Windows 7 backup does not maintain multiple versions of system images as advertised.

Question

My system is a brand new Toshiba Tecra A11 Laptop. The windows installation is fresh per the Toshiba factory install. I am backing up to a Seagate 320GB external hard drive which also is new. Available space is 260GB.

When using a normal backup of both data files and system image, the first system image seems to be saved OK. But on subsequent backups, it appears the first system image is deleted and only the last image is retained. I would like to keep the last several system images available for use."

Microsoft Documentation states:

"Back up your programs, system settings, and files

Keeping different versions of system images

If you're saving your system images on an internal or external drive, or on CDs or DVDs, you can keep several versions of system images. On internal and external hard drives, older system images will be deleted when the drive runs out of space. "

Am I misunderstanding usage or is there a bug?

Answer 1

How To Use Backup and Restore in Windows 7

http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/1838/using-backup-and-restore-in-windows-7/

JS

http://www.pagestart.com

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Never be afraid to ask. This forum has some of the best people in the world available to help.

Answer 2

What is the size of your laptop's hard drive?

JS

http://www.pagestart.com

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Never be afraid to ask. This forum has some of the best people in the world available to help.

Answer 3

OK, if your still keeping an eye on this thread, I beleive I have a workable solution. I'm in the process of testing it now both for stand alone backups and scheduled backups. It much simpler than what Microsoft recommends but does take as little effort on your part.

Will be back in a day or two after a couple of scheduled backups run as I don't want an automated backup to break what I've tried.

JS

http://www.pagestart.com

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Never be afraid to ask. This forum has some of the best people in the world available to help.

Answer 4

I use either Norton's Ghost 15 or Acronis True Image Home 2010 to create Image Backups. Both have far more features than the built in backup that part of Windows 7. While I did use Backup and Restore for an article on my web site, I really didn't try creating multiple backups.

With Ghost I normally create a new folders to store the backup file. So if for instance I create two backups, one today and another on Friday the folders names would be Ghost15_061710 and Ghost15_061810 (Ghost15_MMDDYY). Acronis folder name would be ATHI_061710.

You problem is interesting enough for me to look into in detail and perhaps use my findings for my next pagestart.com article, I like challenges. I know you want to solve this quickly therefore if I find something in the next day or two I'll post back.

JS

http://www.pagestart.com

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Never be afraid to ask. This forum has some of the best people in the world available to help.

Answer 5

Hello JW,

Thanks for your reply.  This web page highlighted a link that I had not investigated. But it still seems that my computer should be configure properly to retain multiple images assuming space is available.

I did find another similar thread where this same issue went unresolved with  a consensus by the poster and one other that Windows 7 backup is not supporting retention of multiple images.

It sounds like Microsoft needs to address this issue.

rwstowe