Introduction

Note: You can only create a complete PC backup and restore image in Windows Business, Enterprise, and Ultimate. If you’re using Windows Vista Home or Home Premium you should use something like Norton Ghost ^[1].

A complete PC backup and restore image takes an exact picture of your hard drive, compresses it, and saves it on another partition, hard drive, external drive, or DVDs encase you ever need to go back to that point in time. A complete pc backup saves everything on your computer including your personal files and programs.

Create a Restore Image

1. Type backup in the Start Menu’s search box and then click Backup and restore center in the search results.
2. Click Back up computer.

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3. Select the location of the backup image and then click Next.

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   Note: The backup image can only be saved on another partition on the same hard drive Windows Vista is installed on, a separate hard drive, USB device (external hard drive), or on multiple DVDs.

4. Confirm your backup settings and then press Start backup.

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5. When the backup’s completed it’ll let you know. Click Close.