Win7 Backup

[BOAC]

I am in the process (at last) of transitioning from XP to 7. I am backing up to an external 500gb Hitachi. I cannot get Win7 Backup to 'complete' on any drive. Information on what is failing is difficult to locate. I have Paragon as an alternative. Any tips?

NTBackup in XP worked fine on the same drive.

[Guest 112233]

BOAC

XP & 7 both use the NTFS file system but the bootloader is different between XP & 7. ( I have corrected my previous note saying that there are differences in underlying file organisation between XP & Windows 7 - Please ignore this until wiser opinions prevail )

It may be superficial but Win 7 presents files in in what are called libraries from memory. these are not the just the old folder/sub directory structures but groups files by association - A more fuzzy logic !

System restore has been improved too - its more reliable in Windows 7.

The other issue is that the software that you have used to backup under XP may not run under Win 7.

A better idea may be to copy your critical files to an external hard drive or Memory stick (they come in big sizes now 14 Gb is one I use) in a systematic way and re install your application software under windows 7 and then copy back your collection of work to windows 7 as needed.

Others no doubt know about migration tools between XP & 7.

I'm yet to make the upgrade (but use both as needed).

[Milo Minderbinder]

Questions here as the original statement is unclear.
Have you actually completed the migration to Win7 and are now trying to back up the finished drive? Or are you trying to backup the WinXP drive prior to migration?
How big is the hard drive you are trying to back up, and how much data is there on it?
As for the backup routine supplied with WinXP, that was a deprecated program that didn't work very well. In fact it usually didn't work........Microsoft only put it on the XP setup disk as an extra so you could extract files from Win2000 backups. It was never intended to be used for backing up XP systems

If you are backing up prior to the migration, then DON'T.
Instead, COPY the files you want to save to the external drive, and copy them back again afterwards. You cannot trust a "backup" to save the files as you have no way of checking them, especially as the backup software is not cross platform compatible

[BOAC]

Hi Milo:

Have you actually completed the migration to Win7 and are now trying to back up the finished drive?

Still dual-booting, but yes, effectively - looking to establish how to back up THE WHOLE PC under Win7

How big is the hard drive you are trying to back up, and how much data is there on it?

Various drives/partitions, 10-50GB. Some just data. two with OS - XP and Win7 (ignoring VM, Linux and a Mac 'partition')

NTBackup does not run under Win7 as far as I can see - missing an 'entry point'.

I am tryimg to run Win7 backup and it isn't.

Right now I am running the rather crude ARC backup which came on the drive. Just about to hit 100% of the Win7 partition.

[Milo Minderbinder]

so the whole thing is a lot more complex than you stated.......its not a simple upgrade

theres a number of issues here. Trying to backup multiple partitions and VMs is going to give any number of software problems. Of the programs you're trying to use, NTBackup doesn't work. Period. It doesn't work on XP, let alone 7.
The Win7 backup is unlikely to work because at heart thats a disk imaging program, not a backup program, and probably cannot understand the disk partitioning you've got in place.
Your last post makes me think you've got all this on just one physical drive? If so you're really making life hard for yourself. You're better off with applying a simple rule: one drive, one OS.

Now what to use? The best bet is going to be a third party disk imaging program, not a backup program. Maybe Norton Ghost, but first I suggest you try Acronis True Image

[BOAC]

Not quite as complex as you think, but "That is not important right now".................. and I have only been trying to back up the Win7 OS partition for starters. Oh, and NTBack up works fine in XP and has done for several years every weekend..

I'll look at Acronis. I thought Win7 backup was a backup! Doh!

[BOAC]

UPDATE

With a bit of Googling and fiddling I now have NTBackup.exe running in Win7 via Task Scheduler and doing what I want (so far!). The concensus of opinion on Win7 backup on the internet is 'must try harder'.

[Milo Minderbinder]

" I now have NTBackup.exe running in Win7"

When the critical day comes, you are so seriously going to regret that

[BOAC]

What is that - the second coming, Armageddon or what?

[Mac the Knife]

Seek and thou shalt find

Edit: There is hope - see http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=974674

Mac



"This article describes the Windows NT Backup Restore Utility for Windows 7 and for Windows Server 2008 R2. The utility restores backups that are made on Windows XP and on Windows Server 2003 to computers that are running Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2. "

"After you download and install the NT Backup Restore Utility, you will able to access the Ntbackuprestoreutility.exe file from Start > All Programs > Accessories > System Tools > NTBackup-RestoreUtility."



NB: Your mileage may vary....obviously only use it to restore data.

[Guest 112233]

BOAC

How are you getting on with the update:

Re Milo, Mac and the others - I know how hard this process actually is:

The real problem is customising your new installation to reflect you personalised settings.

Because as I understand the case: You were running a dual boot system, I suppose you have a good grasp of the dynamics of the feel of the two operating systems.

What I feel has been lost in the discussion is the nuts & bolts of the transfer procedure.

Assuming you are going for good reasons, upgrading your set up - Please consider a full install of win 7 and then application by application - re installation of your personal programs, having copied your personal files to Thumb drives manually.

The global options, that I and others have suggested seem a bit too risky - depending on the sophistication of you setup.

PS I'm typing typing all of this on a Raspberry Pi - having from sheer cussedness gone the other way out of curiosity - Using Debian Milo.

CAT III

[BOAC]

CatIII - the only issue (apart from getting used to Win7) is the backup, in this thread. As usual the topic has been dragged off course. Dual boot is working fine.

The answer to the backup is that NTBackup is now functioning ok - doing exactly what I want including backing up the Outlook PST daily (with Outlook running), and all trial restores have been ok.

Pleased to hear of the PI.

[Guest 112233]

BOAC

Thanks I'm glad all's worked out OK. I'm also dual boot,XP / Ubuntu putting off the inevitable upgrade I will keep tack of your progress as I reluctantly creep to Windows 7 as a replacement for XP.

[Mac the Knife]

"...as I reluctantly creep to Windows 7 as a replacement for XP."

Win7 is fine and much stabler. Even Win8 is not too bad if you use Welcome to Classic Shell

Mac/OSX is polished and (mostly) headache-free, though you need a Mac*

Linux Mint 14 KDE - Main Page - Linux Mint - is very tasty.

FreeBSD - FreeBSD 9.0-RELEASE Announcement - if you're really serious.

Mac



*yeah, I know about Hackintoshes - made one myself - not bad at all

[Guest 112233]

Mac

I like Windows 7 and have used Linux Mint occasionally; and I like it too, and would happily experiment with, FreeBSD. Its just that my XP set-up (SP3) has generally proved stable within the limited usage that I work to.

Stability, I've only a few applications open at one time and yes my little Vostro (3.05 Gb of RAM) gives up, if you have Outlook 2007 & Word 2007 + Firefox 19 with two tabs open, means a polite lock up (Memory management know doubt)

Ubuntu 12.04 is a lot better on this set up - A bit quicker and a lot more stable. Thunder-bird, Open office and Firefox - no probs. - the only moan being the Unity interface.

Like many I'm just happily bobbing along with what I've got - Win 7 means dropping Acronis Ver 8, (It works for me) and also all the customisations I've tuned in over the years.

Like BOAC, I will install Win 7 and hopefully upgrade Office when needed.

The Version of VISTA Business on the GF'S Lenovo works OK too, again limited usage - it feels like a prototype of Win 7.

CAT III

[Edit: I would love a Mac - cash permitting, Its one of my all time favourite PC's from a user point of view]

[Mac the Knife]

For those sticking with XP/SP3

XP/SP3 is a good OS - no doubt about it, as witness the hundreds of thousands of people who are still running it and their businesses successfully.

The key to XP/SP3 stability is stripping it down, only installing the apps you really use and avoiding peripherals with unstable device drivers.

Charles Sparks (aka Blackviper) has an excellent website - Black Viper’s Windows XP x86 (32-bit) Service Pack 3 Service Configurations | Black Viper | www.blackviper.com - which details services that can be which can be disabled or started manually and offers different configurations. It is amazing how much you don't need or whose startup can safely be delayed.

Soluto - https://www.soluto.com/home - is useful, just disable it when you have done your optimisations.

There are almost certainly Windows components that you don't need/use - examine Add/Remove Windows Components and prune.

Reverting to the Windows Classic Theme in XP saves a lot of cycles

"Use the Windows Classic Theme in Windows XP
If you want the Windows Classic desktop feel and functionality, you can change the desktop theme to the Windows Classic theme:

Right-click an empty space on the desktop, and then click Properties.
On the Themes tab, click Windows Classic in the Theme box.
Click OK.

Change the Windows XP Start Menu to the Classic Windows Theme
To change the Start menu to the classic Start menu:

In Control Panel, double-click Appearance and Themes.
Click Taskbar and Start Menu.
On the Start Menu tab, click Classic Start menu, and then click OK."

Also disable most of the eye-candy (Adjust for Best Performance) in System/Performance.

You can probably junk a lot of fonts (leave the System ones!).

Avoid later versions of MS-Office (I still use 2003 - though really just for Powerpoint)

Libre/OpenOffice are memory hogs on older PCs/XP - consider using a simpler and faster WP like AbiWord (and see - Best Free Word Processor). You should also try using IBM's Lotus Symphony which is free, fast, modern and surprisingly resource light (and, amazingly, renders Powerpoint accurately).

As a browser, Chrome is excellent, though I have a weak spot for Opera, with its built in brilliant email client.

For anti-virus, the lightest footprint and most stable is undoubtedly Microsoft Security Essentials - it isn't perfect but plenty good enough. Schedule a weekly scan with Malwarebytes Anti-Malware and you're good to go.

CCleaner will decrapify the system and tidy up the Registry - makes a big difference.

Finally, the XP Firewall is fine, but usually misconfigured - see How to configure the Windows Firewall feature in Windows XP Service Pack 2 and get it right.

Mac



Edited to add:

I'm not suggesting people should stick with XP, just trying to help if for some reason they can't.

XP was good in it's day, streets ahead of 98SE but it is now showing it's age; creaky, less stable than Win7, less secure, and support by MS and hardware vendors is waning.

If you must have it, then it's best run in a VM like Windows Virtual PC or VirtualBox.

[Guest 112233]

Thanks Mac

To avoid rabbiting on too much, I omitted to mention,my XP is used in "Classic mode" - I had review settings re the Black Viper Site - CC run every week and Malware Bytes updated/run every two weeks.

To every XP user reading this, Mac the Knife's list makes a lot of sense

Microsoft's Security essentials is good enough for most regular users - I'm going to try out Lotus Symphony as an experiment - I' old enough to have used lotus 123 !!.

Remember to check your router to make sure Plug and play is disabled (See the GRC site for an interactive test)

The BT Home Hub 3 was an offender here, but this has now been fixed by the ISP through a firmware upgrade in the background.

Thanks again Mac for the helpful information.

CAT III.