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Level 1

74 points

backup with WinClone or Win7 Backup and Restore?

i am trying to put the finishing touches on my systems and somehow am getting confused about something.

i have a mac pro with a disk that contains Mac OS Lion, a Virtual Box installation of Windows 7 and a partition of Windows 7 using Boot Camp. the installation of the Win 7 Boot Camp actually was done by someone else as it required writing some data to a dvd or something related to the firmware on my early mac pro.

anyway, i want to get this disk backed up in a way that will let me restore my OS's in the event of corruption. i am currently using Carbon Copy Cloner to create clones to external drives and Time Machine to backup as well.

since i am in the process of switching from Parallels to Virtual Box i was just turned on to Windows 7's Backup and Restore: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows7/products/features/backup-and-restore

so - if i want to get all my OS's backed up can i do this to a /single/ disk? if so, how do i do this?

does the VB installation get backed up as a consequence of simply backing up the drive and the WINDOWS 7 BOOT volume get backed up by /either/ WinClone or Win7 Backup and Restore? i mean, the url above seems to indicate that i can set Windows 7 to backup to an /external/ drive but i guess i need WinClone to ALSO back up the Boot Camp installation so i can restore it, is that right?

if so, do i need to partition the backup drive in some way or can i just drop the WinClone backup /onto/ the Mac OS Lion partition and simply back this up to an external.

i have a couple of computers and i backup onto multiple drives for security so i would like to keep this as simple as possible...

TIA

MacBook Pro, OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.1), with 64 bit Win7 Parallels

Posted on Nov 21, 2012 7:48 AM

Best reply

Csound1

Level 9

59,973 points

Posted on Nov 21, 2012 7:53 AM

Backup OSX and the Virtual Machine using any normal OSX method (TM/CCC), Windows Backup is a file level data backup, you can't restore Windows from it. As for Winclone I can only suggest not relying on it (Google WinClone Problems)

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19 replies

hotwheels22 Author

Level 1

74 points

Nov 22, 2012 8:16 AM in response to rscheil

hi russell.

thanks very much!

can you help me a bit more here? i am not very good with "images" and similar terms and i know i have to find some time to read up on them.

however, can you please point me to a specific url that shows how to install the software?

also, can you please help me understand what this looks like in a thumbnail version?

for instance, i have a 1 TB drive with a 200 GB partition that includes Windows 7 Boot Camp and i want to back up the Boot Camp - preferably on my internal 1 TB backup drive on my 1 TB off site external backup drive and on my Time Machine backup.

can you please tell me if i would install the software in MAC OS, and then partition my internal and external drives to have a 200 GB partition (or do i not need to partition my backup drives?) and/or how i would handle this with Time Machine for a Time Capsule?

THANKS

rscheil

Level 1

21 points

Nov 24, 2012 12:46 PM in response to hotwheels22

Hi Hotwheels,

Winclone 3 is designed to capture an image (or clone) of your Boot Camp partition. The resulting image is referred to as a snapshot because it contains the entire Windows file system, including applications, data and settings at the time the image is created. I point this out to distinguish cloning from backing up data, which serves a different purpose. Using a file-based backup utility like Time Machine or third-party backup utility, files can be backed up incrementally, which is a life saver if you need to restore a particular version of a particular file. Incremental backups also save time as only changed files are backed up (after an initial full backup). The combination of periodic imaging with Winclone and daily file-based backup should ensure no data loss occurs and you can get back up and running quickly should disaster strike.

Winclone creates a single archive image file that can be stored on any storage media that supports large file sizes (HFS+ or NTFS) and has enough space available. In a typical scenario one would install Winclone on the OS X partition and create an image of the Boot Camp partition (installed on the same drive as OS X) saved to the OS X file system or external HFS+ storage device. OS X will not natively be able to write to an NTFS-formatted disk, but once the image has been created, it can be copied, backed up with Time Machine or moved to another disk as needed.

If something bad happens to your primary drive containng Boot Camp or you decide to upgrade the internal drive (or simply need to resize the Boot Camp partition), Winclone will restore the image to the Boot Camp partition in the exact state it was in when the image was created, so a bootable Windows operating system, applications, files and settings are restored again.

Please take a look at the help document Migrating a Boot Camp Partition with Winclone for step-by-step instructions. Although geared towards moving Boot Camp to a new hard drive, the same principles apply to restoring Boot Camp to the same drive. Please also check out the FAQ and Winclone forum for other tips. If you don't find what you're looking for, please send an email to support@twocanoes.com.

I apologize for spamming the thread, but I believe this solution addresses the OP's request. Thanks.

Russell Scheil

Twocanoes Software, Inc.

hotwheels22 Author

Level 1

74 points

Nov 24, 2012 2:17 PM in response to rscheil

thanks a bunch russel.

great help.

hopefully on my way to finalizing everything over here.

it's been a long haul...

regards and thanks!

hotwheels22 Author

Level 1

74 points

Nov 29, 2012 8:34 AM in response to rscheil

hi russel.

are you still on this one?? i am trying to get fully set up here and it has been a bit of a moving target. can i please also ask you this?:

can i COPY a 200 GB windows 7 boot camp partition from my 1 TB Mac Pro drive to a 200 GB partition on my MBP that will have a 500 GB drive? i spent a lot of time working with virtual machines and i have decided i simply have to increase the size of my mac pro HD and put a boot camp partition in it.

this would let me focus on doing a full install and full setup on the Mac Pro and just copy this over to the MBP (when i get the new drive) saving me a ton o time.

is this something for winclone?

TIA

backup with WinClone or Win7 Backup and Restore?