How to make an image of Windows 7? Original image of Windows 7

Despite the relatively recent appearance of Windows 8, the title of the "good old system" still belongs to Windows 7, the love of which users have already surpassed the one for XP. Considering that the extended support of this system will last until 2020, the number of its users will be extremely long for a very long time.

Unfortunately, very few of them think about the issue of maintaining the OS's operability after its virus infection, hardware or software failure. As a rule, there is enough "recovery point", but in serious cases it no longer helps.

That is why today we learn how to make an image of Windows 7. This knowledge will help you to restore the system even after the hard disk crashes or some serious defeats of the system files by malicious programs. Unfortunately, even those users on the computers of which reliable antivirus programs are installed are not insured against the latter.

We use the tools of the OS "Windows"

This is the simplest method, and even the integrated system tools themselves are quite logical and understandable even for inexperienced users. First, go to the "Control Panel", then find the "Backup and Restore" item there.

In the opened dialog (in the extreme left part) there is an item "Creating a system image". Click on it with the left mouse button. A new working window opens in which the user can select the location of the backup file that he creates. Before you make an image of Windows 7, we strongly advise you to buy an external hard drive or connect a reliable network storage.

We do not recommend using Yandex-disk, Mail.ru Cloud and other common cloud storages. And the point here is not only in privacy, but in the speed of uploading data: as a rule, it is very small. In addition, with files of really large size, not all of these services are able to work correctly.

Where to place?

The fact is that it is foolish to rely on flash drives in such a responsible business, since the percentage of their failures (especially at high capacity) is very large, and CD / DVD discs not only do not inspire confidence in its reliability, so it will also take them unnecessarily .

To place the image on a local disk (even if it is physical) is also stupid, because when a virus attack, no one will guarantee its integrity. After determining the place, click on the "Next" button. In the newly opened window you have to choose which disk to archive. Accordingly, you should choose the one on which you have installed the system.

Click "Archive", and then calmly wait for the process to finish. At the end of the system, the system will not only give out a corresponding message, but also suggest writing the created file to the optical disk. It is hardly worth agreeing, although here everything remains at your discretion.

Here's how to make an image of Windows 7 in this way. Are there any other methods? Of course!

Using third-party tools

Alas, but only the ease of use, and even accessibility, make system utilities at least partly suitable for creating emergency images of the system. In particular, such programs provide very weak compression of data, why the system, which occupies a real hard disk of 30-32 Gb, in the form of an image "weighs" only a little less. So now we learn about how to make an image of Windows 7, using this kind of software from third-party vendors.

Ultra ISO

The name of this program is well known to every user who found the time of the heyday of optical disks. With the help of this utility it was possible not only to create and record images, but also to make their editing. However, in our time the capabilities of the program are still very much in demand. So can I use it to create an image of Windows 7 x64? Of course, yes!

First, start the application and look at the left side of its working window. In the upper left corner there is a disk icon, whose name is the date and time that appear in the computer calendar. Attention! Immediately warn that a full image of Windows 7 (ISO), you do not create, but you can make a recovery disk with system files. And this in many cases is much more valuable than a full "impression" of the system.

Image recording

This is your future image. Right-click on it, then select "Rename", and then give the created image some meaningful name. After that, you can add system files to the project image.

To do this, use the "Explorer" panel. Select the necessary files, and then simply drag them to the central part of the working window of the program. Once this tedious procedure is completed, click the left mouse button on the "File" menu, and then select the "Save As" option. We recommend using the most common and standard image formats (ISO, NRG). That's all!

Original images

As you may have noticed, we neglected the optical discs when it came to recording emergency images. But with them, in any case, you will have to deal with when it will be necessary to create an original image of the optical disk from which you can install the system.

Alcohol 120%

This company is known to almost all experienced users just for its development in the field of software that allows you to create images of optical disks bypassing their copy protection systems ... As you understand, now we will discuss another important question: what to do if Did you need the original Windows 7 image? And you will not have to do much. First, insert the original disk (from Microsoft) into the drive, and then run the program.

In the left part of it there is an item "Creating disk images". Click on it with the left mouse button, and then the working window opens, in which you can select the image recording speed, its format, and other important characteristics. Important! Immediately select the location of the image you are creating, otherwise you will have to search for it on the entire hard disk!

After that, you can click on the "Start". Depending on the characteristics of your drive and system, the image of Windows 7 will be ready in about 10-15 minutes. As you can see, his creation was very simple!