Windows 7 / Getting Started

Working with Backups

Seriously, you should back up your data periodically - and store the major backups off-site.

Windows 7 backups fall into four categories:

  • Shadow copies (also called previous versions and, confusingly, backup copies) of your data files, which Windows 7 keeps for you automatically.
  • Data backups are partial backups in which you use the File and Folder Backup Wizard to make copies of a subset of everything on your drives. You find details about shadow copies and data backups a little later in this section.
  • System restore points back up most of your computer's internal settings, drivers, and certain key system files. Windows 7 automatically creates a system restore point daily. Windows 7 also usually creates a restore point before installing new software. Restore points are quite different from data backups; see "Using System Restore and Restore Points," later in this tutorial, for details.
  • Image backups are snapshots of the entire contents of your drives. Image backups are also called system images, Complete PC backups (that's Vista terminology), system backups, complete backups, ghosts - in deference to Norton Ghost, the granddaddy of image backup software - and several other imaginative appellations. Confused yet? Details on image backups appear later in this section.

Tip If you have a Windows Home Server PC on your network, you have no need to run Windows 7 backups. Really. Windows Home Server takes care of everything - shadow copies, image backups, the whole nine yards - and it does so in a way that's technically superior to Windows 7 capabilities. Windows Home Server has a lot of cool capabilities.

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In this tutorial:

  1. Maintaining Your System
  2. Coping with Start-Up Problems
  3. Creating a system repair disc
  4. Using the system repair disc
  5. Running in Safe Mode
  6. Working with Backups
  7. Restoring a file with shadow copies (previous versions)
  8. Maintaining previous versions on different drives
  9. Creating data backups
  10. Managing and restoring data backups
  11. Getting back the image backup
  12. Maintaining Drives
  13. Running an error check
  14. Defragmenting a drive
  15. Using System Restore and Restore Points
  16. Creating a restore point
  17. Rolling back to a restore point
  18. Scheduling the Task Scheduler
  19. Starting with your parameters
  20. Scheduling a task
  21. Zipping and Compressing
  22. Compressing with NTFS
  23. Zipping the easy way with Compressed (zipped) Folders
  24. Using the Windows 7 Resource Monitor and Reliability Monitor
  25. Controlling the Control Panel
  26. Removing and changing programs