This feature alone would make the upgrade worth while, at least for me..

Now, if they would just include a good text editor..

You don't say whether we're going to get notes on tape backup back - with cheap DAT 160GB drives now available this has to be an interesting option for SMBs and computer literate individuals.

can you set files types NOT to backup? Like say backup D:\directory but don't backup *.AVI

I'd like to know if it has been made faster, I have over 500GB of data, and the initial backup would have not only taken days, but if I shut down, it would need to be restarted :(

It reads/writes faster than XP on computers with the correct amount of RAM. Windows 7 takes much less RAM than Vista, if detected, and necessary, it can go down to nearly XP's lowest as well. It has extremely longer battery life, and goes much faster and is more reliable and easier to access than all of their previous OSes. Trust me, it has everything beat.

Its not reading and writing of the HDD that is the issue though..

The problem I think is that the windows Vista Backup also zips the files, and handles them in a weird way that slows things down dramatically (that and the backup can't be interrupted half way or it needs to start again)

Text editor?
I have been Using "Programers File Editor" (PFE) For MANY years. it's still stand alone, (no install) and does a fairly decent job text editing. and it is free.

Its one of those utilities you could run of a thumb drive.
(boy do I miss the days when applicaitons didn't want to rewrite the os.

Arghh.... tape storage media option is missing. Why ?

Nobody uses tape anymore surely, with hard disks as cheap as they are. :)

windows 7 backup hangs at 15% complete.
i am trying to back to an external hard drive, via a USB port.

i have more than enough free space on the external drive.

i even tried it with Trend Micro virus protection off.

any ideas?

Windows 7 rocks - the only 'bug' i've found so far is that Western Digital (for one) has not made their external usb/firewire drives 100% compatible with Win 7 - also Trend Micro Internet Security for Win 7 (Beta III) will crash the Win7 backup and corrupt the external drive MBR (IMHO) at the present time. To perform a backup I must shut down the Trend Micro Firewall. This could be a problem with the WD drive not necessarily the trend micro firewall, can't tell. Win 7 will be an instant and immediate hit. Note: Those of you running any 16-bit software are going to be stuck with 32-bit Win 7 - as 64-bit Win 7 does not provide ANY support for 16-bit (DOS) programs. The vast majority of world users will be unaffected - those few of us who have gotten in bed with developers who kept promising a 'windows version' of their Dos business software... well, let's leave it at 'we're pretty darned sad'.

why is it that there is no daily backup in windows 7....?

Hello Juban, Windows 7 does have an option for daily backups.

Windows 7 backup is a joke. After the initial succesful Backup the follow up backups automatic or manual are never completed. The applet usually hangs up while performing "creation of shadow copy" and that is it.......

Used it. Works fast, no problems at all. Fantastic. I used to use Ghost, but no more..... This works great...

I cannot backup in windows 7
the program stops at 15% complete, saying " creating a shadow copy"

i have only asked it to backup word & excel files, to an external hard drive, via a USB cable, with 17.8 GB free.

I have tried using backup in Windows 7 about 3 times. Each time it hangs at about 15% and locks the PC. Only way to exit it is to force a shutdown with power button. I am running Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit (final retail version not RC or Beta). I am attempting to backup to an external 1TB Maxtor HDD. No luck so far. I can manually copy the files over, but that is slow and convoluted. I hope they fix this

Hi,

I converted my backup drive to NTFS, but Sadly, Windows 7 backup still "hangs" at 15% , while making a shadow copy.

Works great here!

Wait till you try to change the backup settings or use a different backup location
Can't be done.
"Windows Backup has stopped working"
All you get is the above error message

I'm not sure why some people are having problems, but so far Win7 Backup works fine for me. It's easy to configure -- just click on the drives and folders I wanted to back up. My initial backup took about 12 hours to move 250GB to a 1TB usb external drive -- not super-fast, but it worked quietly in the background while I used the PC for other things. It even survived an unexpected power failure part-way through. After power came back and I restarted Win 7 and the backup utility, it picked up where it left off and finished the job.

I just migrated to Windows 7. Previously I was on Vista and using Windows 'One Care' to handle my backups to an external hard drive. On both W7 and OC I took the recommended option (Let Windows choose).

Under Vista using OneCare my backup files were about 30Gig... I migrated to 7 and immediately did a backup and my backup file was OVER 70Gig. The backup was BIGGER than the space used on my 'C' drive. Not an improvement in my opinion.

Yeah but Bob the point is now you can choose exactly what files you want backed up. That'll probably save you dozens of gigabytes over Windows Vista.

Horrible Backup System.
User has so little control.
I have triple-boot system, originally Windows XP. Somehow, Windows 7 thinks it needs to back up that partition (create a system image) with 70gb of stuff on it to create a system image (well, yes, that partition is used to select the operating system to boot = bootloader). That's friggin' ridiculous!
Grrrrrrrrr!
Seems the ONLY way that Windows7 will permit a backup of important system stuff is the system image - without that there's (almost) no way to get registry, program files/settings, etc. backed up.
I HATE IT!!!
So, realistically, I'm going to need a 3rd party solution or have to totally rearrange my system to "fool" this insane system.

On the bright side - while Windows/MS will tell you the only thing you can do with a system image is restore it (making it useless except in the case of disaster), the VHD (virtual hard disk) file that it creates CAN actually be mounted and individual files from it retrieved..... searching on the net will show you how (hint - Administrative Tools / Disk Management/Mount VHD)

Errr Richie or you could just choose the 'Let me choose' option and exclude anything you don't want backed up.

Windows 7 from MicroCrap does not allow backing up to a network drive unless you spend extra money for a "professional" version. The home versions do not allow it and trying to back up to DVDs or even the local hard drive does not work as it tells you they are too small(?) Basically like all of Windows 7 a lot of fluff. I've bought my last Windows PC.

While reading this I am currently trying to back up files on an external hard disk using a usb port.... backing up music, photos, video and documents... has been running for 12 hours and it is still at 35%. I am wondering If i should just restart or try my luck... lol

will tell you how it goes :)

USB is known for not being very fast.

I agree with JK Inkwood
Wait till you try to change the backup settings or use a different backup location
Can't be done.
"Windows Backup has stopped working"
All you get is the above error message

Willis, of course it can be done. Maybe it can't on your machine but on the vast majority it can.

That may be true about the vast majority it just seems strange that two of my friends who upgraded from Windows Vista to Windows 7 Home Premium have the same problem. I am wondering if I should try a clean install instead of a upgrade ? I am trying to do a files and system image backup.Getting error code 0x800706BE "Back Up Has Quite Working" after backup runs up to 47%. I have disabled anti virus and firewall. I have done clean boots running only microsoft services. I have run system file checker to trouble shoot system files. I am backing up to a dedicated external USB HD 250 GB. At one time I thought I had a successful backup of about 27 GBs but it hasn't worked since. I have reformatted the HD and still trying for success.

I have the same problem - and I also upgraded from Vista to Home Premium.

This backup setup is terrible! I have ONE folder I want backed up which is 250 gigs of music. The first back seemed fine... except that is was smaller then the actual folder that needed to be backed up.

A month later and windows 7 says it can't back up the folder anymore because there isn't enough space on my backup (700 gigs).

For some stupid reason, there is another backup on there that is almost 600 gigs!!! WTF? Terrible Terrible Terrible!

I thought this was supposed to be easy? A backup is only supposed to backup newer files that I add to this folder, not create an entire mess of wasted space!

@Willis F.: Have you moved your user folder to another partition?

Windows 7 Backup is horrible. I can't backup to tape anymore, and I havent seen a way to explore my backups like I did in XP/2000.

Works great here. I dunno why some of you are having problems but it must be you or your puter and not W7 per se'.

W7 finally backs up PHP JS files and other executables. Vista did not.

And you DO have total control over what files and folders you want to back up. The poster who said you don't is not reading the directions.

I have been using WIndows 7.0 Backup for some time. I backup to my External Hard Drive and to a Free backup Service on http://www.rackwire.com/Windows7Backup/

The only way this would be considered improved is if you were too stupid to make the old backup work, theve oversimplified things and removed support for tape backup.

Tape, the worlds most popular backup method, the only way you can backup 1tb for under £40

This just shows that MS are so preoccupied with the home market they are letting the business side of things slip just like Novell did before MS took over /sigh

This a call for help,
i have lost the restore function every time i ask for it i get the error message 0x800706be. Also i have lost a very important folder which i did backup but cannot restore because i cannot get it running any advice would be most welcombe.
Roger.

I just spent big bucks for a gigabit router with USB port so I could attach a large external hard drive to back up the three computers on my home network only to discover after much weeping and gnashing of teeth that you can't backup on a network drive with Windows 7 Home premium. You don't find this out until you try setting it up and click on suggestions for backing up. Why is this info buried and not upfront? I could have saved a whole lot of money and time.