Create for System Image Backups in Windows 8.1

Create for System Image Backups in Windows 8.1

Clearly, Microsoft wants you to use File History, OneDrive (aka SkyDrive) and maybe even Storage Spaces for storing, syncing and backing up your personal files, and Refresh your PC or Reset your PC for restoring Windows to a working state. Maybe that is why System Image Backup is so difficult to find in Windows 8.1.

Here are a few things you should know about system images in Windows 8.1:

• You can create only one System Image Backup on a drive: any previous versions will be overwritten.
• There is no easy way of scheduling image backups, and for the previous reason, it is not really recommended either. You do not want to automatically overwrite a good system image with image of a computer that does not run properly.
• System Image Backup cannot be used for restoring individual files or folders: restoring the image means overwriting everything on the target drive. File History is the proper solution for backing up and restoring personal data in Windows 8.1.

Using DISM to verify that Windows Component Store is intact

Before you create a full backup, it is strongly recommended to check for corruption in Windows Component Store - there is no point in backing up a broken installation that will probably fail in the near future.

Open elevated Command Prompt: either open Start screen, type cmd, right-click on Command Prompt and select Run as administrator; or if you've set to display Command Prompt in Taskbar Navigation settings, use keyboard shortcut WINDOWS KEY+X to bring up Quick Links menu (a list of commands for power users) and click Command Prompt (Admin).

In the black window, type or copy-paste the following command to have DISM (Deployment Imaging and Servicing Management) tool verify the integrity of Component Store: Dism /Online /Cleanup-Image /ScanHealth . Press ENTER key to launch the command.
The check takes up to 15 minutes to complete, and if the result reads "No component store corruption detected", you have the green light to create the System Image Backup

If the result reads "The component store is repairable" instead, type Dism /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth and pressENTER key to fix the corruption. The process can last up to 15 minutes again and positive result reads: "The restore operation completed successfully. The component store corruption was repaired." Move on to the System Image Backup creation then.

In case the RestoreHealth command fails no matter what, it is best to perform a non-destructive reinstall of Windows 8.1. This seems to be the only solution to the infamous DISM error 0x800f081f.

Creating a System Image Backup in Windows 8.1

To access the feature, open Search everywhere (keyboard shortcut WINDOWS KEY+Q), type File History and click the result.
Yes, you read it right: "File History".  Also, connect your external hard drive with plenty of available disk space now.

Click the link titled System Image Backup in the bottom left corner of the File History window.

First, System Image Backup looks for available DVD-writers and hard drives. While you can use network drives for backing up your PC, it is not recommended because backed up data cannot be securely protected for a network target.
I cannot recommend using DVD-s for backups, either - optical media is vulnerable to scratches that might ruin the whole backup set, so the only usable option here is hard disk drive.

In accordance with common sense, you cannot create a system image on the same physical drive where Windows is installed. You see, if this hard drive goes bad, you would lose both Windows and all backups.

In the Create a system image window, select On a hard disk. The best one might be already selected, but you can change the target drive using the combo box.
I recommend using destination drives that are connected to standard controllers (not SCSI, SAS, RAID and other controllers that Windows cannot automatically recognize or find driver for) or standard USB ports.

If you've created a system image on the selected drive before, there will be a line stating "Most recent backup on drive:" beneath the combo box. Here's the catch: previous system image will be overwritten, so you can really have only one backup at a time on the same drive.
Click Next.

Windows then lists your backup location and size, plus drives/partitions that will be backed up.
Again, if there is a previous system image on the drive where you want to back up your PC, a yellow warning sign with the text "Any existing system images for this machine might be overwritten" appears.
Click Start backup if you're satisfied with the settings.

Depending on the size of selected drive(s), the backup might take several hours. Click Close after it is complete.

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