Hello, Guys! I've posted this thread in other forums too. What's the difference between a System Image in Windows 7 and a usual Ghost? Are these two same things? When our Windows gets corrupt, then we just run Ghost in Command Prompt and it installs a new Windows in just 5 to 10 minutes and also deletes older OS and Windows then runs normally without having its installation disc and repairing. So the System Image (built-in program) created by Windows 7 Ultimate also does same work or different? I hope for the answer. Regards,
Basically they are the same. They are both complete Image Backups. The only difference is the coding and file size. I believe ghost has the ability to make smaller images of the same computer compared to the built-in version. I have also heard that the windows built-in version takes longer to complete as compared to ghost. I personally use Ghost 15 and it takes like 1 hour to backup my whole computer and I have close to 600 GB of storage used up! Ghost however uses more resources unless you disable it via services.msc and only enable it when you want to use it.
Hello Sam, just a quick question. How long does it take (average time), to restore a 500gb hdd using ghost? I could use your feedback in case I decide to switch to ghost. Thanks
It all depends on how you backup your computer i would never backup a whole drive, I split drive up into partitions i,e, 30Gb for system partition then make other partitions for data, downloads, work e.c.t then can be backed up individually when needed. I use acronis trueimage and i can restore system partion in a few minutes.
Thank you SAM, for your co-operation. Its mean Ghost is more reliable and perfect instead of Windows 7 built-in image because its (ghost's) size is small. Another question is that I have recently made a Windows 7 Image, I have 3 partitions of hard drive, C: (System Drive), D: and E: . When I started making an Image then I choose drive E: to store image. I wanted only drive C: ghost but Windows automatically made D: drive image with C:, so what can I do to make drive C: image only in Windows 7 Ultimate. I also want that when I repair my computer by using Image then only the System File (Drive C only should be restored and all other drive's (D: E: etc) files should be remain safe and must not be deleted and restored (in Windows 7 Ultimate). So how can I do this whole process?
Hey Sam, could you please verify that number? 600GB in 1 hour is like 10 GB per minute. 10 GB per minute is like 170 MB/sec sustained for the whole hour. Full backup or differential? Raid or single drive? If so, I am so switching to Ghost 15.
I have to agree with what Urie said. Personally for me this is now I have it set up: 1 X 400 GB partition for win7 with 240 GB available 1 X 300 GB partition for XP with 190 GB available 1 X 250 GB partition for backups with 250 GB available(I need to run backups again) It does really depend on your system HDD layout and even hardware. Personally for me it would take about 1-2 hours to complete though. @Happy: I really don't know much about the windows built in one but I know Ghost has options to only restore certain partitions and even only certain files if you prefer that method. @AlexRuiz: I actually only have a SATA 3.0 1 TB HDD, no raid or anything. That is also for the full backup. I have a fast computer though in general. I would bet that helps with my speed in itself. You need to have the boot disk for ghost to restore properly if you need to though, it does not make them like Acronis TI 2010 does. They are easy to find though, google is your friend!
I have had a good experience so far in restoring windows from a system image. That can be done through backup and restore. Yesterday, I felt enthusiastic enough to reinstall win 7 on my desktop. However, that enthusiasm wore off quickly when it came to loading the softwares on top. The thought of 2 hrs of work and customising and remembering each old setting put me off. Had a system image of 2 days back residing on external hard drive (even internal will do but external is obviously better). Inserted system repair disc (even win 7 install dvd does the same job but system restore disc gets to it faster) and within 10 mins had my old PC. I suggested 2 system images: 1. win 7 +all updates+ activation at the minimum. I prefer not to have drivers or big softwares here. Browsers and/or free small softwares are OK with me. 2. 1 above plus all softwares and drivers. I update this image and delete the old one every 1 week. Images take up 15-30 GB (could be higher for games) and imaging time is close to 15 mins. Restoring from image is 10-20 mins. System image of win 7 has so far worked for me and is infinitely better than system restore. sevenforums has tutorials on this. very easy to do. At least on a desktop PC, I do not see a need for me to install acronis or ghost.
Your welcome dude. @Acyuta: that seems to work for you and it works well if you only have so much stuff on the system drive/partition but for users like me and probably most that has 100+ GB of data used up it is more practical to use a 3rd party imaging program. For small system drivers you are right with the built-in backup program though.
Yes, that could be true. I only back up c: and system reserved (100 MB). Keep c: drive only for OS+software and nothing else. Do not have any games installed so total backup size does not exceed 20-30 GB. At least on that, win 7 makes a perfect image and restore from that image exactly to the point when the image was created. No leftovers from programs installed subsequently to the image creation. I anyway have separate internal hard drives partitions for non-OS stuff (docs, photos, pics, movies) which I just copy and paste every week or so on a 1TB external hard drive. So my entire system is backed up every 7-10 days. Of course, there are iso images of movies on a 1TB hard drive which cannot be backed up. But then, I have already those on a DVD. This is for my home PC. My present home usage is C: 30-35 GB/around 90 GB free D: docs: 10/110 GB E: photos: 10/100 GB F: music: 200/338 GB free videos: do not ask. Office files backup of my workplace PC is created on a separate smaller HDD (40-50 GB does it).
ok well whatever works for you dude. That is good that the built-in one works. Haha with the videos section. I think I get what you are saying lol
After using Windows 7 inbuilt and boot CDs of Ghost, Acronis, and ShadowProtect; I can say the following about my experience. C: win 7 x64 100 GB total; 30 GB used; around 68-70 GB free Backup: windows 7 takes 10-30 mins for backup and full image is close to 18-20 GB Others: 4-5 mins for backup+ 2-3 mins for booting from CD and getting to the program screens. In 95% of the cases, backup is much faster (win 7 varies from 10-30 mins). Image sizes are 11-12 GB. Recovery: 10-15 mins for win 7 and 5-9 mins total for others.