# Partition Backup/Restore



## krehator (Dec 16, 2008)

I've searched the web looking for the right freeware application but have found no good solutions. Maybe someone can point me towards a solution they know for sure will fit.

I have Vista installed on my wife's computer. I made an additional small partition to be used as storage for recovery. The first partition is Vista and the second is DOS (Win98se) bootable. I used GAG as a boot manager because it's simple with a nice menu.

What I want to do is backup the Vista partition and make the other partition bootable with all the software on it to automatically restore the Vista partition from the backups. It has to be pretty automated because my wife is a novice and will screw up a restore if she's asked any questions. Therefore if she selects "Recovery" fromt he GAG boot menu it will boot that small partition and just get right to restoring the Vista partition.

-It must run in DOS or have it's own bootable OS.
-No CD's or DISCS required.
-Simple to use or with a command line ability to make it full automated.
- Should have compressed imaging to save room

Basically I need something as simple as what comes on most compters from manufacturers who include recovery partitions.

If you know of anything that fits the bill....EVEN IF COMMERCIAL...let me know.


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## Mumbodog (Oct 3, 2007)

> It has to be pretty automated because my wife is a novice and will screw up a restore if she's asked any questions.


I am thinking you will be searching for a while.

Backing up and Restoring a PC has never been or will be a trivial process that is Aggie proof, sorry. Too complex a process where anything can go wrong and require computer savvy user interaction.



> what comes on most computers from manufacturers who include recovery partitions.


Most all of these are Factory restore processes, they wipe all data from the drive and restore the PC to "As Shipped" condition, not really a backup/restore solution.

Vista does have system restore built in, and some PC manufacturers use this as part of their recovery options using the F8 boot menu in Vista.

http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/windows-vista/using-windows-vista-system-restore/

you can also install Windows RE on the hard drive (instead of booting from the Vista DVD) to access these restore points in case of the no boot disaster recovery situation.

http://blogs.msdn.com/winre/archive/2007/01/12/how-to-install-winre-on-the-hard-disk.aspx

No easy answers that I know of.

All of this being said, none of this will rescue you from a failed hard drive, but Acronis will. http://www.acronis.com/homecomputing/products/trueimage/


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## Elvandil (Aug 1, 2003)

You'll need something like Acronis True Image. It will create a "secure zone" on the drive and give you an option on boot to restore the image from the secure zone. Since the software is actually installed in the secure zone and runs when you boot to it, you can also access it from time to time and update the stored image so that it is more recent.


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