Does your PC run like clockwork without any problems? This is an opportunity to create a backup image: a complete copy that will allow you to easily restore system, applications and personal files if necessary!
It’s always when you least expect it that the PC crashes and you think you should have made a backup. Also, if your computer is working perfectly, Windows shows no signs of failing, and all available updates are installed, it’s probably a good time to make a backup image of your machine. Its principle is simple and very effective. It consists in saving on a medium – an external disk or a large capacity USB key, for example – a full copy, identical, containing not only Windows as it is present on your PC (with its drivers, your settings, etc.) but also all your documents and all your applications. A kind of clone of your hard drive or your SSD in a way. In the event of a severe crash of your PC, you will be able to reinstall the system and applications as they were at the time of the backup. A task that will save you the downloading of a Windows disk image, the creation of a startup key and then the tedious step of reinstalling all the applications you use. Not to mention the possible loss of your personal files!
To achieve this, there is no need to download third-party software. Windows embeds a function tailored for this use. You will simply need a medium on which to save your data (a hard disk or an SSD of at least the same capacity as the disk present in your PC) and a little time. And if you have multiple hard drives or SSDs in your computer, they can also be part of the trip. Convenient. Warning: the backup image that you create in this way only corresponds to your PC, only. You will not be able to use it to find your items on another machine.
How to make a backup image of Windows?
It is in the old control panel that the function dedicated to creating a backup image of your disk is nestled. The operation may take a few hours depending on the volume of data to be backed up and the speed of the disks both in reading and in writing.
► In the search field on the taskbar, enter Sign and choose Control Panel among the displayed results.
► The Windows Control Panel opens. Click on the drop-down menu Category at the top right and choose large icons.
► Among the options displayed, click on Backup and Restore (Windows 7). Yes, this function was initially planned for Windows 7 but remains present and functional – without having been renamed – in Windows 10 and 11.
► In the new page that appears, click on Create a system image in the left column.
► A new page is displayed. Connect the disk on which you want to make your backup to the PC (it must be formatted in NTFS) then choose it from the drop-down menu On a hard drive. As you can see, the tool also allows you to save on one or more DVDs or even on a network disk (an even longer operation). Once you have made your choice, click on Following.
► The utility now displays the list of volumes to back up. The system disk, the recovery partition and the system partition are listed by default. If you have one or more other internal hard drives, they also appear in the list. You can check the boxes corresponding to them to save them too. When your choice is made, click on Following.
► All that remains is to confirm the backup settings. If everything is fine with you, click the button Start backup. The operation starts immediately.
► At the end of the backup, the tool asks you if you want to make a system repair disk. Do not click Yes, if not, you will need to use a DVD to make it. The utility was designed at the time of Windows 7 when DVD readers/writers were still quite common, which is no longer the case today. Instead, follow the advice in our practical sheet to create a recovery drive on a USB key, for example.
► If your PC were to fail, use this recovery drive as indicated in our practical sheet then choose the option System Image Recovery.
