Image creation 2 system. Creating an iso from your installed system. Create ISO images. How to create a bootable USB flash drive from an ISO image
Imagine this situation: you bought a computer or laptop with an operating system installed, everything suits you, time passes, a year, or maybe two, you have already accumulated a large database of various, important information, files: for example, a large collection of photos, installed games, films, documents and at one fine moment the system crashes, there can be a lot of reasons, ranging from viruses to the fact that they just turned off the light, and you don’t have an uninterruptible power supply to safely shut down the system.
Tell me what to do, how is it that the system does not work correctly, everything slows down, half of the desktop is gone, and even worse, windows 7 does not load at all, do you really need to reinstall the windows 7 system, but you don’t even know, and there is no installation disk, really all is lost and you have to start all over again? Don't worry, everything is fixable and now we will consider it!
To produce, we will use the program Acronis True Image Home 2013, believe me - this is the best and high-quality program for backing up and restoring a windows system, of course, every quality product is paid and if you value your windows system and you have extra money, then of course it's better to buy a product once and protect yourself, but if you feel sorry for the money, then you will need to carefully search the Internet (just be careful), otherwise a broken product can play a cruel joke on you. Well, if you yourself didn’t find anything on the Internet, then write to me through the feedback form, I will try to help.
So, let's begin. I want to say right away that we will not deal with the description of the program and the global settings in this article; for this, there will be separate articles on this program, so I think it’s worth subscribing to updating articles through the subscription form. We open the Acronis True Image Home program, the main window with prompts will open in front of you in order to create windows 7 system image, click on the "System backup" button.
In the window that opens, we look at the items that I marked with numbers.
- We select partitions for backup, be sure to select (The partition without a name is the system boot loader) and (Local disk "C"), if your hard drive is divided into several partitions, you can select them or then create a backup copy of these partitions separately.
- Choose a place to save the backup - it can be a hard disk partition or various drives, of course, to store the system image, it is better to use a removable hard drive or a second hard drive if you have more than one.
- You can enter a backup name or leave the default.
- Be sure to open the Disk Backup Options tab. In the settings window that opens, check the "Validate backup after creating it" checkbox and click "OK".
- After all that has been done, click the "Archive" button.
The whole process has begun and you will need to wait until the program executes. It took me about 40 minutes, but it was worth it.
After finishing creating the windows 7 system image, you can go to the section where the copy was saved and look at the system created by Beckup. Now, using the created backup, you can easily restore the entire windows 7 system with all the information and settings in the form in which it was, by pressing just one button.
But that's not all, system failures can be different, okay, if the failure was not significant and windows 7 booted up, you can easily open the backup and restore the system, but what if the download does not occur? This is where a little tweaking comes in handy. Open the "Tools and Utilities" item and open the "Startup Repair" tab.
Restoring from an image means replacing all personal data on your hard drive with files from the image or in other words, if you created an image of a local disk (C :) using the Data Archiving tool, then deploying this image in place, you will replace all your existing files on this disk with data from the image.
The article is written as a continuation, where we learned how to create an Image of the Windows 7 operating system in case of a serious malfunction, but here we will restore our data into place, even when our Windows 7 will not boot at all.
Restoring from an image
According to my observations, serious users install Windows 7 and divide the hard drive into two volumes and call them names, for example (C:) and (D:). On the drive (C:) they have the Windows 7 operating system, and on (D:) all personal data. Next, they create a disk image (C:) and save it on another partition of the hard drive, that is, on (D:). The disk (D :) is not archived, since according to users, it is usually rare with it, which happens and this is actually the case.
And then there was a problem with Windows 7, the system takes a long time to load, freezes and is unstable, our users, in the language of motorists, kick the wheels for a while (apply rollback using restore points), but the car still does not drive, and Windows 7 does not work ok then they restore from image drive (C:) and a working Windows 7 from the archive replaces the inoperable one, that's all.
The most serious ones create an image of both the disk (C:) containing the files of the operating system, and the disk (D:) with personal data. You may notice, if you have one hard drive, where then to store the image of two partitions (C:) and (D:)? For this, an additional SATA hard drive or a portable USB hard drive is specially purchased, which must be formatted in the NTFS file system. Restore your data from the image in this case, you need to be careful, along with the faulty Windows 7 located on the disk (C :), you can replace all your files on the disk (D :), so you first need to copy everything you need, for example, to the same portable USB hard drive .
All this is written and shown in the article Creating a system image, now let's restore.
- Note: how to create and how to use a Recovery Drive, you can learn from our article How to restore a Windows 7 system. Also in this case, the Windows 7 installation disk can help, it also contains the recovery environment.
So I'll show you how to restore Windows 7 from an image using a recovery disk. We insert it into the drive, reboot, the BIOS should be set to boot from the drive, then the System Recovery Options program starts.
We quickly press Enter, otherwise the offer to boot from the disk will disappear.
The recovery environment starts, again you need to select the keyboard layout,
usedownload the latest system image and our Windows 7 is restored.
The system image is always created with the extension vhd and is in the folder Windows Image Backup.
To use a system image as a simple hard disk partition, for example, we need to extract some file from the image, and not restore the entire image, we just need to connect our image as a virtual hard disk in Disk Management.
Start->Computer->right-click and select Manage->Disk Management->Action->Attach VHD from the context menu,
Our image is being converted into a simple hard drive accessible in the Computer window.
Disadvantages of the System Imaging tool: You cannot set up automatic archiving without the help of additional software.
How to transfer an installed Windows 7 system to another computer.
If you previously created an image of the main hard disk partition, then at any time in the event of critical failures in Windows 7, it can be deployed. No data written to this section after the copy is deployed will be saved, but then you will not have to spend time searching for and installing drivers and some necessary programs installed on the system immediately after its installation.
Restoring Windows 7 from a working system
You can back up the necessary sections of the disk on any available media - DVDs, an additional hard drive or an external hard drive with a USB interface. A separate partition on the same HDD will also work, but in this case data security is not guaranteed. If the device is damaged, part or all of the data on it may be lost, which fully applies to the created backup copy.
If the OS, albeit with errors, slowly, but boots and works, no recovery methods improve the situation, then it will be possible to deploy the archive image directly from under the loaded system. For this:
All old information will be lost from the disk to which the save will be deployed. If it is of value, then in the next window of the wizard, you can archive user files by clicking on the corresponding button below. 
To go straight to Windows Backup, click Skip, which will open a new window prompting you to continue after restarting your computer.
Working with the recovery tool
After the reboot, a couple of dialog boxes will appear in sequence, prompting you to select a language and enter user credentials. Next, you have to work with the main parameters window:
Restoring the image if the system cannot be booted
If after turning on the computer, the boot does not occur and it is not possible to boot into Windows in normal mode, try pressing F8 and open the window for additional boot options. From here you can get to the recovery options module if you select the very first troubleshooting item. 
Further steps have already been described in the section describing working with this tool. But with critical failures, often pressing F8 and trying to go to the boot options do not bring results. In this case, you can not do without a Windows 7 installation or boot disk and the recovery environment on it.
How to extract individual files from an image
Sometimes the system archive can be useful not only for deploying Windows 7 if it cannot be cured, but also for extracting accidentally deleted important files that were saved in the archive. To do this, it must be connected as a virtual hard disk:
It remains only to open the computer icon on the desktop again and make sure that a new virtual disk has appeared here. You can work with it in the same way as with any partition, restoring any necessary information from there.
Features of creating and storing a backup
Before you create a copy of the system, you should decide on what or what drives you will store it. Users often use DVDs for these purposes, but you need to understand that then it will be possible to restore Windows 7 only by booting from a USB flash drive or other drive if the OS is no longer able to start on its own. You will have to act this way because this disk is not bootable.
Another problem often arises unexpectedly.. If, after creating a full image of the HDD using standard Windows tools, you changed its partitions, then when you try to restore the copy, an error window may appear. It will inform the user about the need to format the drive from which the recovery environment was loaded. Even returning HDD partitions to the state before resizing them will not fix the situation. 
Those who have been working at the computer for a long time. know that the operating system eventually becomes unusable, and it needs to be reinstalled periodically.
Usually they reinstall it from the boot disk, and each time you have to reinstall all the programs with which you work. It knocks out of the working rhythm, and sometimes you have to spend a whole day, or even more, on such an installation.
Naturally, the question arises: is it possible to save the state of the operating system we need along with all installed programs, so that we can then reinstall everything in one fell swoop?
There is such an opportunity! Can with all programs that are currently working for you. And you won't need to install them one by one. The entire reinstallation operation takes half an hour to an hour on the strength.
Ability to create a Windows disk image, and then operating system recovery from this image appeared, starting with the version Windows Vista- predecessors Windows 7. Before that, it was necessary to use third-party programs.
In principle, they are still used today, but the best of these programs, for example, Acronis, paid.
As a matter of fact, there is no difference. than making a disk image. Built-in Windows Tools work no worse, and work in them is even easier than in the same Acronis.
But if you have Windows XP, then you will have to use some third-party program. For example, Acronis, or a free .
You can store a Windows disk image on one of your computer's logical drives. In this case, you will be able to reinstall the operating system in a timely manner if you see that Windows starts to deteriorate thoroughly: fail, slow down, freeze, and so on. But then, if the hard drive fails, which, however, happens extremely rarely, you will not be able to use the image for recovery.
It is better to store the disk image on an external hard drive, or on a flash drive with a large amount of memory. In this case, restoring the operating system from the image is possible even when the hard disk completely fails.
Creating a Windows 7 Disk Image
So, let's begin. Come in Control Panel , and do a preview by category to make it easier to navigate. View is selected in the upper right corner.
In a command group system and safety choose a team.
Then select from the menu on the left Creating a system image .
Next, select the hard drive on which you will save the disk image. If you select a logical drive and the physical drive is the same as Windows is on, you will see a warning that if the hard drive fails, the image will be lost. This is exactly what I mentioned above in the article.
Windows 7 with installed programs takes up a lot of space. When archiving, an image will be created the entire drive that Windows is on . For example, if you have Windows on drive C, then the image will be created of the entire drive C - with everything that is on it.
If you press the button Further, you will see how much is to be archived. So I recommend before this operation to free the disk as much as possible from everything unnecessary on it. Delete the superfluous, and the files with which you directly work: books. movies, documents, transfer to another logical drive.
After clicking the Next button, click the button Archive , and the process will start. At the end of the archiving process, you will be prompted to create system recovery disk. Do this either immediately or later by going back to Control Panel , to point Archiving computer data , and select from the left menu Create System Recovery Disc .
To create a system recovery disc, insert a blank DVD into the drive, and press Create disc . The disk will be created. This disc will help you recover your operating system if Windows stops starting at all.
To restore Windows in this case, you need to insert the system recovery disk, and then work through the BIOS. Be sure to learn how to do it. There is no single instruction for working with the BIOS - each brand of computer has its own technology. Study the manual specifically for your computer by finding it through search engines. Sometimes instructions for use are included with the computer.
In less neglected cases, when the operating system is running, to reinstall Windows, just go back to Control Panel , to point Archiving computer data , and there start working in the section Recovery .
If you learn how to reinstall the operating system yourself, you will no longer depend on computer scientists. And you won't pay any money. So it's worth learning. I wish you success!
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The new backup utilities in Windows 7 are really impressive. System imaging is available in all editions of Windows 7. Today we will look at a way to create a backup image of your machine without using third-party utilities like Ghost or True Image.
Let's say you just finished installing a fresh copy of Windows 7 on your computer and set it up the way you like. Now the first thing you need to do is create a disk image that will help you quickly recover in case of a failure. An image is an exact copy of everything on your disk. It is best to create it when the system is still clean and organized. This will make the image smaller and allow you to quickly restore your system in case of unforeseen circumstances.
Creating an image in Windows 7
To create an image, go to Control Panel - System and Security - Backup and Restore.
You can include multiple hard drives in your image, however this will increase its final size. The drive where Windows is installed will be enabled by default. Also, the image cannot include the disk where you are going to save your image (unless, of course, you save it to disk).
In the confirmation window, you will be able to see what size your image will be and what disks will be included in it. If you find a mistake here, you can go back and fix everything.
A progress bar is displayed as the image is being created. In our example, creating a disk image with 15GB of data on an external drive took approximately 20 minutes. However, the creation time varies by system and where the image is saved.
Upon completion of the process, you will be prompted to create a recovery drive. To which you must give your consent and make sure that the disc is stored in a safe and secure place.
When it comes to recovery (if it comes), you can use your recovery disc and its System Image Recovery option in System Recovery Options to get your system back.
Vista Ultimate, Business, and Enterprise also allow you to create a system backup image. True, Vista Home and Home Premium do not have such an opportunity. The process is similar to creating an image in Windows 7. To start it, just type backup and the Start menu search box and then click on the Backup and Restore Center.
Then click on the Back up computer button and you will see a backup wizard that will guide you through the image creation process.
Conclusion
All the utilities described above are extremely convenient and really work well. The good news is that they will be available in all editions of Windows 7, not just the higher editions (like Vista). This will allow you to save your money (about $50-80) on third party utilities.
You need to create an image when the system is still fresh, so that it does not turn out to be huge and allows you to quickly recover in the event of a failure. For example, we created an image after installing the operating system, the Office 2007 office suite, and several other programs that we use most often. As a result, the image took us 10GB, which we could easily place on an external hard drive.
