. This to me, is quite a dangerous situation, you think you have a good backup, but you really don't. I've tried to contact support via email, phone, but to no avail. Very disappointing.
Hi, me again. I am using Veeam to an HDD via USB3 and have recovery media on a USB stick. My question is, "Is there a verification tool to check the integrity of the backup?" I am using Veeam once a month to do a full backup of my machine and am concerned about the possible corruption of the backup data in the future. Thank you for your help.
You can set up health checks in the job settings. Ultimately, the best test is to actually restore it somewhere like a spare PC or a VM to be sure. helpcenter.veeam.com/docs/agentforwindows/userguide/health_check_standard.html
The built in windows thingy is painfully slow. Stuck at 21% after a few hours copying files from two fairly fast SSDs. But eventually it seems windows just stops the processes but let it contunue in short bursts only.
Years ago, I started renaming my Windows System Backups (after they are completed) with a numeric prefix (such as "01-WindowsImageBackup", next would be "02-WindowsImageBackup", etc), and if I needed to do a restore, I would locate the desired backup (contained on an external hard drive), since the date created is known, and rename it by removing the numeric prefix, so that Windows could find it). I would keep several of these backups, and eventually delete the older (obsolete) ones). If I did not do all this, I assumed that the "WindowsImageBackup" file/folder would just keep getting bigger, with old stuff in it. Does this make sense ? I do keep multiple external USB drives for backups as well... a set for "indoors" (located in my house), and an "outdoors" that is located in a place outside my house, in case the house burns down, etc.
The standard behaviour if you click through the wizard is it will keep storing backups until the destination drive gets full, then it will remove old backups to make room for new ones. If you use the command line to back up to a network share the behaviour changes to overwriting whatever is in the target share.
@@ProTechShow I don't use the command line for backups... just the Windows Control Panel System Backup/Restore... I find it confusing that Windows uses the same file name for both a System Image, or the periodic System Backup... When I manually do a System Image Backup, I rename it so that I know exactly what it is, such as "01-system-image-WindowsImage-Backup".
So if you use the Windows 7 backup, and schedule a periodic backup that includes all users, files, and folders (on the system C: drive), that would be identical to doing a "system image" backup (assuming that the periodic backup is NOT backing up other attached drives) ?
Not quite. You'd have all the data, but it's a file-level backup rather than volume-level. The system image supports "bare metal" restores to a blank hard drive. It includes system state information such as the Windows registry and hidden partitions that are necessary to boot the computer. If your computer dies, a system image will recover it from scratch. A file-level backup can restore your data to a working installation of Windows, but you'd still need to reinstall Windows and most of your programs manually first. I would avoid the Windows 7 backup and use Veeam, though. It has been many years since the Win7 version received an update and at some point it may not work anymore.
To Pro Tech Show, On 6:23 - 6:26, Is there a difference between clicking 'Create a system image' to 'Set up back-up'? I was wondering which two chosen backup route is better?
@@ProTechShow Alright Thanks. One more question before I go. Whatever two choices I end of picking. When I'm going throught the Restoring PC process and when I'm at 'Re-image yout computer: Select a system image backup' part. Will there be a more than one system image history list? (Aka no matter which two choices for system image I take, can I still get a history list of past system image that I constantly saves so far?) I hope this make some sense.
@@samfake233 it depends. If you use the "set up" option and select a local/USB drive as the target it maintains as much history as it has space for. If you use a network location it only keeps one backup. I can't say off the top of my head what the other option does as I can't recall ever using it for anything other than a one-off.
@@ProTechShow I'm planning to use System Image Backup into my 8TB External Hard Drive only. (my backup PC C:/ (SSD) and D:/ (HDD) copies are going into my External Hard Drive) But overall, Thanks you very much.
My personal view is that any backup system should be as simple as possible to use. It should backup the entire content of the operating drive. It should be immune from the total destruction of the operating drive. It should be simple to restore full recovery to the PC. The backup system be disconnected between backup functions so it would be immune to any virus attacks. That is why I make a CLONE of my operating drive. I don't make an IMAGE of it, and I think the word IMAGE is an abuse of the English language in this context. I plug my clone drive into a SATA port on the motherboard and keep it unplugged when not in use. I am considering using TWO cloned drives. And however bad things may get I would be able totally to restore the PC in very short time.
An image is different to a clone. If you clone a drive you end up with a second, identical drive. An image is typically saved to a file (or blobs) and is more flexible. You can easily retain multiple restore points, move them, encrypt them, test them, restore to dissimilar hardware, etc. One of the big downsides of just cloning one drive to another is that the moment you start a fresh clone you destroy your existing backup and have no protection until the new clone job completes successfully. Backup/clone operations place drives under load, which means you're at the highest risk of a failure at exactly the point you're most vulnerable. Adding a second clone drive as you suggest and staggering the clone jobs would address that risk for you, but I much prefer images. They are easier to manage and more likely to work when restored to dissimilar hardware; and if I need to use my backup it may well be because the original hardware is non-functional.
@@ProTechShow I know you are correct. The problem is that you need a cool head and understand what you are doing. To some people the wipeout of their operating drive is a major catastrophe, like being in a serious car crash.
Three criticisms, sir. The intended audience is home users and small business owners, without an IT department to help them. That said, slow down please ! Speed of delivery and hibernian accent is not conducive to easy understanding. Second, the screen shots are shots of small windows inside small windows. Have a look at 7:25 for an example. I can't make out what are you telling us to do. Press START? Press RESTART? The little window is displayed for just a few seconds, and before my old eyes can focus you've gabbled on and we're on to the next few windows. Now _those_ are better:- full screen shots that we can read, even if they are only up for a second each. So, bigger images, displayed for longer - please. Biggest criticism is that you say the video is "How to Back Up Windows 10 / 11" but the user interface between 10 and 11 is different. In fact, it seems to be the _only_ significant difference between them. When the UI is so different, trying to figure out what to do for Win 11 (for home users and small business owners, without an IT department to help them) limits the value of the video. I applaud the concept of the video, but I'd like to see this renamed as "Win 10", and do another video for "Win 11", please.
Yes, but if you restore a system image and the new hardware is from different vendors (e.g. AMD instead of Nvidia) you'll be restoring the wrong drivers, so you'll have some tidying up to do afterwards. In that case you might want to leave the fresh Windows install as-is on the new computer and do a file-level restore of your data.
That'll work, although if you're doing a disk-to-disk clone you might consider a second SSD and alternating. If each subsequent clone overwrites the former then you have a risk window during the clone operation where you don't have any backup and your live drive is being placed under high load. I've seen it disks fail under similar conditions so I always recommend having at least two backups so you're never forced to overwrite your only good backup.
I've tried everything - induced damn win 11 to make backups on external harddisk after trying to get it to do it on a flash/thumb drive but failing - not acceptable it seems. But problem is the backup harddisk has 931 GB but the damn system will only use 280 GB How the devil do I get it to use all!? Otherwise I would have to get a 6 TB harddisk to save a couple of systemimages of 400 GB if and when I fully use that main ssd with 475 GB space.
After I have restored my backup copy, I tried to open the backup folder on the new hard drive, but it is not accessible because of its old ownership. Could you explain what to do to restore the access to this folder? Thank you!
If your user account is an administrator on the computer it will usually prompt you to grant yourself access. If not, right-click on the file/folder and choose properties, security, advanced, click "change" beside the owner and you should be able to make your account the owner. OK/confirm your way back out to the start then go back into the properties and you should now be able to edit the permissions on the security tab to give yourself access.
Yes, as long as you copy the whole image intact you can move it to different storage. Making multiple copies in different places can be a good idea if the data is really important. Businesses will often take a local backup and then copy it to a device at a second location just in case.
@@LoganSmithtaichi This is a very good habit to get into. Especially if you use the VHD method he showed above, just drag it over to source x, y, z. I use a Sabrent 3.0 Sata III docking station and two Seagate Barracuda's to clone all backups. I know it seems like overkill, but if anything ever happens, I have two drives in a fireproof box to fall back on. And if one of them fails or becomes corrupt, hopefully the sibling drive will prevail. I lost everything to a flood a few years ago, I do not want to live through that again. We lost all of our photos and so much more and I hadn't integrated into the cloud or lots of backups at that time. It was horrible, so if your data is important, this habit could save you lots of pain and frustration.
Will I still be able to restore the system image like how you did if I still kept the individual files selected during the backup setup? Basically if you keep the option on Let Windows Choose (recommended) where it backs up individual files AND creates a system image. You said there is a reason you didn’t choose the individual files but will there be any downsides if you did keep those settings?
As long as you create an image you should be able to use it. The only real downside of doing both an image and individual files is that it takes up more space because you're backing up the files twice.
I apologise if this is a hilariously embarrassing comment, but I am not an IT professional. When I try to create the Veeam recovery media, a window pops up. The window's title is 'Windows Component Missing,' and it states that the 'Windows Recovery Environment (WinRE) component is missing.' It prompts me to 'Specify the location of Microsoft Windows 10 Pro (10.0.19043) installation files,' and it states that I may need to insert 'Windows installation media.' There is an input box where I can specify a folder path. Additionally, it states that I can 'download and install Windows ADK' as an alternative. I downloaded the Windows 10 ISO from Microsoft (using the Create Windows 10 installation media tool) and entered the path of this ISO file into the input box. However, I got an error that stated that 'The specified location does not contain Windows installation media.' Please could you help me get past this stage in creating my Veeam recovery media? I would love to finally be able to have a proper backup using a full system image.
Try mounting the ISO first (double-clicking it should mount it as a new drive letter) and selecting the resulting virtual drive that appears. If that doesn't work you can use the following instructions to copy a fresh recovery environment to your computer from the ISO: www.veeam.com/kb2685
@@ProTechShow Thank you so much for such an efficient response (on Christmas Eve!). I have now successfully created my recovery media. I hope you have a wonderful Christmas.
No, there's a completely free version. Make sure you're looking at the "Free/Community" download. The link in the video description should take you straight to it.
My Settings app doesn't have an "Update and Security" option. It has a "Windows Update" option. But this doesn't give me the option to add a drive. I searched "add drive" in my settings and it's not finding anything.
The settings app has changed to more heavily promote OneDrive, but the options are still in the start menu. It sounds like you're looking for file history? Veeam is still the option I recommend, but if you put "file history" into the start menu it should show up with an older style of interface (it's still the same thing, though).
You're probably using Windows 11 and looking for File History. MS are trying to push OneDrive more heavily instead of File History so it's no longer front and centre in the settings app. If you search your start menu for "File History" it'll still show up, although it may look a little different to the video. Personally, I still much prefer Veeam.
I get a Volume Shadow Copy Service operation failed error (0x807800A1) using the old Windows Backup on Win 10. I would try Veeam but it's not free and I want to be able to do this periodically.
Veeam has a free (community) edition. It's what I'm using in the video. See the link in the video description. You'll probably need to resolve the volume shadow copy service (VSS) issue either way, though. All "proper" Windows backup tools (including Veeam) make use of VSS, so if it's not working, the backup tool won't be able to create a consistent backup.
@@ProTechShow Looks like their community edition is still free. I should have tried it but I assumed, incorrectly, that Veeam has gone the way of what seems like every single other disk clone/backup vendor and crippling their "free" software. So I ended up paying $60 USD for Macrium Reflect 8 and it worked perfectly. On my next machine I'll try Veeam Community Edition. Thanks for getting back to me, though.
VSS is used by Windows to put application data into a consistent state before a backup so that it's safe to take the backup while the system is running. A lot of things can cause VSS errors. There should be logs recorded in Event Viewer at the time of the error - check the "Application" log for more details about your problem.
If anything, I'd say it's even more valid now. The new Windows 11 backup feature isn't a proper backup and just syncs some folders to OneDrive. The old Windows 7 image method still works but has been deprecated for so long without an update I'm not sure I'd want to rely on it. Veeam, by comparison, is the market leader in enterprise backup and recovery, and has yet to let me down; so they still get my recommendation.
@@ProTechShow Thanks for your response. I initially was looking for an alternative to Macrium reflect to backup a new W11 laptop. Since macrium is now premium I think I'm going to choose Veeam based on your recommendation. Thanks again for responding to this old video.Subbed!
@@_Jem_ It is true. The cloud sync does not perform a full backup of your computer, it only copies select files. The image backup option in control panel is literally called "Back up and Restore (Windows 7)". It is included in case you need to restore legacy data, but it hasn't been supported since Windows 8 arrived, nearly 14 years ago. It may still work (it did last I tried) but it isn't guaranteed to work. Given the whole purpose of a backup is to dig you out of a mess, I cannot recommend something that may or may not work; because if it doesn't at that point you're stuffed.
@@ProTechShow That is true but with how you wrote it sounds like you can only do it through the cloud, so with someone who doesn't know much about computers they would think you can't do a image backup. Someone who wants to do a simple image backup can use Windows backup. But yes if you want to do more then 3rd party software is the best choice.
Got to the point of selecting system image and message comes up indicating "The selected backup location does not support the creation of system images" Can you explain why that would be? My external D drive is 2Tb and system C drive is 464Gb with 311Gb space free. Thanks
It could be the filesystem. If it's using FAT32 then it wouldn't support large enough files for a backup image. Try formatting the USB drive as NTFS. You should be able to find the option when right-clicking on the drive. Be warned this will wipe the entire drive so make sure you don't have anything important on it first.
@@ProTechShow Thanks very much for that info, that would seem to have been the problem. Now backing up and indicating "Creating a shadow copy". Once again thanks for your excellent video and assistance. Hopefully won't have to bother you again.
I'm seeing all sorts of conflicting advice regarding using Windows 7 image backup tools with Window 11 machines. But I can all too easily understand that Microsoft will want to scare customers away from something when they want to sell you something else. Anyway I've used the Windows 7 tools successfully in the past (with Win7 machines) and want to stick with them for Win11 machines. Has anyone tested the Windows 7 image backup/restore toolset with a Windows 11 machine? I mean successfully restored a large Windows 11 system using the Windows 7 tools? Are there known real problems with doing this? Really unimpressed with Microsoft over this whole issue!!
It has worked any time I've tested it, but it's unsupported now. That doesn't mean it won't work, but it means it's no longer guaranteed to work. Personally, I recommend using Veeam instead. If you want to use the Win7 backup I advise regular backup tests. The main risk is that it could break at some point in the future and you wouldn't know until you needed it for a restore and it was too late. At least if you're testing you would catch it.
@@ProTechShow Thanks for getting back to me. I'll have a look at Veeam. Background to this is that I recently replaced a failed disk on someone's laptop. I had to install Linux because he had no Windows image backup. There must be loads of people scrapping old machines in the same situation. Really bad that Microsoft seems to be so busy selling cloud space that they forget their customers (and environment) by deprecating/hiding important tools. Anyway the Linux solution worked out very nicely!
Just buy a ssd and and external drive and clone windows on both of them. Then simply unplug them. Whenever you then need to reclone to update windows just plug them in and reformat and clone again.
Cloning as a backup has a couple of downsides. When you format the drive to take a new clone you no longer have any backup, so if you have a failure between that and your new clone completing you lose everything. With two clone drives like you're suggesting you can stagger them to avoid this but compared to a proper backup solution the clone will take longer on each subsequent job and you only have a single recovery point rather than a full history, which will limit your recovery options. Cloning has its uses, and is better than no backup, but I'd always recommend a proper backup solution over just a clone.
@@ProTechShow yee true i do the system imagery type as well but I prefer to have just a drive that I can switch boot and have all the things needed to run properly. I mean u don't really need to clone every so often. Especially on hard disk drives plugging them out and not pluging them in for a year or 2 will just operate fine, but for ssd's it's just recommended that you keep em plugged in. As long as it isnt been used to read/write anything it will last you for a long time. So if your main boot drive begins to defect or even the backup you wont panick. I can always even take it with me where ever I go and know I will have the very important things I need just by simply plugging it in.
Yes. If the drive is a different size you'll be prompted to adjust the disk mapping. If you're using non-standard storage e.g. a RAID controller then you can add drivers during the restore.
Sort of helpful. But way too fast and high level for a beginner to take in. I like your advice, but I'm gonna have to find a simper how-to video for Veeam.
Right now the File History Backup is always running on my pc. But it is more than an extra backup. My Fotos and personal files are also backupped to google and amazon cloud. For main I mostly used Acronis True Image WD Edition. It is also free, but I read it makes problems on Win11 Systems. Right now I am back to Win10, but dont like Acronis to much anymore, dont trust it. In near future I wont use Acronis anymore. The new versions are only abo and you have to pay for it regulary. Dont want this. Main backup program right now is Aomei Backupper Pro. Works also great and it seems to do its job to make an image perfekt. It rescued my 2 or 3 times. But once I time a recovery went wrong. Than I was happy to have one left from acronis ... I think I will give Veeam another chance. I tested it before but it seems to be very slower than Aomei Backupper. But it could be good. Are you validating your image at the end? Dont know if Veeam does it and do I need the validation? Normaly with Acronis and Aomei I always validate the image at the end of my backup. To you always make a full backup or make you after one fullback an incremental backup or so? The old backup that is in win10, I dont really trust it, cause it is old and no support from microsoft any more. And I heard from other user of problems with it. They all say better use 3rd party image backup program.
You can configure how often you want Veeam to perform a health check. Most backup validation only performs a checksum of the current backup. Veeam's performs an integrity check of the entire chain which is more thorough, but takes longer as well. Ultimately, though: the only validation that matters is doing a test restore. I have seen many backup products verify their data successfully, but not actually be recoverable when disaster strikes. Just because it backed up the data doesn't mean the data was good to begin with. Restoring somewhere is the only way to be sure. Veeam will do an active full job followed by incrementals, and when it reaches the end of the retention period it merges the oldest incremental to create a new full backup so you don't need to run a new full job. That said, to protect against storage corruption you should either periodically schedule an active full job, or a health check.
veeam free stand alone version??? I don't see anything like that on their site.... I see A TRIAL VERSION that lasts for 30 days, which is entirely different from "free stand alone version".
Looks like they've rearranged the website a bit. I've updated the link in the video description. Use the new one and scroll down to "Veeam Agent for Microsoft Windows Free". It still exists.
It will be more than enough for recovery media to boot from. It might be OK for file history. If it's your backup target (where you're saving the actual backups) for an image backup then it's a bit on the small side and you will likely fill it quickly.
@@ProTechShoware copy files different from the data that’s already in the computer? For example can I use 64gb flash drive to copy 372gb worth of data in my system storage. Or will the flash drive need to have the same amount of gb as the laptop?
@@blueking5739 your backup target should be larger than the total amount of data on your system so you can have more than one backup on it. At a minimum you want two backups so that when you start your second backup it doesn't have to delete your first backup and leave you without any backup until the second finishes. If using Veeam it will reduce the size of the data a little in the backup compared to the original, but it won't reduce by much. Your second backup won't use as much space though because it only needs to store the changes. For example: my desktop has approx. 230 GB on it. The first backup was around 200 GB, the second 30 GB, third 50 GB, fourth 20 GB.
Why would I use Veeam and not EasUS that cost $2500 for a lifetime multiple devices technician licence? Is it because it can backup windows server? or sql server? I don't get why it costs that much while a free tool can do a bare metal backup for an entire system. Can't Veeam backup and restore windows server bare metal?
I'm not sure I understood your question. Personally, I feel Veeam is in a difference tier to EaseUS. Veeam is an enterprise-grade product. They don't market themselves to consumers, but they happen to have a free tier for small use cases that is great for home use. It has also been very reliable - which is the most important thing for backup software, being your last line of defence. I don't have any direct experience of EaseUS as I've never come across a company that uses it, so I can’t attest to its reliability one way or the other. I have used Veeam in a lot of places, including the FTSE 250 and seen it perform enough times when everything else went wrong that I can feel confident recommending it. Veeam supports Windows, Linux, bare metal, virtual, Exchange, SQL, Active Directory, Oracle, SAP, PostgreSQL, MySQL, AWS, Azure, Google Cloud, Microsoft 365, etc. You can use Veeam Backup & Replication directly with a hypervisor (VMware, Hyper-V, Red Hat, Nutanix) and use a Veeam Agent for physical systems or other hypervisors. The agent can be centrally managed or standalone. The only reason I can think of to choose EaseUS over Veeam might be if the use case was limited enough that it didn't need Veeam's additional capabilities, and you were too budget-constrained to afford Veeam. As I'm talking about the free version in this video, that doesn't apply.
@@ProTechShow Thank you very much for your insight.. I really appreciate. To elaborate more on my question though, it's that EasUS has several products and within those several products they are licenced in different categories. Take for example one of their product "EasUS TODO Backup" is a nice tool and has normal single user licence(for just one PC) where it is either free, subscription or perpetual. Then there is Enterprise and the other is Technician suit. These two kinder overlap since most pricing is identical as they cover a single licence that can be used with multiple devices. No free licence with these, but yearly subscription and perpetual. So the perpetual in either of these is priced at $2500 which I find ok so the after your video on Veeam tool I needed to understand the features and pricing difference of both of these products. Veeam seem great and as you said they don't advertise and you need to have your head straight in order to get a pricing of what you need from their site.
@@maxxwellwalt If you're looking at a full business installation rather than the free options, Veeam works through channel partners to spec and price the solution. They can help you navigate the options and advise on things you may wish to consider like hardened repositories and cloud-tiering. There is a small business calculator here to give you an indication of pricing, but consider it budgetary rather than accurate. www.veeam.com/pricing-calculator
I'm paying some local IT company to add a bit of life back into my old gaming pc by replacing the old HDD to SSD. I was told "it's really easy" but I've heard that many times only to end in tears. So he'll clone and transfer files to new drive. Thing is he sent me a message to "Backup all files". Ya, onto what? I don't have another drive or another pc so that leaves One Drive. I played around with that. Nothing obvious to suggest anything transferred after jumping through all the bs tediously annoying hoops to set up an account etc. Is the free One Drive offering enough to space to create a backup for this 2 hour job or do I have to pay for enough space? I don't care about the games since I can delete and redownload those later such it's just the essential stuff.
The free OneDrive won't be enough to back up a full system, but you might be able to fit things like your documents and pictures there. How about getting yourself a USB drive to back up to? It would be a good idea to get into the habit of making a regular backup even after you've had the computer upgraded and confirmed it has all of your data on it. You never know when it might suddenly fail.
That was a rumour which started when it went missing from a preview build of Windows 10 once, but AFAIK it has never actually been deprecated. I wouldn't be surprised if it did happen given Microsoft's desire to push things into paid cloud services, but my recommendation will remain Veeam either way. The official list of deprecated features is here: docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/deployment/planning/windows-10-deprecated-features
I was highly interested until you got into the graphics and talking so fast. Your flash pictures are useless to small to read and your explanation went through it so fast I deemed it useless. But thank you for the effort.
I can't believe you would recommend file history. It is very unreliable and fails often. When it fails you are unaware of it. It does not alert the user. Countless people have thought they had a backup with file history and when they try to recover their files, there is no backup there. If you don't believe me check the Microsoft forums. They are full of postings about this very topic.
@@ProTechShow I know how it works and it is garbage. You should not be recommending it. Many, many issues with it in the forums, that you seemingly are unaware of.
Lol. Veeam uses a lot of words I don't understand. I am not seeing a user guide. I see "Hitchhiker’s Guide to Community Edition" which might be a user's guide, but I have to sign up to read it, and it's an online only wonky pretend book thing. How about a nice useful downloadable pdf? I was going to try it but that right there turned me off. Why would they make reading the user guide difficult (if it even is a user guide)? Kind of an asshole move.
You don't need to sign up for the user guide. It's on their documentation site, here: helpcenter.veeam.com/docs/agentforwindows/userguide/overview.html
Dud ! you need to cut the BS to a minimun if you wan to grow your channel. I dont need a history lesson when I want to find out about backing up windows 11. Ill be nice and give two thumb down.
pls everyone dont use this trash 3rd party option, a site that tries to get all ur info for a download cant have anything good in mind, just stick with the built in stuff, its bad enough to use windows, no need to give all ur data to another data broker just to make a lil shitty backup...
The "trash" option is an enterprise backup product used by 82% of the Fortune 500 and recommended by every backup specialist I know. My home use would cost >£1k/year at their normal rates and you're complaining that they'll let you use it for free? Nobody's forcing you...
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I have literally watched dozens of back up tutorials and this one is by far the BEST..thanks
Thanks 🙂
@@ProTechShow It doesn't do a windows system image to restore maybe only Veeam ?
@AnthonyManzio what doesn't? I showed two options in the video that do system images.
@@ProTechShow need a usb to bootup?
To restore from scratch (bare metal), yes. To restore individual files to a working copy of Windows, no.
I have watched close to 10 videos on windows backup today. This was going to be my last before I go ahead and initiate a backup. It turned out to be the best out of them all.
Thanks for making the video.
Glad I could help 🙂
Seriously great tutorial. Love your style and really appreciate your expertise and ability to explain to the less knowledgeable BUT at the same time not talking down to anyone who may be an intermediate user. Nice job and thank you.
Thanks 🙂
I just selected the option for system image like you did but it always gets stuck at 95 percent no matter what I do
Veeam sounds like the dream solution, automatically backup system image and volumes daily. If only Id known about it years ago. All those times I wasted to recover my programs, settings and games one by one...
Finally! Someone who actually explains how to do a real back up of my laptop! Your explanation is easy to understand, easy to follow and most importantly accurate! Thank you very much!
Glad it helped!
thanks Andrew for this video, especially that you didn't click on W10 first option "backup to Onedrive" and this lunatic wording MS uses since 2 years to sell a cloud storage solution aka "...save your local files on Onedrive and then work with it as well" as a backup and even calling it backup, MS: it's not
Cheers. Yes, they do like to flog a cloud subscription at every opportunity...
I'm way behind on my Windows knowledge so I wanted to beef up my backup options know-how. Your professionalism and explanation transitions are great and you now have yourself a new subscriber. Well done, and thank you for the introduction to Veeam. This is exactly what I wanted especially with their recovery media creation and ransomware prevention. I've spent the past two hours viewing your content, but sleep calleth. I'll be back for more. Cheers!
Thanks!
Nothing but quality and well presented information, 11/10 to you good sir, much appreciated
Thanks!
Thanks a lot for this great video. The options you showed are excellent. I never realised the usefulness of the Windows 10 or 7 inbuilt Backup utilities before seeing this.
Just one request. Can you please comment on the Macrium Reflect free edition vs the Veeam edition you have mentioned? Thanks in advance.
Thanks! I've used Macrium to clone disks before and it worked perfectly for that use, so I have no reason to think they'd be a bad choice for backups of a home computer.
I've been saved a few times by Veeam, though; and been impressed by how well it worked when stuff hit the fan. The one thing that matters most for backups is reliability. I've used Veeam's enterprise products to protect thousands of servers with billions of £/$ potentially on the line and it's never (yet) let me down. That's not to say there's anything wrong with Macrium, but if Veeam will let me use their tool in a more limited capacity for free I'll pick it almost every time because of that track record.
@@ProTechShow Thanks. That'll help me a lot.
Hello again!
silly question, at 8:26 you mention installing to a bigger hard drive than the one youve backed up from.
I am looking into changing the 500GB ssd of my laptop for a 1TB one, and from everything ive read on disk cloning its a very risky process that may damage both drives if interrupted, AND may not be perfect.
I dont really care about data as I have a secondary drive, but I can be bothered to go looking for drivers.
Can I use the windows backup tool as a "poor mans" way to swap disks?
my plan would be
1. Make a windows backup from the Original disk to a Spare disk
2. take out original disk and insert New disk
3. connect Spare disk and usb with windows installer
4. go to live boot environment, and load windows backup to 1TB drive
5. Profit?
You should be able to, and if it goes wrong you will still have the original unmodified drive, so the risk is pretty low. That said, I would suggest using Veeam rather than the built-in image backup tool. It hasn't been supported for several years now, and while it worked fine the last time I used it, there is no guarantee.
@@ProTechShow You absolute Legend, still replying! 😆
in the interest of Science, im gonna try both and make comparisons/documentation :D
But you are right that we should have alternative options with the whole microsoft depretiation of task manager, and Veeam does look pretty legit...
EJH - Excellent Job Here. L00K no Further... 👌
I've been on this topic for my personal use and found this to be the ultimate conclusion and
you have given me the "slam Dunk" on the topic. Simple, to the point. Not multiple comparisons, just the ones that count and the best part is the 3rd party option obtainable from veeam. definitely going to use it futuristic-ally. Great video thank you. keep it up. I have Liked, Commented and Subscribed. I'm a happy that I came across your vid.
Thanks 🙂
I have watched many, this video is very outstanding. Impressive knowledge u got!
Thanks!
Thank you...Finally a backup that works and you don't have to be Mr. Computer.
Thanks!
Thanks for the Veeam tutorial, never heard of it.
They're huge in the business IT world, but don't market their products to home users. The rationale behind the free versions is to get IT pros hooked so they buy it for their company, but I'll happily use enterprise-grade tools at home for free!
Up to the office supply store to buy a usb drive and create a system image back up. Thank you very much for your video.
You're welcome
Does Veeam have incremental backup support? Thanks for video.
Yes. By default it does a full followed by incrementals.
I use Macrium Reflect. This reminds me I need to make a backup image. Thanks!
Haha! Glad to be of service.
L
Would you say Veeam is the best free backup software for the much older non tech generation?
It's the one I trust with my data, which is about as strong a recommendation as I can give it.
Whether it's the "best" for someone who considers themselves "non tech", I'm not sure. Veeam is the market leader on the business/enterprise side of things, but they don't target home users so there are probably other products with a friendlier interface. That said, my parents are both retired and managed to use it without any problems.
Nicely done! Clearly and thoroughly explained. Thanks.
Thanks!
Well made video series. Impressed. From one IT pro to another, thanks for making.
Thanks Andrew 🙂
@@ProTechShow Windows 7 backup and restore backs up file and folder plus windows system but backup half way and then it stop in the middle. Got a bug. Reinstalled fresh windows 10 home both the same problem and I've never had this before. I would use to restore my system backup. I see Veeam. How do i do a backup of my windows system with Veeam besides system image?
I was using windows 7 backup tool but have now moved to Veeam after you informative video thanks :)
Glad it was useful 🙂
Me too windows 7 back had gotten corrupted
Hello, AMAZING tutorial, very concise, very clear!
However, I had one issue when following the "windows backup" method. Specifically, my external HDD is encrypted with bitlocker and when I went into recovery mode (just to test it, thankfully) the external drive did not appear...
Is this becase the disk is encrypted?
It could be. If you don't have an option to unlock it, you should be able hit Shift + F10 to bring up a command prompt and run "manage-bde -unlock D: -password", replacing "D" with the drive letter for your HDD. If you don't know the drive letter (it might change in the recovery environment) you should be able to find it with "diskpart", "list volume", "exit".
@@ProTechShow Absolute Legend! Will give it a shot, but for now you've earned a sub! 😀 Thank you!
OK, for anyone wondering in the future (and for my own personal reference lol) I couldnt get Shift+F10 to work (Win10 22H2), BUT:
1) as shown at 7:32 in the video, you go to "Troubleshoot" -> "advanced options" -> and you can see "command prompt"
2) I would reccommend starting with "Diskpart", "list volume", and verify your hard disk letter (I figured mine out from the size, even if it said "unknown" despite it being NTFS when I set it up, probably due to the encryption)
3) "exit" (to leave the diskpart)
4) run "manage-bde -unlock [your_disk]: -password"
5) close the command prompt window (you know, the red "x" on the top right)
6) you should be back in the "advanced options" menu now, so you can go to "system image recovery" and be on your merry way! (although I wish you never actually get into a scenario where you have to use this!)
Huge thanks again @pro Tech Show!
Great content!!
One ques though.. if I do system image for just "C" partition only and not include "D" and "E" partitions of that same internal hard drive, so suppose in future if I need to restore my system image which has just the "C" partition, so will the other partitions (D,E) be affected or formatted/deleted upon the restoration of that system image? Or will the other partitions remain intact as original states as they weren't disturbed in the first place ??
Thanks once again. Truly helpful indeed.
If you're using Veeam then this is definitely possible. Just be careful to select the correct options when you're restoring so you don't overwrite the entire disk. If the backup differs from the live disk Veeam will usually force you to manually confirm partitioning anyway, but better to be safe and read each option before starting!
I think it's possible with the built-in Windows one (again, paying careful attention to options during restore), but I haven't used that in a while to be 100% sure.
This really eats me... maybe I'm doing it wrong but when I got to the point where it shows the DESTINATION folder to backup my C drive it says: Free edition does not support multiple jobs. This was after I had given them all my personal information to even get the supposed FREE freakin' software. So, my question is, do I need to pay for the upgrade now to get a simple C drive backup to another drive or what? IF so, I'm sticking with Windows backup.
Sounds like you've already created a job and are trying to add another. Remove or edit the first one. It should appear in the main "burger" menu between "Add New Job" and "Settings".
I bought a Microsoft Surface Pro 4 that does not have a backup pertation so I used the Windows 7 backup to backup Windows 10 Pro to a flash drive.
Good information, thank you. I have question, if I use the Windows media tool to boot uo my windows image drive with Windows 10 Pro, will change to Windows 10 Pro OS?
If you just boot the recovery tools and don't actually reinstall Windows then it won't change the edition of your installed operating system.
Great tips, everything perfectly explained. Thanks!
The thing I didn't like about the old windows7 backup and restore was that it wouldn't let me back up to a USB thumbdrive, it wanted a "disk"....
Thanks 🙂
The version of Backup Win7 has NEVER been further developed and so staying still is under Win10 and so it is for Win11.
Urgent advice, DO NOT USE IT, use an external Backup tool with of course a rescue stick, with usually fifteen minutes later your IMAGE is back on the C-drive, this from the external HD or even from a Network drive (a bit slower then). To do this, use the 3-2-1 backup strategy and test it as well.
I myself have been using AOMEI backupper for more than 6 years and it has helped me out many times, is completely Freeware.
Great tutorial. The Backup and Restore have saved from disasters, but i was checking this Veeam Agent in the video and wante to test it because have not heard about it before, but when i read that the size of the application is 12.2 i stopped. Is the program really this big or is an error in their site details?
Check you're downloading the right thing. It's the Veeam Agent for Windows you're after. Based on the size I suspect you're looking at Veeam Backup and Replication, which is a server product for backing up a full business infrastructure.
Thank you for this video. Can I use this method to restore my W10 backup to a different PC?
Yes. Depending on how different the hardware is you might need to install a few drivers, but you can use the Windows or Veeam backups to restore to a different computer.
Great! Thanks for the fast reply@@ProTechShow
Great stuff! So helpful! Best backup video I've watched today, and I've watched 7. Thanks.
Thanks!
is it still safe to use the old windows 7 image type backup now in 2023? or is windows going to remove it?
For now, it's still there. At some point they may remove it.
@@ProTechShow if they remove it would they delete the images? would they give notice when they are removing it?
@@jingthethief They won't delete the images. They should be stored on an offline drive so that they couldn't, anyway; but Microsoft won't deliberately delete customers’ data as that would leave them open to lawsuits.
I can't make promises on their behalf, but usually they'll announce changes like feature removals and implement them as part of an annual feature update. They won't contact you directly, but this is a good place to read about the changes in each release: learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/whats-new/
There is a known exception to this rule. If a serious security vulnerability was discovered in the old backup tool then because it's deprecated they might yank it in an emergency Windows update rather than fix it.
@@ProTechShow thank you for the answers. you're awesome!
I have, numerous times, backed up Windows, not personal files, apps, just windows, so if ever I need to do a recovery, and the recovery is not working, I just put in the flash drive and there it is. But I can not find that tutorial, and everything that is on this tutorial does not exist on my pc.
just make sure a windows update dose not reboot your pc while doing a backup
I got ransomwared and I wish I had had a backup.... Thank you
You're welcome 🙂
Thank you for a terrific backup explanation. Unfortunately, after trying out the free backup, everything seemed to be OK, but after I validated the backup, it said that there was an error. This to me, is quite a dangerous situation, you think you have a good backup, but you really don't. I've tried to contact support via email, phone, but to no avail. Very disappointing.
Hi, me again. I am using Veeam to an HDD via USB3 and have recovery media on a USB stick. My question is, "Is there a verification tool to check the integrity of the backup?" I am using Veeam once a month to do a full backup of my machine and am concerned about the possible corruption of the backup data in the future. Thank you for your help.
You can set up health checks in the job settings. Ultimately, the best test is to actually restore it somewhere like a spare PC or a VM to be sure.
helpcenter.veeam.com/docs/agentforwindows/userguide/health_check_standard.html
The built in windows thingy is painfully slow. Stuck at 21% after a few hours copying files from two fairly fast SSDs. But eventually it seems windows just stops the processes but let it contunue in short bursts only.
Years ago, I started renaming my Windows System Backups (after they are completed) with a numeric prefix (such as "01-WindowsImageBackup", next would be "02-WindowsImageBackup", etc), and if I needed to do a restore, I would locate the desired backup (contained on an external hard drive), since the date created is known, and rename it by removing the numeric prefix, so that Windows could find it).
I would keep several of these backups, and eventually delete the older (obsolete) ones).
If I did not do all this, I assumed that the "WindowsImageBackup" file/folder would just keep getting bigger, with old stuff in it.
Does this make sense ?
I do keep multiple external USB drives for backups as well... a set for "indoors" (located in my house), and an "outdoors" that is located in a place outside my house, in case the house burns down, etc.
The standard behaviour if you click through the wizard is it will keep storing backups until the destination drive gets full, then it will remove old backups to make room for new ones.
If you use the command line to back up to a network share the behaviour changes to overwriting whatever is in the target share.
@@ProTechShow I don't use the command line for backups... just the Windows Control Panel System Backup/Restore...
I find it confusing that Windows uses the same file name for both a System Image, or the periodic System Backup...
When I manually do a System Image Backup, I rename it so that I know exactly what it is, such as "01-system-image-WindowsImage-Backup".
So if you use the Windows 7 backup, and schedule a periodic backup that includes all users, files, and folders (on the system C: drive), that would be identical to doing a "system image" backup (assuming that the periodic backup is NOT backing up other attached drives) ?
Not quite. You'd have all the data, but it's a file-level backup rather than volume-level. The system image supports "bare metal" restores to a blank hard drive. It includes system state information such as the Windows registry and hidden partitions that are necessary to boot the computer. If your computer dies, a system image will recover it from scratch. A file-level backup can restore your data to a working installation of Windows, but you'd still need to reinstall Windows and most of your programs manually first.
I would avoid the Windows 7 backup and use Veeam, though. It has been many years since the Win7 version received an update and at some point it may not work anymore.
wow this is the first time i see this options in win system thanks alot😍
You're welcome 🙂
most useful video of this year of my life
Glad it's helpful!
best and most helpful tutorial
thanks man
Thanks 🙂
To Pro Tech Show,
On 6:23 - 6:26, Is there a difference between clicking 'Create a system image' to 'Set up back-up'?
I was wondering which two chosen backup route is better?
"Create a system image" on the left runs a one-off backup with preselected options. "Set up back-up" lets you choose more options and set a schedule.
@@ProTechShow Alright Thanks. One more question before I go.
Whatever two choices I end of picking. When I'm going throught the Restoring PC process and when I'm at 'Re-image yout computer: Select a system image backup' part.
Will there be a more than one system image history list?
(Aka no matter which two choices for system image I take, can I still get a history list of past system image that I constantly saves so far?)
I hope this make some sense.
@@samfake233 it depends. If you use the "set up" option and select a local/USB drive as the target it maintains as much history as it has space for. If you use a network location it only keeps one backup. I can't say off the top of my head what the other option does as I can't recall ever using it for anything other than a one-off.
@@ProTechShow I'm planning to use System Image Backup into my 8TB External Hard Drive only. (my backup PC C:/ (SSD) and D:/ (HDD) copies are going into my External Hard Drive)
But overall, Thanks you very much.
My personal view is that any backup system should be as simple as possible to use. It should backup the entire content of the operating drive. It should be immune from the total destruction of the operating drive. It should be simple to restore full recovery to the PC. The backup system be disconnected between backup functions so it would be immune to any virus attacks.
That is why I make a CLONE of my operating drive. I don't make an IMAGE of it, and I think the word IMAGE is an abuse of the English language in this context. I plug my clone drive into a SATA port on the motherboard and keep it unplugged when not in use. I am considering using TWO cloned drives. And however bad things may get I would be able totally to restore the PC in very short time.
An image is different to a clone. If you clone a drive you end up with a second, identical drive. An image is typically saved to a file (or blobs) and is more flexible. You can easily retain multiple restore points, move them, encrypt them, test them, restore to dissimilar hardware, etc.
One of the big downsides of just cloning one drive to another is that the moment you start a fresh clone you destroy your existing backup and have no protection until the new clone job completes successfully. Backup/clone operations place drives under load, which means you're at the highest risk of a failure at exactly the point you're most vulnerable.
Adding a second clone drive as you suggest and staggering the clone jobs would address that risk for you, but I much prefer images. They are easier to manage and more likely to work when restored to dissimilar hardware; and if I need to use my backup it may well be because the original hardware is non-functional.
@@ProTechShow I know you are correct. The problem is that you need a cool head and understand what you are doing. To some people the wipeout of their operating drive is a major catastrophe, like being in a serious car crash.
Three criticisms, sir.
The intended audience is home users and small business owners, without an IT department to help them.
That said, slow down please ! Speed of delivery and hibernian accent is not conducive to easy understanding.
Second, the screen shots are shots of small windows inside small windows. Have a look at 7:25 for an example. I can't make out what are you telling us to do. Press START? Press RESTART? The little window is displayed for just a few seconds, and before my old eyes can focus you've gabbled on and we're on to the next few windows. Now _those_ are better:- full screen shots that we can read, even if they are only up for a second each. So, bigger images, displayed for longer - please.
Biggest criticism is that you say the video is "How to Back Up Windows 10 / 11" but the user interface between 10 and 11 is different. In fact, it seems to be the _only_ significant difference between them. When the UI is so different, trying to figure out what to do for Win 11 (for home users and small business owners, without an IT department to help them) limits the value of the video.
I applaud the concept of the video, but I'd like to see this renamed as "Win 10", and do another video for "Win 11", please.
So how do I restore from my back up if the computer is broken? Can I restore it to a newly built computer?
Yes, but if you restore a system image and the new hardware is from different vendors (e.g. AMD instead of Nvidia) you'll be restoring the wrong drivers, so you'll have some tidying up to do afterwards. In that case you might want to leave the fresh Windows install as-is on the new computer and do a file-level restore of your data.
Mine backup is; get a SSD memory drive (much faster) and use Macrium to clone the new SSD drive to the old drive, every so often...
That'll work, although if you're doing a disk-to-disk clone you might consider a second SSD and alternating. If each subsequent clone overwrites the former then you have a risk window during the clone operation where you don't have any backup and your live drive is being placed under high load. I've seen it disks fail under similar conditions so I always recommend having at least two backups so you're never forced to overwrite your only good backup.
Great video. Thank you for share your expertise.
You're welcome. Glad if it helps!
My hard drive is broken while trying to save the backup...
I've tried everything - induced damn win 11 to make backups on external harddisk after trying to get it to do it on a flash/thumb drive but failing - not acceptable it seems. But problem is the backup harddisk has 931 GB but the damn system will only use 280 GB How the devil do I get it to use all!? Otherwise I would have to get a 6 TB harddisk to save a couple of systemimages of 400 GB if and when I fully use that main ssd with 475 GB space.
After I have restored my backup copy, I tried to open the backup folder on the new hard drive, but it is not accessible because of its old ownership. Could you explain what to do to restore the access to this folder? Thank you!
If your user account is an administrator on the computer it will usually prompt you to grant yourself access. If not, right-click on the file/folder and choose properties, security, advanced, click "change" beside the owner and you should be able to make your account the owner. OK/confirm your way back out to the start then go back into the properties and you should now be able to edit the permissions on the security tab to give yourself access.
can I copy and paste a windows 10 image backup from an external hard drive to another and have it still work?
Yes, as long as you copy the whole image intact you can move it to different storage. Making multiple copies in different places can be a good idea if the data is really important. Businesses will often take a local backup and then copy it to a device at a second location just in case.
@@LoganSmithtaichi This is a very good habit to get into. Especially if you use the VHD method he showed above, just drag it over to source x, y, z. I use a Sabrent 3.0 Sata III docking station and two Seagate Barracuda's to clone all backups. I know it seems like overkill, but if anything ever happens, I have two drives in a fireproof box to fall back on. And if one of them fails or becomes corrupt, hopefully the sibling drive will prevail. I lost everything to a flood a few years ago, I do not want to live through that again. We lost all of our photos and so much more and I hadn't integrated into the cloud or lots of backups at that time. It was horrible, so if your data is important, this habit could save you lots of pain and frustration.
thanks bro for this
You're welcome
Will I still be able to restore the system image like how you did if I still kept the individual files selected during the backup setup? Basically if you keep the option on Let Windows Choose (recommended) where it backs up individual files AND creates a system image. You said there is a reason you didn’t choose the individual files but will there be any downsides if you did keep those settings?
As long as you create an image you should be able to use it. The only real downside of doing both an image and individual files is that it takes up more space because you're backing up the files twice.
@@ProTechShow cool, thanks!
I apologise if this is a hilariously embarrassing comment, but I am not an IT professional. When I try to create the Veeam recovery media, a window pops up. The window's title is 'Windows Component Missing,' and it states that the 'Windows Recovery Environment (WinRE) component is missing.' It prompts me to 'Specify the location of Microsoft Windows 10 Pro (10.0.19043) installation files,' and it states that I may need to insert 'Windows installation media.' There is an input box where I can specify a folder path. Additionally, it states that I can 'download and install Windows ADK' as an alternative.
I downloaded the Windows 10 ISO from Microsoft (using the Create Windows 10 installation media tool) and entered the path of this ISO file into the input box. However, I got an error that stated that 'The specified location does not contain Windows installation media.'
Please could you help me get past this stage in creating my Veeam recovery media? I would love to finally be able to have a proper backup using a full system image.
Try mounting the ISO first (double-clicking it should mount it as a new drive letter) and selecting the resulting virtual drive that appears.
If that doesn't work you can use the following instructions to copy a fresh recovery environment to your computer from the ISO: www.veeam.com/kb2685
@@ProTechShow Thank you so much for such an efficient response (on Christmas Eve!). I have now successfully created my recovery media.
I hope you have a wonderful Christmas.
Merry Christmas to you too!
Thank you for a great video but Veeam is just a "free" trial? minimun about 350$ if you buy it?
No, there's a completely free version. Make sure you're looking at the "Free/Community" download. The link in the video description should take you straight to it.
@@ProTechShow Macrium has stated that the free version will be deprecated this year. I'm going to test out Veeam and urBackup (open source).
My Settings app doesn't have an "Update and Security" option. It has a "Windows Update" option. But this doesn't give me the option to add a drive. I searched "add drive" in my settings and it's not finding anything.
The settings app has changed to more heavily promote OneDrive, but the options are still in the start menu. It sounds like you're looking for file history? Veeam is still the option I recommend, but if you put "file history" into the start menu it should show up with an older style of interface (it's still the same thing, though).
@@ProTechShow thanks, I found it. It was a lot harder than I felt it should have been.
I have Windows 10 /11, but I don't have the file called "Back-up Options" (or i just can't find it) What should I do?
You're probably using Windows 11 and looking for File History. MS are trying to push OneDrive more heavily instead of File History so it's no longer front and centre in the settings app. If you search your start menu for "File History" it'll still show up, although it may look a little different to the video.
Personally, I still much prefer Veeam.
Acronis is fucking going sick of that garbage. Thanks for this video giving V a try
I get a Volume Shadow Copy Service operation failed error (0x807800A1) using the old Windows Backup on Win 10. I would try Veeam but it's not free and I want to be able to do this periodically.
Veeam has a free (community) edition. It's what I'm using in the video. See the link in the video description.
You'll probably need to resolve the volume shadow copy service (VSS) issue either way, though. All "proper" Windows backup tools (including Veeam) make use of VSS, so if it's not working, the backup tool won't be able to create a consistent backup.
@@ProTechShow Looks like their community edition is still free. I should have tried it but I assumed, incorrectly, that Veeam has gone the way of what seems like every single other disk clone/backup vendor and crippling their "free" software. So I ended up paying $60 USD for Macrium Reflect 8 and it worked perfectly. On my next machine I'll try Veeam Community Edition. Thanks for getting back to me, though.
Do you know about vvs shadow copy errors when doing a backup in windows?
VSS is used by Windows to put application data into a consistent state before a backup so that it's safe to take the backup while the system is running. A lot of things can cause VSS errors. There should be logs recorded in Event Viewer at the time of the error - check the "Application" log for more details about your problem.
Amazing video! Great!
Thanks 🙂
Hi!
Is this tutorial still valid for 2024?
Is using Veeam better than relying on windows backup ?
If anything, I'd say it's even more valid now. The new Windows 11 backup feature isn't a proper backup and just syncs some folders to OneDrive. The old Windows 7 image method still works but has been deprecated for so long without an update I'm not sure I'd want to rely on it. Veeam, by comparison, is the market leader in enterprise backup and recovery, and has yet to let me down; so they still get my recommendation.
@@ProTechShow Thanks for your response.
I initially was looking for an alternative to Macrium reflect to backup a new W11 laptop. Since macrium is now premium I think I'm going to choose Veeam based on your recommendation.
Thanks again for responding to this old video.Subbed!
@@ProTechShowThat's not true at all, you can sync to the cloud or go into control panel and do a image backup.
@@_Jem_ It is true. The cloud sync does not perform a full backup of your computer, it only copies select files. The image backup option in control panel is literally called "Back up and Restore (Windows 7)". It is included in case you need to restore legacy data, but it hasn't been supported since Windows 8 arrived, nearly 14 years ago. It may still work (it did last I tried) but it isn't guaranteed to work. Given the whole purpose of a backup is to dig you out of a mess, I cannot recommend something that may or may not work; because if it doesn't at that point you're stuffed.
@@ProTechShow That is true but with how you wrote it sounds like you can only do it through the cloud, so with someone who doesn't know much about computers they would think you can't do a image backup. Someone who wants to do a simple image backup can use Windows backup. But yes if you want to do more then 3rd party software is the best choice.
Got to the point of selecting system image and message comes up indicating "The selected backup location does not support the creation of system images" Can you explain why that would be? My external D drive is 2Tb and system C drive is 464Gb with 311Gb space free. Thanks
Is D part of the same physical drive where C is located? Or is D an independent unit but fixed to the same computer where C is installed?
@@domxem5551 Thanks for response. D is external drive connected via USB to my PC.
It could be the filesystem. If it's using FAT32 then it wouldn't support large enough files for a backup image.
Try formatting the USB drive as NTFS. You should be able to find the option when right-clicking on the drive. Be warned this will wipe the entire drive so make sure you don't have anything important on it first.
@@ProTechShow Thanks very much for that info, that would seem to have been the problem. Now backing up and indicating "Creating a shadow copy". Once again thanks for your excellent video and assistance. Hopefully won't have to bother you again.
But the free Windows version only allows one job which limits its usefulness.
1:40 - “….Not AWWWWW Backup!” (Yes, I know, we all talk funny)
BTW, thanks for the helpful backup tips!
I'm seeing all sorts of conflicting advice regarding using Windows 7 image backup tools with Window 11 machines. But I can all too easily understand that Microsoft will want to scare customers away from something when they want to sell you something else. Anyway I've used the Windows 7 tools successfully in the past (with Win7 machines) and want to stick with them for Win11 machines.
Has anyone tested the Windows 7 image backup/restore toolset with a Windows 11 machine? I mean successfully restored a large Windows 11 system using the Windows 7 tools? Are there known real problems with doing this?
Really unimpressed with Microsoft over this whole issue!!
It has worked any time I've tested it, but it's unsupported now. That doesn't mean it won't work, but it means it's no longer guaranteed to work.
Personally, I recommend using Veeam instead. If you want to use the Win7 backup I advise regular backup tests. The main risk is that it could break at some point in the future and you wouldn't know until you needed it for a restore and it was too late. At least if you're testing you would catch it.
@@ProTechShow Thanks for getting back to me. I'll have a look at Veeam.
Background to this is that I recently replaced a failed disk on someone's laptop. I had to install Linux because he had no Windows image backup. There must be loads of people scrapping old machines in the same situation. Really bad that Microsoft seems to be so busy selling cloud space that they forget their customers (and environment) by deprecating/hiding important tools. Anyway the Linux solution worked out very nicely!
Just buy a ssd and and external drive and clone windows on both of them. Then simply unplug them. Whenever you then need to reclone to update windows just plug them in and reformat and clone again.
Cloning as a backup has a couple of downsides. When you format the drive to take a new clone you no longer have any backup, so if you have a failure between that and your new clone completing you lose everything. With two clone drives like you're suggesting you can stagger them to avoid this but compared to a proper backup solution the clone will take longer on each subsequent job and you only have a single recovery point rather than a full history, which will limit your recovery options.
Cloning has its uses, and is better than no backup, but I'd always recommend a proper backup solution over just a clone.
@@ProTechShow yee true i do the system imagery type as well but I prefer to have just a drive that I can switch boot and have all the things needed to run properly. I mean u don't really need to clone every so often. Especially on hard disk drives plugging them out and not pluging them in for a year or 2 will just operate fine, but for ssd's it's just recommended that you keep em plugged in. As long as it isnt been used to read/write anything it will last you for a long time. So if your main boot drive begins to defect or even the backup you wont panick. I can always even take it with me where ever I go and know I will have the very important things I need just by simply plugging it in.
Can the free VEEAM restore to different hardware (UNIVERSAL RESTORE)?
Yes. If the drive is a different size you'll be prompted to adjust the disk mapping. If you're using non-standard storage e.g. a RAID controller then you can add drivers during the restore.
@@ProTechShow Thanks, Andrew! That's a nice feature that other vendors charge for.
Dan
Sort of helpful. But way too fast and high level for a beginner to take in. I like your advice, but I'm gonna have to find a simper how-to video for Veeam.
Right now the File History Backup is always running on my pc. But it is more than an extra backup. My Fotos and personal files are also backupped to google and amazon cloud.
For main I mostly used Acronis True Image WD Edition. It is also free, but I read it makes problems on Win11 Systems. Right now I am back to Win10, but dont like Acronis to much anymore, dont trust it. In near future I wont use Acronis anymore. The new versions are only abo and you have to pay for it regulary. Dont want this.
Main backup program right now is Aomei Backupper Pro. Works also great and it seems to do its job to make an image perfekt. It rescued my 2 or 3 times. But once I time a recovery went wrong. Than I was happy to have one left from acronis ...
I think I will give Veeam another chance. I tested it before but it seems to be very slower than Aomei Backupper. But it could be good.
Are you validating your image at the end? Dont know if Veeam does it and do I need the validation? Normaly with Acronis and Aomei I always validate the image at the end of my backup.
To you always make a full backup or make you after one fullback an incremental backup or so?
The old backup that is in win10, I dont really trust it, cause it is old and no support from microsoft any more. And I heard from other user of problems with it. They all say better use 3rd party image backup program.
You can configure how often you want Veeam to perform a health check. Most backup validation only performs a checksum of the current backup. Veeam's performs an integrity check of the entire chain which is more thorough, but takes longer as well. Ultimately, though: the only validation that matters is doing a test restore. I have seen many backup products verify their data successfully, but not actually be recoverable when disaster strikes. Just because it backed up the data doesn't mean the data was good to begin with. Restoring somewhere is the only way to be sure.
Veeam will do an active full job followed by incrementals, and when it reaches the end of the retention period it merges the oldest incremental to create a new full backup so you don't need to run a new full job. That said, to protect against storage corruption you should either periodically schedule an active full job, or a health check.
I am Using Aomei Backupper,Standed Version(Free) And Am Very Happy With It...I,ll Try Veeam..Looks Good.
veeam free stand alone version??? I don't see anything like that on their site.... I see A TRIAL VERSION that lasts for 30 days, which is entirely different from "free stand alone version".
Looks like they've rearranged the website a bit. I've updated the link in the video description. Use the new one and scroll down to "Veeam Agent
for Microsoft Windows Free". It still exists.
@@ProTechShow I just downloaded it, thanks man!!
Pretty useful :)
Thanks :-)
Hi, I'm using for recovery and backup USB 32GB drive. It's right?
Thank you
It will be more than enough for recovery media to boot from. It might be OK for file history. If it's your backup target (where you're saving the actual backups) for an image backup then it's a bit on the small side and you will likely fill it quickly.
@@ProTechShow Okay, Thank you so much Brother.
@@ProTechShoware copy files different from the data that’s already in the computer? For example can I use 64gb flash drive to copy 372gb worth of data in my system storage. Or will the flash drive need to have the same amount of gb as the laptop?
@@blueking5739 your backup target should be larger than the total amount of data on your system so you can have more than one backup on it. At a minimum you want two backups so that when you start your second backup it doesn't have to delete your first backup and leave you without any backup until the second finishes.
If using Veeam it will reduce the size of the data a little in the backup compared to the original, but it won't reduce by much. Your second backup won't use as much space though because it only needs to store the changes.
For example: my desktop has approx. 230 GB on it. The first backup was around 200 GB, the second 30 GB, third 50 GB, fourth 20 GB.
@@ProTechShow Thanks for the reply
Why would I use Veeam and not EasUS that cost $2500 for a lifetime multiple devices technician licence? Is it because it can backup windows server? or sql server? I don't get why it costs that much while a free tool can do a bare metal backup for an entire system. Can't Veeam backup and restore windows server bare metal?
I'm not sure I understood your question. Personally, I feel Veeam is in a difference tier to EaseUS. Veeam is an enterprise-grade product. They don't market themselves to consumers, but they happen to have a free tier for small use cases that is great for home use. It has also been very reliable - which is the most important thing for backup software, being your last line of defence.
I don't have any direct experience of EaseUS as I've never come across a company that uses it, so I can’t attest to its reliability one way or the other. I have used Veeam in a lot of places, including the FTSE 250 and seen it perform enough times when everything else went wrong that I can feel confident recommending it.
Veeam supports Windows, Linux, bare metal, virtual, Exchange, SQL, Active Directory, Oracle, SAP, PostgreSQL, MySQL, AWS, Azure, Google Cloud, Microsoft 365, etc. You can use Veeam Backup & Replication directly with a hypervisor (VMware, Hyper-V, Red Hat, Nutanix) and use a Veeam Agent for physical systems or other hypervisors. The agent can be centrally managed or standalone.
The only reason I can think of to choose EaseUS over Veeam might be if the use case was limited enough that it didn't need Veeam's additional capabilities, and you were too budget-constrained to afford Veeam. As I'm talking about the free version in this video, that doesn't apply.
@@ProTechShow Thank you very much for your insight.. I really appreciate.
To elaborate more on my question though, it's that EasUS has several products and within those several products they are licenced in different categories.
Take for example one of their product "EasUS TODO Backup" is a nice tool and has normal single user licence(for just one PC) where it is either free, subscription or perpetual.
Then there is Enterprise and the other is Technician suit. These two kinder overlap since most pricing is identical as they cover a single licence that can be used with multiple devices. No free licence with these, but yearly subscription and perpetual. So the perpetual in either of these is priced at $2500 which I find ok so the after your video on Veeam tool I needed to understand the features and pricing difference of both of these products.
Veeam seem great and as you said they don't advertise and you need to have your head straight in order to get a pricing of what you need from their site.
@@maxxwellwalt If you're looking at a full business installation rather than the free options, Veeam works through channel partners to spec and price the solution. They can help you navigate the options and advise on things you may wish to consider like hardened repositories and cloud-tiering.
There is a small business calculator here to give you an indication of pricing, but consider it budgetary rather than accurate.
www.veeam.com/pricing-calculator
This video is a livesaver!
Glad it helped 🙂
I'm paying some local IT company to add a bit of life back into my old gaming pc by replacing the old HDD to SSD.
I was told "it's really easy" but I've heard that many times only to end in tears.
So he'll clone and transfer files to new drive. Thing is he sent me a message to "Backup all files". Ya, onto what? I don't have another drive or another pc so that leaves One Drive.
I played around with that. Nothing obvious to suggest anything transferred after jumping through all the bs tediously annoying hoops to set up an account etc. Is the free One Drive offering enough to space to create a backup for this 2 hour job or do I have to pay for enough space?
I don't care about the games since I can delete and redownload those later such it's just the essential stuff.
The free OneDrive won't be enough to back up a full system, but you might be able to fit things like your documents and pictures there.
How about getting yourself a USB drive to back up to? It would be a good idea to get into the habit of making a regular backup even after you've had the computer upgraded and confirmed it has all of your data on it. You never know when it might suddenly fail.
@@ProTechShow Thanks for the fast reply. Much appreciated.
just pay him to create a backup first.
Very good video
Thanks!
File history is deprecated.
That was a rumour which started when it went missing from a preview build of Windows 10 once, but AFAIK it has never actually been deprecated.
I wouldn't be surprised if it did happen given Microsoft's desire to push things into paid cloud services, but my recommendation will remain Veeam either way.
The official list of deprecated features is here: docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/deployment/planning/windows-10-deprecated-features
I clicked the subscribe button because it was not far either.
Haha Thanks!
Thanks
Thanks very much!
Late night backup!
Ha! You noticed the time. 😁
Most of my recording happens around midnight because it's the only time I seem to have free from work/kids.
@@ProTechShow Can you make a similar video for linux based desktops?
Good suggestion. I'll put it on the ideas list, thanks. 👍
its great but i do not anderstand too much sorry
iam using Ms-dos norton ghost ^_^ i bet no one heard about it lol
I haven't heard that name in years... I thought they kill it long ago. Does it even support modern UEFI computers with GPT disks?
@@ProTechShow Does this program veem do a windows system image backup like windows 7 backup and restore?
@@AnthonyManzio Veeam does, yes.
I was highly interested until you got into the graphics and talking so fast. Your flash pictures are useless to small to read and your explanation went through it so fast I deemed it useless. But thank you for the effort.
I can't believe you would recommend file history. It is very unreliable and fails often. When it fails you are unaware of it. It does not alert the user. Countless people have thought they had a backup with file history and when they try to recover their files, there is no backup there. If you don't believe me check the Microsoft forums. They are full of postings about this very topic.
Did you watch the video? I explained how file history works, but I recommended Veeam.
@@ProTechShow I know how it works and it is garbage. You should not be recommending it. Many, many issues with it in the forums, that you seemingly are unaware of.
So you didn't watch the video, or read my reply. Gotcha.
@@ProTechShow good one😂😂
I like EaseUS ToDo free
Chinese software.
9:29
Lol. Veeam uses a lot of words I don't understand. I am not seeing a user guide. I see "Hitchhiker’s Guide to Community Edition" which might be a user's guide, but I have to sign up to read it, and it's an online only wonky pretend book thing. How about a nice useful downloadable pdf? I was going to try it but that right there turned me off. Why would they make reading the user guide difficult (if it even is a user guide)? Kind of an asshole move.
You don't need to sign up for the user guide. It's on their documentation site, here: helpcenter.veeam.com/docs/agentforwindows/userguide/overview.html
Dud ! you need to cut the BS to a minimun if you wan to grow your channel. I dont need a history lesson when I want to find out about backing up windows 11. Ill be nice and give two thumb down.
pls everyone dont use this trash 3rd party option, a site that tries to get all ur info for a download cant have anything good in mind, just stick with the built in stuff, its bad enough to use windows, no need to give all ur data to another data broker just to make a lil shitty backup...
The "trash" option is an enterprise backup product used by 82% of the Fortune 500 and recommended by every backup specialist I know. My home use would cost >£1k/year at their normal rates and you're complaining that they'll let you use it for free? Nobody's forcing you...
What 🙄