How System Image Backups Work

System Image backups make a block-by-block backup of your system volume to a .vhd file, which must be stored on local storage, such as a second hard disk. Like file backups, subsequent backups to the same media automatically perform only an incremental backup. In other words, only the portions of the hard disk that have changed are copied to the existing System Image backup. Unlike file backups, only a single version of the System Image backup is kept-multiple versions are not stored.

The Backup And Restore tool does not provide a graphical tool for scheduling automatic System Image backups. Instead, you should rely on automatic file backups and manually create a System Image backup only after you have made significant changes to a computer's configuration. Alternatively, you can use the WBAdmin command-line tool to schedule a System Image backup, as described in the next section.