How Do I Back Up Windows And Programmes

[honey33]

What i was wondering is instead of having to reinstall windows 7 when i reformat and then have to put all my printer and progs on again which takes ages, is there a programme i can use that will copy my entire hard drive and put onto a dvd disc so that when i reformat it just puts it all back on in one go.Bit like when you buy a new pc and they supply a disc to reformat all back on if that makes sence. my was home build im on windows 7 ultimate.is there a free programme that will do me a copy disc to use when i need to reformat again thanks in advance

[rojash]

Control panel
Backup and restore
Create a system image

[VHG]

Do as rojash says but also make a Windows system repair disk so you can boot the PC from the disk to begin the restore.

See Backup and Restore for making a System Repair Disk.

Your image probably wont fit on one DVD though, more like 3 or 4 DVDs.

Better to copy it to an External Hard Drive than DVDs, then it is saved in one folder on the external hard drive.

[VHG]

In wrote this little "article" for another forum I go on

Make a System Reapir Disc

If you have Windows 7 (and I believe also Windows Vista) you can easily make something called a Windows System Repair Disc.

This disc may be useful if ever Windows fails to start and you want to try to fix it.

The disk is easy to create and anyone can do it.

In Windows 7 click on the "circle" in the bottom left (to get the Windows menu) and in the small "search" field type "System Repair Disc" (note the "C" at the end not a "K").

This will display an option called "Create a System Repair Disc". Click on this option and a small window is displayed.

Follow the simple instructions (you will need an empty CD or DVD) and your System Repair Disc will be created.

Keep it in a safe place as you may need it in the future if your computer fails to start.

You can use this repair disc to "boot" the computer if it wont start in any other way, and from there can select various repair options.

To find out more go into the Windows help and search for "System Repair Disc".

[VHG]

Another article I wrote about creating a system image

Make a Windows System Image

Following on from my "Make a Windows System Repair Disc" topic I created earlier, this tells you how to create a Windows System Image.

If you have Windows 7 (not sure about Vista) you can create a system image of your hard disk which will allow you to "reinstall" Windows very quickly if your computer should crash or Windows fails to start.

This function is built into Windows 7 so no need to buy or install any software.

It is probably best if you have an external hard drive on which to store the image (or a set of empty DVDs), as if your computer fails to start you still need to be able to access this image.

On Windows 7 click on the "circle" in the bottom left, and in the small search field type "Backup" and an option will be displayed called "Backup and Restore".

Click on this "Backup and Restore" option and a window is displayed called "Backup and Restore your files"

On the left will be an option "Create a System Image", select this and a window will be displayed offering you the option of where to store the image:- on your hard disk, on DVDs, or on an external hard drive.

Select your choice and go through the various windows till the process starts and your image is created.

Once you have your image keep it safe.

If at some future date you need to reinstall Windows then you can "boot" the PC with the Windows System Repair Disc I covered in my other append, then you can select the image you created earlier, and reinstall Windows.

Note this reinstall will TOTALLY overwrite everything on your hard disk so make sure you take regular backups of your personal files in case you ever need to do this reinstall.

Note also that the reinstall will only put your computer back to the time you took the image, so any programs you have reinstalled since will need to be reinstalled.

If your computer changes a lot it may be worth taking one of these images every month or 3 months or whatever.

[honey33]

thanks very much VHG will reformat the comp and get all progs freshly put on it and do that, so wont have to hassle about re putting hing back on.thanks very much