Hey, guys I've been trying to back up my Boot Camp partition using the built in backup tool in Windows 7, but I keep getting errors around 80%. There's definitely data being written to my external HDD though. Just wondering if any of you guys have been successful, and if so, what your steps were. Thanks!
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Backing Up Boot Camp Partition
- Thread starter rygamble
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I looked into that, but I was hoping somebody had some experience with an incremental backup solution.
I used the built in Windows backup utility, but when it came time to restore, it failed miserably. It may have been operator error, but I ended up overwriting the boot sector on my hard drive and OS X would't load anymore.
Doing a Winclone image onto the SSD take only a few minutes. I then copy that image to an external drive. I have restored it several times successfully. I will never again trust my hard drive to a Windows restore utility. YMMV.
That happened to me. The issue is that Windows Installer assumes it is the only OS, and overwrites the GUID. I had to use Internet Recovery, reformat my drive, and reinstall OS X. I also had to go through another routine to reinstall the restore partition.
I've done that, as well, though sometimes Winclone is a little sketchy when backing up a Windows 7 64-bit partition.
Well, it doesn't seem like there are any alternatives to Winclone that are incremental and support Boot Camp. I've been looking for awhile now lol. Looks like that's my only option. I really appreciate the help!
TM doesn't backup Windows.
What format type are you using on your external drive OP? NTFS, exFAT, FAT32?
I'm reinstalling Windows 7x64 (as a WMC) and I forgot how awful it is to setup Windows, hunt for drivers, and worse restore from anything but an image backup. And I was a IT guy for years.
What format type are you using on your external drive OP? NTFS, exFAT, FAT32?
I'm reinstalling Windows 7x64 (as a WMC) and I forgot how awful it is to setup Windows, hunt for drivers, and worse restore from anything but an image backup. And I was a IT guy for years.
There is, but as ZBoater mentioned, it can be tricky because the restore routine assumes that it is the only OS on the hard drive, and if you aren't careful you'll overwrite the GUID, making it difficult to boot into OS X.
Windows 8 ought to come with something like Migration Assistant. It's amazing how difficult it is to move from one Windows PC to another, particularly compared to how easy it is with the Mac.
I tried the internal backup, and restoring from that is a nightmare. I didn't try reinstalling plain Windows, and running the restore from there. Winclone was just too easy and it just worked. You would think they've paid me money.
Fact is I love utilities that just do what they say they are going to do.When I run Windows for productivity apps I mostly run using Parallels, so I share the Documents folder between Windows and Mac, and Time Machine keeps my data backed up. I only boot into bootcamp when I want to play a graphically demanding game, something I haven't had a chance to do in a while anyway. The Windows/Parallels setup to me is the most efficient. Keep a copy of your Windows partition with Winclone, keep your data in your Mac Documents folder backed up by a Time Machine, and you'll be good to go.
I tried the internal backup, and restoring from that is a nightmare. I didn't try reinstalling plain Windows, and running the restore from there. Winclone was just too easy and it just worked. You would think they've paid me money.
When I run Windows for productivity apps I mostly run using Parallels, so I share the Documents folder between Windows and Mac, and Time Machine keeps my data backed up. I only boot into bootcamp when I want to play a graphically demanding game, something I haven't had a chance to do in a while anyway. The Windows/Parallels setup to me is the most efficient. Keep a copy of your Windows partition with Winclone, keep your data in your Mac Documents folder backed up by a Time Machine, and you'll be good to go.
Damn, I didn't think about just keeping all of the new data in one place like that. Then nothing really changes in the Windows partition, so you really do just need that one image backup. Thanks!
Just be aware that if you use FileVault 2, you won't be able to read the Mac partition from within Windows when you use Boot Camp. If you use Parallels Desktop or VMWare Fusion, you'll be able to access the Mac partition, though.
Ahhhh, I'm using Win7 32-bit.
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That's the ticket. Just remember to reimage when you make changes, like install new apps or patch Windows. Having an image BEFORE you do that is also good practice. On occasion a patch or a new app will wreak havoc with Windows, and being able to restore to a previous image is very convenient.
Hey, sorry, just one more question. I found a version of Winclone 2.3.3 with Lion support that's free, and then there's also the paid version 3.3. Would I see any real benefits with buying the paid version, or just go with the free version?
You get what you pay for.
I wouldn't trust my Windows partition to a freebie app. But that's just me.
You get what you pay for.
I wouldn't trust my Windows partition to a freebie app. But that's just me.
Just seeing which one you had experience with. If nobody else chimes in with experience with the free version, I guess I'll just pony up the $16