Windows 7 - Backup and Restore, flagging pagefile as system drive

grambo

[H]ard|Gawd
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Apr 10, 2011
Messages
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Hi,

I recently tried to use the built-in "Backup and Restore" tool to create an image of my system drive (C:\ which is a 40GB partition on a 1TB drive). I want to store the image on a drive in an eSATA enclosure.

When I try to do this, the software detects both C: and E: as "system drives" and wants to back them both up. E: is an 892gb partition (same physical drive as C:). From some research, I gather this is because my page file is on E:.

Question: Is there any way to force the software to ignore the page file? I would move the page file to C:, but it is 4092mb and I only have 8.67GB free on that partition and would like to avoid this. I could move the pagefile to my 5400rpm storage drive, but figure the slower random access time would impede performance. I have 4GB ram in my system which is used mostly for gaming. I imagine Acronis TrueImage would work better here, but I'd rather not buy more software if I can avoid it.

My HDD setup:
PC:
Seagate 1TB 7200rpm - C: (Windows), E: (Storage)
Hitatchi 3TB 5400rpm - F: (Storage)

Backup:
Seagate 1TB 7200rpm - G: (Backup1) - external eSATA 2 bay enclosure
Hitatchi 3TB 5400rpm - H: (Backup2) - external eSATA 2 bay enclosure

Thanks!
 
Remove the page file, restart, backup, then set the page file back to your other drive.
 
Remove the page file, restart, backup, then set the page file back to your other drive.

Fair enough, I only want to image my C: partition once a month, I'll do that next time around, doesn't seem to be another way without buying software (had issues with Clonezilla).

Thanks.
 
Just set the partition to no page file, make your image, restore the page file.

Oops, no way to delete posts.
 
If you use some better third party imaging tools, like True Image, Clonezilla, or whatever you want (not the Windows imaging tool), not only will those third party apps not include the page file, but they won't include the hibernation file either to save even more space in the resulting image.

And if you're so inclined, you can disable System Restore to delete restore points for even more space savings in the final image, and then enable System Restore before the imaging process (without any restore points in place at that point).

I've tested out the Windows imaging tool and, while it can get the job done if you absolutely can't or won't use a third party imaging tool, you are more than likely going to be much better off actually getting and using said third party imaging tools.
 
If you use some better third party imaging tools, like True Image, Clonezilla, or whatever you want (not the Windows imaging tool), not only will those third party apps not include the page file, but they won't include the hibernation file either to save even more space in the resulting image.

And if you're so inclined, you can disable System Restore to delete restore points for even more space savings in the final image, and then enable System Restore before the imaging process (without any restore points in place at that point).

I've tested out the Windows imaging tool and, while it can get the job done if you absolutely can't or won't use a third party imaging tool, you are more than likely going to be much better off actually getting and using said third party imaging tools.

I tried Clonezilla on my wife's laptop a few months ago but it always failed with strange errors that I had problems troubleshooting. I just want something that works for once a month image backups. Space is not a huge concern as I have 4TB offline backup available and the system partition is only 40GB. I think I will just manually remove the page file, reboot, backup and restore the page file, and maybe buy TrueImage down the road. If I ever upgrade to a NAS or have online backup, I'd buy a commercial package so I could automate the process and do it more frequently.

Thanks
 
My system partition has been 40GB for the past 7+ years or so, it pretty much will be for years to come, and that's with effectively every app I actually "install" since most of my more frequently used apps are in portable versions that run directly from RAM itself. Currently sits at 21GB used (page file is 1GB static, no hibernation, 4GB of RAM, Windows 7 Pro SP1 x64 is my primary OS), and that's with about 6GB of stuff sitting in the Downloads folder I haven't burned/moved to the storage partition yet, too.

If you own a Seagate or a Western Digital hard drive, internal, external, it doesn't matter (just so long as it's attached to the machine in some respect when required), those two companies offer a version of Acronis True Image that is slightly stripped down in terms of the complete feature set the commercial product offers but still does everything people require for backup purposes, including live backups (while the OS is running), scheduled ones, system imaging capability (also when the OS is running), and a bootable CD option to do a restore just in case Windows itself comes down and isn't bootable, etc.

It's free from those two companies, and all it requires to get it installed is that you own one of the company's products and it's attached when you install the software - after that, it's not required to have it attached just to run the app.

Worth checking out if you do own a Seagate (including Maxtor products) or a Western Digital drive of most any kind.

Good luck...
 
My system partition has been 40GB for the past 7+ years or so, it pretty much will be for years to come, and that's with effectively every app I actually "install" since most of my more frequently used apps are in portable versions that run directly from RAM itself. Currently sits at 21GB used (page file is 1GB static, no hibernation, 4GB of RAM, Windows 7 Pro SP1 x64 is my primary OS), and that's with about 6GB of stuff sitting in the Downloads folder I haven't burned/moved to the storage partition yet, too.

If you own a Seagate or a Western Digital hard drive, internal, external, it doesn't matter (just so long as it's attached to the machine in some respect when required), those two companies offer a version of Acronis True Image that is slightly stripped down in terms of the complete feature set the commercial product offers but still does everything people require for backup purposes, including live backups (while the OS is running), scheduled ones, system imaging capability (also when the OS is running), and a bootable CD option to do a restore just in case Windows itself comes down and isn't bootable, etc.

It's free from those two companies, and all it requires to get it installed is that you own one of the company's products and it's attached when you install the software - after that, it's not required to have it attached just to run the app.

Worth checking out if you do own a Seagate (including Maxtor products) or a Western Digital drive of most any kind.

Good luck...

Wow, thanks for the tip, I own 2x Seagate 7200.11's so I will look up the program on their website. My other drives are Hitatchis, and I think I still have a 200GB IDE Maxtor in a USB enclosure too :).
 
If you own a Seagate or a Western Digital hard drive, internal, external, it doesn't matter (just so long as it's attached to the machine in some respect when required), those two companies offer a version of Acronis True Image that is slightly stripped down in terms of the complete feature set the commercial product offers but still does everything people require for backup purposes, including live backups (while the OS is running), scheduled ones, system imaging capability (also when the OS is running), and a bootable CD option to do a restore just in case Windows itself comes down and isn't bootable, etc.

It's free from those two companies, and all it requires to get it installed is that you own one of the company's products and it's attached when you install the software - after that, it's not required to have it attached just to run the app.

Worth checking out if you do own a Seagate (including Maxtor products) or a Western Digital drive of most any kind.

Good luck...

Any idea what this software is called? Had a search on Seagate's website and couldn't find it (only found SeaTools). I'm still having problems with Windows 7 Backup (see next post).
 
I've just tried removing the page file and rebooting with no luck. Windows 7 Backup and Restore still wants to include both C: and E: (same physical disk, different partitions) in the "System Image".

Any other ideas what could be the problem? My Documents and Program Files directories are on C:, E: contains media and game installations including Steam (maybe that is it?). There are also directories named MSOCache and Config.Msi which I believe are related to my Office 2010 installation (which again is on C:).
 
Any good 3rd party imaging tool that uses compression will compress those large files into almost nothing since they are often for the most part near empty to begin with.
 
Just discovered an annoying issue, with Seagate DiscWizard, you cannot create an image from an MBR partition to a GPT partition and have it recoverable via bootable media. I looked into it, and apparently you need the Acronis TrueImage Plus Pack (2010/2011) to be able to do MBR->GPT and have recovery supported. Since DiscWizard is based on an older version, it is not possible.

Not a huge deal as one of my backup drives is MBR so I am putting my OS partition images there. Just thought I'd document it here.

See: http://kb.acronis.com/content/6533
 
Active Disk Image communicates between MBR & GPT just fine from within windows & also the bootable disk. It's also very light weight.
 
Well, DiscWizard saved my ass yesterday. I was uninstalling Nvidia drivers (graphic, PhysX, HD Audio) to install a new version, and somewhere during one of the reboots, Windows crashed. Next reboot I get BSOD right after the Windows 7 logo starts. Tried safe mode and nothing. Made sure BIOS settings were the same (thought it might have changed from AHCI to IDE) but that wasn't it.

After an hour of tinkering I gave up and restored my most recent C: image from last Sunday, took about 15 minutes and worked perfectly. Barely lost anything as I don't save much to C: other than OS/applications.

I was anxious as I never tested the recovery process, but it worked flawlessly. Highly recommend this program to anyone. One thing to note: make sure you burn a rescue disc. I hadn't, and tried to do it from my wife's laptop, but DiscWizard will not start if it doesn't detect a Seagate/Maxtor product in the computer, and of course her machine has a Hitatchi drive. Luckily a friend down the block saved me.

First OS failure in a while for me, back to BF3 now...
 
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