Maybe this is a silly question to ask, but I'm a noob so feel free to make fun of it if you want. Which is better for backing up all of one's data on a system - a system image or cloning the drive (I only use a single drive)? Both seem pretty straightforward; are there any pros/cons unique to either method? Is it even worth it to backup the entire system, or is it better to only backup select files and clean install the rest in the case of a failure/hardware upgrade?
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System image vs drive cloning
- Thread starter ecco
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I only back up select files. System images just take longer.
It fits better with me regularly reinstalling windows (every few years or so) on hardware upgrades. When you change hardware suddenly your system image is no longer ideal. Every time I reinstall windows, step 1 is hook up external drive and make backups. Use a magnetic drive, I understand the data doesn't age while the drive is off, unlike SSDs.
Cloning a drive can work, but has the same issues of hardware changes making things a little more complicated.
System images and drive cloning make sense if you had work on your computer and a week of downtime while you recover files manually is going to cost you, but for a home user, regularly backing up photos or miscellaneous things to an external drive is likely easiest.
It fits better with me regularly reinstalling windows (every few years or so) on hardware upgrades. When you change hardware suddenly your system image is no longer ideal. Every time I reinstall windows, step 1 is hook up external drive and make backups. Use a magnetic drive, I understand the data doesn't age while the drive is off, unlike SSDs.
Cloning a drive can work, but has the same issues of hardware changes making things a little more complicated.
System images and drive cloning make sense if you had work on your computer and a week of downtime while you recover files manually is going to cost you, but for a home user, regularly backing up photos or miscellaneous things to an external drive is likely easiest.
Thank you for the response. A few others I've asked have said the same thing.
Zepher
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A clone is a better option if you only have 1 machine since you need a working system to put your system image onto another working drive.
A cloned drive can be popped into the machine and you are up and running in minutes.
A cloned drive can be popped into the machine and you are up and running in minutes.
Not entirely true. Having files backed up to an external drive doesn't require a second machine. In fact it's the ideal format for a single machine
kirbyrj
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I think his point is that if you suffer a catastrophic failure and you only have 1 machine, with a clone all you have to do is pop in your cloned drive and you are back up and running. With a system image, you need a 2nd machine to put the image back onto a drive.
If all you did was backup your files and you have 1 machine, you can't access your files until you reinstall your OS onto a new drive.
That being said, it never hurts to do a fresh install and just copy over your important files, but you'll have some downtime depending on whether or not you have a backup drive available or have to source a new one, how old your OS install media is and doing security updates, and reinstalling your software.
ochadd
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There are pros and cons to each and the answer depends in part on the backup solution you are using and what your end goal is. I do both.
My home systems begin with disk images and then daily incremental backups that backup change data only. I take full backup disk images a couple times a month and verify them immediately afterwards. This is all scheduled in my EaseUs ToDo Backup Home software. I can and have restored to a blank, unformatted disk using the EaseusEmergencyDisk. I can also drill down into these disk images and restore the files individually.
On top of EaseUs I do file based backups for things I might need in a hurry or in a crisis. Think IP lists, inventory of machines on the network, network/troubleshooting cheat sheets, critical password lists. Files that I can get to by plugging the disk into any other machine without the need for any other prerequisites such as the backup software.
For both solutions I keep one online copy on a spinning disk for easy access and then replicate that storage to spare hard drives that are kept unplugged. The online copy is mostly for piece of mind. I can see my backup there and intact. Whenever a disk is offline I have fear it won't spin up when I need it. I at least know that hard drive is spinning and somewhat accessible if I can see the files.
For business I'm becoming a big fan of Veeam. It works well but it's too bulky and complex to maintain at home, imho. I tried for awhile after I first deployed Veeam for a business but went back to EaseUS at home.
This only works if you don't change hardware.
A new motherboard or GPU (failure?) And suddenly this isn't faster or easier
Restoring from image is ALWAYS faster.
This is wrong. Only applicable on identical hardware, and might actually not function at all on significant hardware changes
I have done multiple AMD<->Intel, AMD<->Nvidia, as well as same vendor different generations swaps.
Reinstalling Windows and all the programs alone takes more time, but even that is nothing compared to customizing it all from scratch.
Zepher
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Since Windows 7, major hardware swaps haven't really been an issue. the OS's on 2 of my machines were clones from my 4790K/1080Ti setup and are now on AMD X570 Ryzen 5800X/3080 and AMD B550 Ryzen 5660G.
My Plex server that is currently running an i7 4770 was cloned and dropped in from an AMD AM3 FX-8350 Black.
You just have to re-activate windows with the major hardware changes.
Most of the imaging programs that I've used all include the ability to create bootable rescue media so no need for a second pc unless you need to make the bootable media.
Using images makes it easier to put it on a larger storage drive with other stuff. Personally I don't really see the need to have a fully functional backup boot drive when in the case of failure I can just format my game ssd, put the latest image on it, and keep going without even having to crack the case open until a more permanent replacement can be obtained.
I only use cloning when I'm migrating to a new boot drive but I realize it does have more uses in a commercial environment, for backups I use images and omit game installs so it takes up less storage space and can be restored to a smaller drive if I have to(which can be done with some cloning software too).
Had many customers deliver machines to me with 'images' to just slap right back on. They are always crap and never work. Plus so out of date I still have to copy the data off the original drive anyway.
Just back up your personal data and if you have to do a rebuild, do it and slap the data back on. It doesnt take that long to rebuild a PC and you don't have your Steam drive on your OS drive anyay...
Just back up your personal data and if you have to do a rebuild, do it and slap the data back on. It doesnt take that long to rebuild a PC and you don't have your Steam drive on your OS drive anyay...
Zepher
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I had to do a fresh install on one of my machines and it took many hours to reinstall and configure all of my programs. The Windows install was less than 10 minutes so if you have simple setup then it can take no time to get up and running.
I had my friend do a clone of his OS drive since he actually can't afford the downtime if he has to reinstall. All of his data and working projects are on other drives and the OS drive just has the OS and his programs.
My thoughts are this is the only reason to ever use drive clones. Or you're managing hundreds (or even dozens) of desktops that you need to be able to redeploy quickly, most likely for the same reason.
I've never had an image or clone not work, I once had a windows image trash GRUB with the windows boot loader which was annoying but easy enough to fix. I wouldn't expect an average person to not mess it up somehow so I can't vouch for whatever your customers did.
I've got one PCIe NVME slot unless I cut my GPU lanes in half so I definitely use my boot drive for larger more demanding games since it's by far my fastest drive. I haven't bothered to keep a separate boot partition since XP though and really don't see the need anymore.
Same experience here. And I keep a spreadsheet of all my installed programs and their credential info: userID, password if needed and license code. I also use Revo Uninstaller Pro to track installs, which helps to maintian an existing install but can't do anything for a fresh install. (Hey, that's a great idea for a new product feature!)
Same here. It really simplifies doing a fresh Windows install. Plus I have a desktop and a laptop, and having separate partitions makes sync'ing much easier.