Backing up Windows 7 using Linux

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Probably a simple Yes/No answer, but here’s the question. If I use a live Linux distro (I’m thinking Puppy because I have an SSD, 16GB RAM, and it installs on a RAM disk), can I make a copy of C drive, end to end, that I could copy back if Windows goes belly up?

Thanks,

David

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Probably a simple Yes/No answer, but here’s the question. If I use a live Linux distro (I’m thinking Puppy because I have an SSD, 16GB RAM, and it installs on a RAM disk), can I make a copy of C drive, end to end, that I could copy back if Windows goes belly up?

Thanks,

David

I use Linux Mint LiveDVD to only Copy data from one drive to another, not as a backup program. The problem would be in getting the boot files back on the drive to make it bootable. I think what you are asking about is an imaging program to recreate a failed drive.

Before you wonder "Am I doing things right," ask "Am I doing the right things?"

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The general sentiment here seems to be “use one of the free backup programs and associated rescue media”. The main advantage is you can perform the backups from within Windows whilst you work.
http://windowssecrets.com/forums/showthread//148152-What-s-the-best-free-backup-program

cheers, Paul

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Thanks for your replies. For a few years I used Easeus Pro to make images, never had to do a recovery. My main concern isn’t being able to restore an image in Windows, it’s being able to recover when the machine won’t boot. All, or at least most, of the back-up programs claim to be able to do this by creating a boot disk or drive. Sounds good, but wait.

My new laptop has 4 USB 3 ports, no USB 2 ports. I used the latest Easeus Backup to create an image on an external hard drive from within Windows. That worked, and the image was listed in Explorer. I made a “disaster recovery” boot-able thumb drive, booted from it, but the image could not be located, not even the drive. After several e-mails to and from Easeus I discovered that the boot-able drive doesn’t have the USB 3 drivers built in. They did send me instructions to add them, yards of instructions almost as arcane as working in DOS 3.0.

I tried NovaBackup. Same deal, create a boot drive, but it can’t locate an image on a USB 3 drive. I have bought TeraByte Unlimited Image for Windows/DOS/Linux, & Bare Metal. Their Linux boot disk does include the USB 3 drivers and I’m sure it’ll do the job. But it’s $50 per license, I need three, getting expensive (or I could save some money by using Image for Linux for $30 on the other two machines).

So that’s how I came to be thinking of using Linux as an imaging program. If I could boot without involving the hard drive, and make a cloned copy of the whole thing end to end I assumed that I’d be able to copy it back at a later date. If the entire disk was cloned wouldn’t the boot files, and everything else, be in the right place?

David

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I have bought TeraByte Unlimited Image for Windows/DOS/Linux, & Bare Metal. Their Linux boot disk does include the USB 3 drivers and I’m sure it’ll do the job. But it’s $50 per license, I need three, getting expensive

Do you need it for personal use or business? Terms for business use are different, but for personal or home use, “Each single license purchased for non-business-use covers up to three computers.”

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Thanks for that info, that’s good news. I only need to backup personal computers, strictly for home use. I really should read the fine print, and maybe the not so fine print as well.

David

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As you seem to have an older version of EaseUS it may not have USB3 drivers on the rescue media. Newer version claim to support USB3.

cheers, Paul

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Thanks for your input Paul, but I was using the latest version. The USB 3 drivers are included in the program that runs under Windows. If Windows was running I could create and restore images, but my issue was restoring if Windows will not start. I had a lengthy correspondence with Easeus support about trying to restore using the emergency boot disk. Quite a lot was ‘lost in translation’, but finally I got this:

“We believe it’s because the bootable disc lacks the USB driver for your motherboard.
“You can manually add it to your bootable disc as instructed below.

http://kb.easeus.com/art.php?id=10025.

I don’t think it would be too much of an exaggeration to say that the method for adding the drivers is less than intuitive. And now that I have the TeraByte software I feel I’m close to bullet-proof.

David

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I don’t think it would be too much of an exaggeration to say that the method for adding the drivers is less than intuitive. And now that I have the TeraByte software I feel I’m close to bullet-proof.

David

You can cut and paste the commands into the command window, that should make it easier. Just change any Drive letters that are different on your system.

You can do it you are a David
But good luck however you do it!

:cheers:

Just because you don't know where you are going doesn't mean any road will get you there.

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I had a lengthy correspondence with Easeus support about trying to restore using the emergency boot disk. Quite a lot was ‘lost in translation’, but finally I got this:

“We believe it’s because the bootable disc lacks the USB driver for your motherboard.
“You can manually add it to your bootable disc as instructed below.

I use Acronis TI and its boot CD has the USB drivers built-in. It seems EaseUS have not managed that or you are using the wrong recovery CD.

cheers, Paul

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Rhinoceros

I think you’ll be satisfied with TeraByte Unlimited’s Image For Windows software bundle. I use it often and I like it much more than Ghost and the other commercial imaging products I’ve used. I always used Ghost back in the 90’s but I now prefer the TeraByte products.

Image or Clone often! Backup, backup, backup, backup......
- - - - -
Home Built: Windows 10 Home 64-bit, AMD Athlon II X3 435 CPU, 16GB RAM, ASUSTeK M4A89GTD-PRO/USB3 (AM3) motherboard, 512GB SanDisk SSD, 3 TB WD HDD, 1024MB ATI AMD RADEON HD 6450 video, ASUS VE278 (1920x1080) display, ATAPI iHAS224 Optical Drive, integrated Realtek HD Audio

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I use Acronis TI and its boot CD has the USB drivers built-in. It seems EaseUS have not managed that or you are using the wrong recovery CD.

cheers, Paul

Although I used to like Acronis TI Home for image backups and even cloning a drive to a different drive (mostly from smaller to larger) I recently encountered a serious failure of a clone operation involving a machine running Win 7 Ultimate 64 Bit. My computer has an ASUS motherboard and a UEFI BIOS. Unfortunately, although the cloning operation seemed to complete without hiccups, substituting the new cloned drive for the old one resulted in a failure to boot properly and Microsoft shutting the windows OS down with the BS claim that my installation was not legit. Of course, it was legitimate. Luckily I also have a Windows Home Server 2011 (itself based on Windows 7) backup setup. I used the WHS backup of the older, smaller, drive, restored it to the new, larger drive, and, it booted and runs OK with one difficulty. Now it only boots as long as I go to the UEFI Boot Manager in the BIOS and manually choose the new drive. I guess UEFI BIOSes are a constant problem and are too arcane for mere mortals to use. Nevertheless, I no longer have any confidence in ACRONIS TIH [mine is version 2015] and will not send them any more money. Besides, I found that they insulate themselves pretty completely from their customers and do not provide adequate help when their software fails.

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Probably a simple Yes/No answer, but here’s the question. If I use a live Linux distro (I’m thinking Puppy because I have an SSD, 16GB RAM, and it installs on a RAM disk), can I make a copy of C drive, end to end, that I could copy back if Windows goes belly up?
Thanks,
David

Since long before Windows reared its ugly head, there have been Good, Reliable, backup programs.
But windows presented its own problems when it came to doing backups.

In about 1997 an obscure little software company in New Zealand came up with a great backup program called simply, “GHOST”.
I worked in a small computer repair shop at the time and my boss would download a 30 day trial copy of the program and we’d use it to
upgrade customer’s PC’s to larger hard drives. We’d just CLONE the smaller drive to a larger drive. It worked like a champ!

Today I still use the last DOS version of Ghost, to make backups of my own C: drive, compressed and saved to either another internal HD, or an external USB 3.0 HD. No matter where you put the backups, Ghost is still my backup program of choice. I can boot up my PC and run Ghost from either a CD, Flash Drive, or even a SD Flash Card. Booting up in DOS and running Ghost takes Windows completely out of the picture.
Windows doesn’t even have to be bootable and I can still back it up, to save data.

If something snarls up my Windows, I can restore my latest Ghost backup in about 15 minutes. No harm, No foul.
Same thing if my main HD crashes (Up in Smoke) and is totally unusable. I just slap in a new drive and do a Ghost restore and I’m right back in business.

Life is just so much simpler and uncomplicated when you have good, reliable, backups.

OH, by the way, my 2005 (DOS) version of Ghost, still works great on Windows 10. It will even back up Windows Server and/or Linux.

Keep it Simple Mates!
The Doctor

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rsync – which should be included with just about any Linux distro, will make a complete backup, preserving permissions, with no invasive GUI.

Code:

sudo rsync -rltDvu --modify-window=1

There are more parameters, but this is the essentials.

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http://windowssecrets.com/forums/showthread//171618-Backing-up-Windows-7-using-Linux?p=1023784&viewfull=1#post1023784

thesquire2

Try EasyBCD to check settings. I think somehow you lost something. How many drives are in your system? Are you doing pure Uefi?

Just because you don't know where you are going doesn't mean any road will get you there.

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If the clone ran successfully, but MS claimed it isn’t kosher, then TI is not to blame. MS automated checking thinks you are attempting to pirate the software and a phone call to them usually resolves the issue.

UEFI is not a constant problem, you just need to change your boot order to tell the PC which drive to boot from.

cheers, Paul

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You can use a Ubuntu Live CD to Backup Files from a dead Windows Computer and you might be able to modify this process to backup your Windows system, but I don’t know how. A linux live USB is a mini system on the stick thus it can only backup files to the stick. If your backup size is less 4 GB – puppy size, you can backup to the USB provided you have a backup Puppy app installed.

So I think the short answer is probably not

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You can use a Ubuntu live CD to backup files from a dead Windows Computer.You can’t backup windows files with a live linux USB.

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