Win7 backup image and formatting query

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Hi
I have almost finished setting up a new budget windows laptop and between work and study it has taken me over a week to setup my stuff, between serials and forgotten passwords etc etc.
Needless to say the first thing I am doing now is making a system backup image with the built-in Win7 facility for doing this.

My query is this: When I setup the laptop I created two OS partitions and a third large partition for libraries and projects etc. The reason for two OS partitions is I was thinking I might need to have a 64 bit partition and a 32 bit one (first time using a 64 bit OS/machine). As it turns out pretty much 100% of everything I am using is running fine on Win7 64bit even if it's 32bit software. I also didn't really allocate enough hd space for my 64 bit partition. So what I am wondering is will it be possible for me to reformat the two OS partitions into one large one, install Win7 64 bit and then 'restore' the backed up system image I will have taken before doing all that. And everything will work fine ? If not any tips for achieving the same thing ? In an ideal world I would like to do this without having to disturb the third, largest partition. But if needs be could back it up and reformat the whole drive.

thanks
Last edited by Daags on Sat Dec 20, 2014 7:04 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Too bad you didn't realize everything would be fine on the 64 bit OS before you went through all that work.

You should be able to use Disk Management to shrink the volume you don't need the space on and then extend the volume you want more space to. Before doing so, delete anything on the partition you wish to shrink that you don't need. This will give you more room to move to the other partition.

Here are a couple of links for instructions (ignore the ads for your own benefit ;)) :
http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/shrink-ext ... windows-7/

http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/windows- ... ows-vista/

Now, the only way to get rid of one of those partitions will be to re-format the entire drive AFAIK. Which may not be a bad idea if you have the time and feel up to installing everything again. Personally I'd just leave it and use it for something you may not want on your OS and data drive.

BTW - just so you, and others, know - a 32 bit program will run fine on a 64 bit OS (it will not access more RAM than the 32 bit limit imposes though). Where we get into trouble in our musical world is when we want to run a 64 bit DAW and use 32 bit VST's. Some DAW's will not permit this; Ableton Live and Studio One for example. If you run 64 bit Live or S1 you must use 64 bit VST's or use a wrapper like jBridge.

HTH

Happy Musiking!
dsan
My DAW System:
W7, i5, x64, 8Gb Ram, Edirol FA-101

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REAPER uses 32 bit plug-ins in the 64 bit program with no problem. It's bridging is built-in.
John
"B4serenity"

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dsan@mail.com wrote:Now, the only way to get rid of one of those partitions will be to re-format the entire drive AFAIK. Which may not be a bad idea if you have the time and feel up to installing everything again. Personally I'd just leave it and use it for something you may not want on your OS and data drive.

thanks for the reply DSAN, it is helpful to try reclaiming some space at least : )

though, if anyone knows the answer to my main question that would be the best. Which is: if I format my drive completely, do a brand new install of win 7 partitioned the way I want it, will I then be able to load the system partition with a backup image (taken before formatting) ? Thus saving me the chore of installing, and authorising, everything again....

if anyone knows the answer to this it would be great to know for sure.

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Daags wrote:Needless to say the first thing I am doing now is making a system backup image with the built-in Win7 facility for doing this.
Not a good idea.

I have learned this the hard way a couple of weeks ago because i too always believed that i can trust good ol WindowsBackup.

Long story (not so) short; If you ever want to restore your backup to another harddrive, WindowsBackup will not let you do it unless the new harddrive is bigger or exactly as large as the old one was. This applies even if the backupped OS partition would actually fit on the new (smaller) drive. The reason for this is that WindowsBackup (unbeknownst to the user) always backs up the entire drive layout (i.e the existence, size and location of all partitions) even if only the C: drive was selected for backupping. Further, if the new drive is suitable, but already contains any partitions, Windows will insist on wiping the entire drive clean in order to restore the drive layout contained in the backup. (The partitions that werent selected for backupping will of course be recreated empty since the data werent saved, but they will be recreated.) This will be done without asking the user for confirmation, which means it can be very dangerous as any data on that drive would go byebye and you wouldnt know it until its too late. (Happened to me, thank God i had another backup.) The only scenario in which WindowsBackup actually works without having to fear to run into trouble is when you restore a backup to the same drive that the backup was made on and none of the other partitions (if any) have been changed since the backup was made. Anything else is a bloody gamble, especially since the damn thing is all auto-auto and practically unconfigurable.)

So if i were you i wouldnt touch WindowsBackup with a 10 feet pole. You can use the free AOMEI Backupper instead, which is fully user-configurable. It will allow you to restore your backups to any drive you want as long as there is enough free space on it, regardless of whether there are any other partitions on the drive and where they are physically located. All you have to do is select a target partition or empty space and your backup will be restored promptly.

For more details on Backupper you can check this thread. I have listed most of the most important features there. If you want to know what exactly happened to me back then, read the rest of the thread too.

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I have used Acronis TrueImage for many years and it can do what you want. It is very reliable. Acronis Partition Manager can resize partitions.

I don't think any benefit is derived from creating a partition for data. Putting data on a separate drive, absolutely yes. But partitioned drives make both backup and restore more complex and more difficult - even impossible sometimes. And they make the MBR more prone to corruption in my experience, and I have many years of it using partitions and partition managers. Just keep the data on the OS partition and everything will work fine if you make regular full backups using a quality program like TrueImage.
ALL YOUR DATA ARE BELONG TO US - Google

https://soundcloud.com/dan-ling
http://danling.com

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Just thought id mention that AOMEI Backupper is quality software too.

It lets you do all the things that the usual suspects let you do, only for free.

It also has a basic partition manager* already built in so no other tools are needed for partition creating/resizing/etc.

(*No doubt taken from their also excellent Partition Assistant.)

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AOMEI Backupper seems very good. Good hint, ENV1 :tu:

Also worth to mention EaseUS Todo Backup.
Already the FREE edition has nearly everything you need for backup and cloning.
http://www.todo-backup.com/
It`s not a bug... it`s a feature!

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