Ghost Windows 7 Hard Drive with Backup Freeware

You will get two Windows 7 ghost image software and stepwise guide to ghost Windows 7 hard drive successfully.

Yuka

by Yuka Updated on October 28, 2022

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The necessity of ghosting a hard drive in Windows 7

In this data-driven era, many users store their valuable data on their computer. But the problem is the hard drive or partition store data may be damaged due to various reasons, such as, system crash, blue screen of death, virus attack, hit by malicious people, etc.

Ghost Hard Drive Windows 7

To prevent this issue at the beginning, it's suggested to ghost a hard drive in Windows 7 with backup software, preferably run it schedule. It will create an exact copy of the operating system, installed programs, personal data, etc. Thus, you don't need to worry about computer failure and data loss due  to it.

Windows 7 ghost image software to protect your data

In fact, Windows 7 comes along with a built-in backup software - Backup and Restore, in most common situations, you want to create a file backup or system backup, and it does. But if you want to backup entire disk, you need to manually select non-system partition(s). By default, it backs up files at 7:00pm every Sunday. Also, you can change it to daily or monthly. 

But some users complained that this software is not stable and receive error message during the backup process, like "Windows Backup did not complete succeessfully". And it does not delete old backup images automatically, you can only delete data file backup one by one or delete all of them. This has greatly increased data security risk if your computer has problems in the meantime.

Thus, if you want one smart backup software or directly ghost hard drive in Windows 7, try AOMEI Backupper Standard.  

Ghost Windows 7 hard drive with built-in tool

1. Open the Windows 7 ghost image software, you have two ways in the following.

#1: Click "Start", search "Control Panel" and select it. Then, set " Larger icons" as View by options and select " Backup and Restore" .

#2: Click " Start", search " backup and restore" directly and then select the best match result.

2. Click "Set up backup" in the right pane. 

Set Backup

3. Then, you will be asked to select a destination path to store the backup image. Select external hard drive or network drive and click Next.

Select Backup

4. Tick "Let me choose" and click Next. You can choose to backup all the user files, include a system backup and other non-system partition(s).

Let Me Choose

5. Confirm backup settings and click "Save settings and run backup". 

Start To Backup

However, the Windows built-in backup software possesses many drawbacks. For example, it can not encrypt image files so as to ensure the data security. Also, it can not compress image files to save storage space. For backup image manage, it only allows you to delete manually - one by one or all of them at once. In this case, we need a more powerful freeware to ghost Windows 7 perfectly.

Ghost Windows 7 Hard Drive with Powerful Freeware

AOMEI Backupper Standard, as  fantastic ghost software for Windows 7, not only backup entire disk, but alsobackup system, partition or files corresponding. And you run this task automatically with its daily/weekly/monthly schedule backup.

Also, you can reduce image size as much as possible by multiple features, such as, incremental backup, compression, splitting, etc.

Besides, it still allows you to ghost hard drive without booting into Windows 7 as long as you create a bootable USB or CD/DVD in advance. And it helps to restore disk quickly when your computer goes wrong. 

To get started, please download AOMEI Backupper Standard and install it. In the meanwhile, prepare an external hard drive (HDD/SSD) to store backup image. 

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1. Run AOMEI Backupper and choose Disk Backup under Backup tab.

Disk Backup

2. Select current hard drive as the source disk by clicking Add Disk. Then, choose the prepared drive as destination path.

Add Disk

3. To set it up and then forget, click Schedule Backup and select Daily, Weekly, Monthly frequency. 

The schedule backup is usually used with incremental backup, which backup only changed files since last backup. In view of increasing backups and limited space, you may receive backup disk full error. To prevent it at begining, try automatic backup cleanup (supported by professional version), it helps you delete old backup image regularly.

Schedule Backup

4. Confirm the operation and click Start Backup to ghost a hard drive in Windows 7.

Start Backup

Summary

This article tells you how to ghost Windows 7 hard drive with built-in tool and powerful freeware - AOMEI Backupper Standard. It's not diffcult to see that the later one is more flexible and easier. By default, it will back up only changed files as long as you enable schedule backup in Windows 7. And it offers you multiple features to reduce backup image size, such as, compression, splitting, etc.

In its advanced edition, you can enjoy differential backup, automatic backup cleanup, etc. The last one is the most direct way, which will delete old backup image automatically. Thus, you don't need to worry about backup disk full issue. All in all, it's worth trying backup software!

Yuka
Yuka · Editor
Yuka, our dedicated editor at AOMEI Technology, is committed to bringing you valuable insights and guidance in data protection. Her mission is to empower everyone with her knowledge in computer backup and recovery, disk cloning, file synchronization, and more. Yuka's goal is to do her best to make complex tech tasks simple and ensure that your digital world remains safe and secure.