However, there isn’t perfection in the Operating Systems world. Things are always developing and improving, things are added, others modified. It may happen that you have problems with it and you need to restore it. But in Windows 7 this task is more easier than ever because windows 7 comes with very specialized tools : Backup and Restore Center. To use these utilities them puts no problems to anyone and the steps are easy to follow. Let’s begin.

To arrive at Backup and Restore Center you just open the Control Panel –> Backup and Restore. It could be named also “Back up your computer” if you have chosen to view by: Category.  This window contain two options :
1.    Create a system image
2.    Create a system repair disk. (or create a recovery disc)
So let’s talk first about the first option “Create a system image”:

1. By choosing the options of creating a system image you’ll be directed to a new screen where you are asked to set the location of the back-up. It shows you the other partitions and they advice you to not make the backup on the same physical disk for cases when the hard disk irreversibly crash. But if you haven’t a second hard disk where you can put the backup you can choose  D:\ partition or the next partitions. It’s ideal if you have an external hard disk on USB port. After you have chosen you click on “Next” and in this phase you must confirm the backup settings and it shows you what it is chosen to be backed up.

When you press “Start backup” the process begins. Usually a normal backup of Windows 7 takes at least 17 GB, but if have many programs and software it takes more. It’s good to have available space on the backup location around 25-30 GB. The process can take depending of the speed of your hard disk and the size of the backup between 7 and 20 minutes. It creates a folder on the backup partition inside which you will find a folder with the backup which is a VHD file. Additional XML will be created which are just specifications. Let them as they are because they are needed in the restore process.

2. After the process is finished a new screen appears “Create a system repair disk”. This is the second main option which Backup and Recovery Center has. It shows you the CD/DVD drive and you must insert a CD, DVD in the drive. Select “Create disc” and the process begins. The repair disk is not containing all the Windows 7 files within but it saves some critical files and recovery tools to restore the previously made backups or images. You don’t need a full Windows 7 bootable installation disk because with the repair disc you can boot and then restore the backup image. It’s in other terms: the Windows 7 recovery disk.

Another useful option which you can use is “Back up now” option. The difference between this and “Create a system image” option is that you have the possibility to change settings and remove other files or directories that you don’t  want to be backed up. This is regarded mode like a regular backup for personal documents and private libraries especially if you use it with “Turn on schedule” option. You just select “Change Settings” and after the screen “Set up backup” another screen appears: “Set up backup”. If you select “Let me choose” the next screen will show you the C:\ partition and main user libraries.

The advantage of this type of backup is that you can manually choose what exactly to save from the partition and make regular scheduled backups of personal documents.
Don’t forget to unselect the option “Include a system image of drives C:” if you don’t want an exact image of  Windows7,  because otherwise it will save you all the C:\ partition.

Anyway, Windows 7 has great utilities which protects you from any possible failures. Either you use it to create a system image in conjunction with  create a recovery disk or you want to make regular scheduled backups of you personal documents and libraries, Windows 7 is…just great.

With USB Drive Data Recovery Software you can recover your accidentally lost documents from a USB flash disk. There are many software which can do that. They simply retrieve, recover and restore the contents of lost missing files and folders from an USB flash drive. You can rescue all file types like *.doc, *.xls, *.txt, *.ppt, *.mp3, *.avi, *.jpg and almost any type of file. The friendly interface can guide in the process of installation. The advantage of using specialized USB recovery software is that they can work with different pen drives : key drives, flash drives, thumb drives, jump drives, smart drives, Jet flash drives. They are able to detect their type.

Another advantage of using Pen Drive Data Recovery Software is that they can fix damaged, corrupted files because they are specialized on the flash type of memory. They also restore the long names of the files and the path which with a normal recovery software you can’t accomplish. They maintain the structure of your folders and subfolders with all their contents intact if previously it was not damaged and can also recover files even when an error appears when accessing the USB drive like “drive not detected”. It doesn’t matters on which type of file system you had on that drive, NTFS, FAT or other. In the first phase the USB recovery soft will analyze for files and folders and it will display to you in a structured format what it has found. After that you can select all you need to recover (default is all drive) and select the destination where your files will be saved.  After it starts, all the selected files will be stored in the specified location.

Previously you have learned how to Create a Windows XP Recovery Disk using the Windows Automated System Recovery backup facility which is built-in Windows XP Professional. Now we will learn how to use the Restore Disk using ASR method in case of a Windows system failure.

When Windows is failing or it’s running very slow you can use the Restore Disk created with ASR method. But first you must boot from your Windows XP Professional installation CD. Put the CD in his drive and choose to boot from CD just like to a normal installation of Windows. When the blue screen appears the first thing you’ll see is the message: “Press F2 to run Automated System Recovery (ASR) …”. Press F2. But be ready to act quickly to not loose the screen and press the F2 button at the right time. If it happens to loose the screen you just reboot again from CD and repeat the procedure. By pressing F2 a new screen it prompts you to insert the ASR floppy disk. It is just the disk you created previously. A message it is showing “Preparing for Automated System Recovery, press ESC to cancel…”, you can cancel the recovery if you press Esc.

The process continue and another blue screen appears: “Please wait while Setup formats the partition”. It is formatting the C:\ drive. Then it looks just like a normal Windows system installation: files from the CD will copied to the disk. Then it reboots and it is showing you the screen with Windows features. It’s good, don’t worry, the recovery is on its way and a new window will appear which is Automated System Recovery Wizard welcome screen. You must click on Next in 90 seconds when a new window will let you choose the location of the backup image file which you created at the Create a Windows XP Recovery Disk. Click on Browse and choose your file which it has the “*.bkf” extension. Another screen of completion of the ASR wizard appears, you can still change the disk image if you have many. Click on Finish.

A Restore Progress window it shows that your system is restore and the completion time. After all it’s done just reboot your computer and enjoy the Windows XP operating system just like when you created the Restore Boot Disk and the Backup file using ASR method.

The ASR wizard allows you to create a two part backup of your system which is a floppy disk that contains your system settings, and another media or drive which store the backup of the system C: partition. This means that all the Windows files, Registry settings, all programs and configurations can be fully recovered after a system crash.

First you must create a floppy disk. To do that you must open the Backup program from Programs –> Accessories –>  System Tools –> Backup. “Welcome to the Backup or Restore Wizard” appears. Select the Advanced mode or if you are already in Advanced mode select “Automated System Recovery Wizard”.  The Wizard start and welcomes you by telling you a small briefing of the ASR process. After you click on Next you must select the destination of the backup. The file can take at least 2 GB or more in size depending on how many data, programs, settings you have, so you must change the destination. You can put any partition where you have some empty space, but don’t choose A:\ because it will not fit or C:\ partition because in case of recovery the C:\ partition will be formatted and written with the backup file. Click on Next and it appears the screen of the completion of ASR preparation. After you click on Finish the process begins and a backup of your system is created at the location where you specified previously. First is created a list with the files and then it start making the image disk file. A window with the status of the process appears. The process take a while, 15 minutes or even more. You can enjoy a coffee.

After the completion you’ll be also asked to insert a floppy disk which will be used to restore the backup disk image in case of a major system failure when you boot from the Windows XP installation CD. The floppy disk is used just to restore the backup file from your hard disk which is the image of the operating system and it must be formatted. Click OK and the window is showing that files for the ASR diskette are copied. When it’s finished press on OK and remove the floppy from the drive. You have successfully created a Windows Automated System Recovery Disk and a backup file in case of a Windows failure.

Here you can see how to use a Restore Disk and recover the ASR backup disk image in a disaster situation.

Usually, when you buy a new computer you will get some sort of restore/ recovery disc accompanied by instructions and procedures. This is used to restore your operating system and software back to factory condition so your PC will run as it did when you bought it. This is usually done by saving an image of the partition where the OS & installed programs are located to another partition in an image.
The image is saved to a single file or split into a spanned set of files if it’s total size exceeds FAT32’s 4GB file size limitation depending
A second solution which is very good consists in a manually backup of your entire C:\ partition. After you have installed all the programs that you need in your work you can simply create an image of your operating system partition by booting from your floppy/CD/DVD drive.

You can use Symantec Norton Ghost  which a great tool to recover your initial file system. You can create a boot floppy disk with the utility provided by this program. It’s very easy and an energy-time saving procedure. Or you can also create a recovery boot CD. You find all the necessary instructions detailed in the help of Norton Ghost program.

It can be used on just about any computer including those that are custom built or running Linux. The two main methods of doing this is by either storing the image on the hard disk or on a recordable disc. The advantage of storing the image to hard disk is faster speed and the flexibility of overwriting images. Very useful if you make frequent changes to your images. Ghost has the option of burning images directly to CD or DVD. The downside is that it requires the user to use the bootable floppy along with those discs.

You can also use other software for cloning your partition like: Acronis, Clonezilla, DriveImage and so on.

Many important computer manufacturers provide now a software accessory which let you to create a restore disk from the hidden restore partition. One of the most important things you must do with a new computer is to find the OEM help files and accessories that come with the PC and to create a restore disk. Alternatively, you can watch the OEM Web site which can provide the software and tools for making such a disk.
For Microsoft and computer vendors is convenient to not provide an actual Windows installation disk with new PCs but this can be a real problem for the end PC user. Problems in the proper function of the Windows operating system can arise from just a single system file or small portions of it. So having an alternative to keep these files is essential. A recovery disk will reformat your partition with the operating system and reinstall a copy of your Windows operating system from the day that you bought it from the computer store. But this isn’t very convenient for you because you’ll loose all the programs that you installed since then, all the settings and if you have documents on that partition they will be lost too. No speaking of updates and patches. Even if you have much things to loose, the operation it will take you at least a few hours. And this is the same if you restore your OS from a hidden partition.

Happily there is a much simpler solution to this problem. There are the so called “cloning software” which are doing as the name says: an image (a clone) of your entire operating system, partition or your entire hard drive depending on you to what choose. It’s very simple to use, very quick and very efficient. It does not require you special advance knowledge of computers, a simple tutorial ca provide you all the information you need to perform alone the entire process. How the cloning programs are working ? A cloning program is not installed on a hard drive, it’s installed in boot floppy disk, a CD or DVD. When you boot your computer you must insert one of these in the media device drive that you have and you select to boot from it. After the components of the program are loaded, a user-friendly screen appears showing you all the options you have. Here you can select to do a clone of your Windows partition to an image. I will not recommend to clone a partition to a hard drive or to another partition unless you have an empty hard disk or partition. Because the process will erase all the information contained in it. But if you write it on an image, you can put it wherever you want (except the partition for which you make the replica) the only condition is to have enough drive space.

Tools that I recommend for such an operation are Norton Ghost and Acronis True Image. The simple help of the programs is sufficient to provide you enough detailed information that you may need.

In case that your operating system fails to boot just run Norton Ghost by booting from optical media or floppy and after the program starts you must choose from the Menu: Local –> Partition –> From Image – Restore image. In 10 minutes you have the  fresh system installed with all the previous settings from the past.

If you have Windows XP, 2000, 2003 a good choice will be to use System Restore which is taking snapshots of your windows system and saves them as restore points. These restore points mark configuration places to return to, in the event of a problem of your system which may occur after you install unstable software, and incompatible device drivers. Restore points are created automatically and are restored through the System Restore Wizards which is very simple to use.

With System Restore you can revert to a previous saved state without loosing personal settings and data, Word documents, e-mail messages, and favorites from the Internet explorer. It keeps all the documents which you placed in My Documents, My Pictures.
To use this facility that Windows provide you must have 200 MB of free hard drive space because system uses to store the data taken for the restore points.  If you don’t have this space System Restore it will be deactivated by the system. System Restore creates restore points until the space allocated (200 MB) is filled and after that it will continue to overwrite the oldest entries replacing them with the newest restore points.

Another good choice to restore your system after a problem has occurred is to use the option “Last Known Good Configuration”. This works only if your Windows is booting well in the first stage. To use this you must press F8 at boot time. The screen with Windows options appears and you must select with the arrows this option from the list by pressing ENTER. This is the simplest method to troubleshoot your Windows and it’s solving lots of time and effort.

But why use a Disk Image ? Which will be the benefits ? Well, they are quite a lots. Let’s take them by order.

You just installed your operating system on the C partition. You install hardware drivers, you update your operating system with new security patches and updates, office programs,  and utilities that you need in a day by day use of the computer. It’s not unusual these days, your system to fail after no more than a months. There are many reasons for which this can occur: you just installed a software that slowed down your system so much, that you have pain working with it. Or it could be just an error like many others which occur sometimes without apparent reason and you don’t have time and knowledge to repair the malfunction and you need to work. Or it could be just an infection malware, adaware, spyware, trojan, or some other virus. In these situation the best choice would be to save all your documents which you have on C, if you have ones. And then simply restore the disk partition image that you have made it after the complete installation of your system. How this is possible ? Simple. Norton Ghost is one of the many software which can do a clone your partition in an image which you can use later.

Another reason you would want to make a disk image can be to have a backup solution in case of drive failure. It’s very easy and no time consuming rather than taking all the partition and copy it folder with folder some other place. If you have sensitive data a backup solution in a disk image it’s the best choice.

Regarding disk image you can do in whatever format you want. You can make iso to which you can load later and access it at your wish. A disk image can be done to an important CD or DVD which you must return, but you need to use it. Iso files are very easy to make even with Nero and all burning software. They are done quick, easy and doesn’t cost you anything.

Disk images are a good solution for those who need a mobile solution, without carrying all the pack of CD/DVDs with them. Instead you can make iso’s and copying them to one partition of your hard drive disk. You can load them just when you need them as you load a normal CD/DVD by creating a Virtual Drive with Daemon Tools or Win Iso.

Special software designed specifically for this purpose are available. After you install the program you can create from the setup of the program a recovery disk for emergency cases and use it later. They can make backups of your important system files to recover them later helped by the special floppy recovery disk.

Another solution is to build your own floppy recovery disk. First you must make a bootable floppy disk. Place a diskette in your floppy disk of your computer. Open My Computer, right click the A:\ drive and click Format. In the Format window, check Create an MS-DOS startup disk. Click start.
Now you must install the software you want to use. This software must have also the possibility to run from MS-DOS, to be compatible, because when you’ll boot from the floppy disk all you have is MS-DOS. It doesn’t matters where you place the program. If it doesn’t fit on the floppy just place it under C:\. Because you’ll access later from the floppy.

Now it’s time to do a small test. Boot with your floppy disk. After the messages you will see the prompter with the A:\ drive. Type “cd C:\” and follow the path to the directory of your software. Now execute the exe file which corresponds to the MS-DOS variant of the recovery software. And from here you can choose whatever you want to do.
Recovery software have helps to guide you through the process. I will not detail them here. A great utility to recover a corrupted file system in Winternals and ERD Commander. They contain special files that are needed by the operating system to boot. You could also use a CD with these but if you don’t have, the floppy disk can be helpful in the same way.

But why a Dos Recovery Disk ? Well, Windows platform is based on MS-DOS, which was used well before Windows 3.1 appeared. And because of that with an MS-DOS disk you can operate with the file system. After you create the bootable startup disk you can copy on the diskette a small program called Norton Commander. There is also Voltok Commander. With these you can easily navigate through the file system directory structures, you can copy files and directories from one partition to another. You can even reinstall your operating system if you have the kit files on another partition.

Another advantage of using a Dos Recovery Disk is that you have access to the files of operating system itself. You have a few utilities installed on it. For example the chkdsk program will check your partition for errors or bad sectors. Of course the age of bad sectors on hard disk has passed away, but there aren’t just bad sectors for which reasons your system will not boot. There could be indexing errors or bad associations indexes. But this is also for the old Fat or Fat32 file system.

You also may need a Dos Recovery Disk in case that your system has been infected with a virus. And this is most probable of the situations. There are some viruses that enter in the svchost.exe or even lsass.exe programs which are critical for the boot and function of the Windows OS by changing their memory properties, changing registry values. And the virus starts with the program itself when Windows boots. But these services cannot be stopped after initialisation of the Windows because the running Windows depends on these. Trying to stop these will stop the system itself. It’s very hard to clean a file which is executed when Windows boots. And even you choose to start windows in safe mode without networking by pressing F5 at the boot time, some of these will start. The safer way will be to boot from an Dos recovery disk, and use an antivirus like F-prot or some other antivirus software that can be run under MS-DOS. I suppose now that you have actualized the antivirus database with known viruses recently.

You can simply create a Dos Recovery disk in Windows by clicking Properties on A:\, and clicking on Create Startup Disk. You must have a diskette in the floppy disk drive. This process will format the disk and will copy the core files of the MS-DOS which boot your Windows.