System Backup

System backup is essential if you can’t afford to lose time for recovery in case of HDD failure. Technologically, operating system backup is the most complicated area of backup. To back up OS you can't merely copy all system files from one drive to another. Firstly, this won't work because a large part of them will appear inaccessible for reading (Windows blocks access to system data through file system). Secondly, operating system, by definition, is launched at computer startup, i.e. system backup must include at least boot records – which are not represented as files at all.

To create a complete system backup, it is necessary to work with the hard drive directly on a physical level, instead of using file system queries. This technology is called disk imaging, and it assumes that the software doesn't use standard drivers to access files, but creates a "snapshot" of HDD sectors. This way you can back up hard disk or any of its partitions entirely, including backups of all system files and applications.

If you don't have either the need or opportunity to create complete system backup, you can also back up system settings that are stored in Windows registry. The registry contains data about all applications and devices installed in the system. By creating registry backup, you back up all preferences and configurations responsible for interaction of software and hardware with operating system, as well as personal preferences of Windows users. Handy Backup supports both functions.

How to Back up System

It is highly recommended that the system partition that is backed up remains unchanged during the process. If you or your system modifies contents of the hard drive while Handy Backup tries to back it up, then the operation may fail. The best case is when you boot from a different HDD or disk partition and add image of the main system drive to the backup task. This selection is made very easily.

All options available for common files backup can be enabled for image-based backup too. The data can be compressed, encrypted, verified, etc. and all operations can be scheduled to take place automatically. For the full list of options, please see Handy Backup features...

For details on the usage of the disk imaging feature in Handy Backup, please see Image Backup in the User Manual.

Handy Backup – reliable system backup utility for Windows OS.