windows 7 system backup & restore

to create a windows 7 system backup & restore it you first need to run

• disk cleanup
• disk defrag
• disk shrink

because you can only restore the backup to a BIGGER disk for example if you are only using 30G of a 300G disk you CANNOT restore the backup to a 200G disk but you could to a 500G disk which you might not have

when you have shrunk you disk you can then run

• start | maintenance | create a system repair dvd
• start | maintenance | backup and restore | create a system image dvd set

then

• boot from system repair dvd
• insert system image dvds when required

make sure you only restore to same hardware otherwise you will get the error

• this is an invalid copy of windows