I intend to give W8 Cp another go, I plan tu use the W7 built in backup tool to backup the whole of C:\ includind sytem, files documents etc. before a W8 upgrade install and, in case I'd have to, to reinstall W7 over the same partition and to retrieve the afore mentionned backup to have W7 as is. My question is: is this plan correct and safe ? meaning getting back to a working W7 without the hassle of reinstalling drivers etc. I don't have the dough to be buy me a second HDD. thx in advance
MS has said that you cannot uninstall Windows 8 CP, so you will have to reinstall or restore your previous Windows 7 installation. Best way to go about it, would be to make a system image to an external hard drive, before installing win8, so that if you still have problems with it, you can revert back to win7 in less than 20-30 mins.
Of course it is an image that can be restored, but this solution is usually hit or miss. One first makes the image, then boots from install DVD or recovery disk, and hope that the system image can be seen by the above install DVD/recovery disk. If it is seen, it should be recovered. However, I used to do this in 2010, and the success rate was less than 50%. Better get acronis boot cd from various file sharing sites or a free solution such as macrium.
I must be lucky since i've always used system backup with no problems, but it is the best solution to always backup your system regardless of which system imaging software you're using.
I followed your advice, used the Acronis true image boot dvd (did not install the full software). It seemed to work fine upon reboot and created a *.tib image of only 10,6 megas... the whole partition weighs 60 gigas is this correct ? updated: I did not notice Acronis changed the drives letters by showing the 100 mg Windows 7 hidden boot partition... it's ok now