How To Make System Image Backups On Windows 11? ⋆ OSJOY

Summary: Making an entire system image backup preserves not only your files but Windows and all its settings as well. In this article, we will teach you how to make system image backups on Windows 11.

Overview System Image Backup

To put it simply, an image of the entire content of every partition on a computer’s primary disk constitutes an image backup. It is a replica of the disk and includes the things that are stored on it and the operating system, settings, data files, and everything. If a critical issue occurs on your computer (such as being unable to enter Windows Operating System), you can enter Windows Recovery Environment (WinRE) and then recover Windows from a system image.

Usually, a system image is equal to the size of your system partition, but some of you might choose to back up the entire hard drive so that the size can vary drastically. Before creating a system image, ensure you have enough space on your destination drive to store the system image.

Method to Make a System Image Backup on Windows 11

Click the magnifying glass to start the Search function, then type in control panel and select the app from the results list.
Now click on Backup and restore, then click on Create a system image in the left pane.
Now select the backup location and click on Next. Here we recommend you use an external media connected like a USB stick or drive.
A list of drives that you can back up will appear. Uncheck the drives you don’t want to back up and click Next to proceed.
Then click on Start backup to initiate the backup process. It will take a while, and it depends on your computer’s specifications and the size of the repair tools.
Once the process is done, click on Finish.

Restore My PC with a System Image Backup

Press Win + I to open Settings.
Navigate to System and then scroll down to the Recovery section.
In the Advanced startup section, click on Restart now.
When the PC restarts, select Troubleshoot > Advanced options > See more recovery options > System image recovery.
Now choose your system image and click on Next.
Follow the instructions on the screen to complete the process.

Conclusion

Although there is a lot of good professional data recovery software out there, it’s safest to back up your data regularly and often. Making system image backups are your best guarantee to minimize data loss if and when the time ever comes to restore a backup. Better to not need it and still have a backup than to need one and have none.