The Windows 7 “Backup and Restore” feature, which was renamed to “Windows 7 File History” in Windows 8, was somewhat simple tool that allowed users to create a system image backup of their PCs. Basically, it was a program able to make an exact copy of a hard drive and primarily let users recover from hardware failure in a timely manner without losing their desktop applications (e.g., iTunes, Chrome, Photoshop, Microsoft Office, etc.), Metro-styled apps, Windows installation, PC settings, and much more. In Windows 8.1 the image backup tool has disappeared, but as it turns out still possible to create a system image backup, and even though you’ll have use PowerShell, which could intimidate a lot of users, it’s a task pretty easy to do. Just follow the instruction below:
How to use PowerShell to create a Windows 8.1 system image backup
How wbAdmin command works
The wbAdmin start backup is the command-line tool, -backupTarget:D: refers to the drive where you are saving the system image — if your external drive has a different letter, change “D” for the letter of your drive –, -include:C: tells to the backup tool to capture an image backup of your main hard drive (where in this case Windows 8.1 is installed). The -allCritical switch specifies to include all the values inside of the hard drive (very important option), and finally there is the -quiet switch that will simply run the subcommand without prompting anything to the user.
To save an image backup to a shared folder in the network use the following command: The process to complete the system image backup will depend on all the data in the hard drive, in the amount of hard drives you are backing up, and of course your computer hardware. (While testing this tool in a virtual machine, it only took 30 minutes to backup about 10GB of data.) Once the backup is done, you can browse the USB drive you chose to save the system image and you’ll notice something familiar, you will find the good old WindowsImageBackup folder, the .xml and .vhdx files, like you used to see in the “Backup and Restore” feature in Windows 7.
How to restore Windows 8.1 system image backup
Now the most important instructions are how to actually take this full backup and restore Windows 8.1. As you can see it is possible in Windows 8.1 to create a true full backup that copies bit-by-bit all the data out of your PC’s hard drive, including Windows installation files, desktop applications, modern apps, user profiles, PC settings, personalization, and everything in between, even secondary hard drives used for storage.
SEE ALSO: How to create a Windows 8.1 full backup (Step by Step) Update: Although, Microsoft brought back the System Image Backup tool in Windows 8.1, what the company removed for good is the option to schedule a backup. But don’t worry, there is a workaround, just follow these instructions. All content on this site is provided with no warranties, express or implied. Use any information at your own risk. Always backup of your device and files before making any changes. Privacy policy info.
