Can cloud make image of hard drive?

I'm thinking of buying an external hard drive for making an image of my drive. Or is there another way? Can cloud store this image or does it only store personal stuff?

The problem with a drive image is that it's usually saved as a single compressed file. If you want to save it to the cloud then you can do if you have the space, but it'll be out of date quickly so you'll need to upload the image file often; something to consider when the image file will be GB in size.

What benefit do you see in using an image rather than just backing up the files you need? Unless you are planning to wipe the machine and re-install it from the image on a frequent basis, it's overkill.

Have a look at things like Amazon glacier.

Amazon Glacier is a secure, durable, and extremely low-cost cloud storage service for data archiving and long-term backup. Customers can reliably store large or small amounts of data for as little as $0.004 per gigabyte per month, a significant savings compared to on-premises solutions. To keep costs low yet suitable for varying retrieval needs, Amazon Glacier provides three options for access to archives, from a few minutes to several hours.

If you were imaging a 200GB drive (and it couldn't be compressed), you'd be looking at $0.8/month. That's about £0.75 (given the exchange rate).

Call it £10 a year, instead of buying a £50 backup drive...

the-bloke, suppose my hard drive failed. I get a new HD and then what? I don't have the original Windows 7 disc.

Cyclone, sounds good but can Amazon cloud store my OS too? I mean will the OS be allowed to go there? I'm referring to Microsoft's aversion to having their OSs copied to another computer and thus preventing them from selling a new os. Have I got this wrong?

Have a look at things like Amazon glacier.

Glacier also charges for upload and download bandwidth. It's designed for upload and forget data for archiving, not for backups, nor is it very quick, hence the name.

---------- Post added 15-01-2017 at 19:26 ----------

the-bloke, suppose my hard drive failed. I get a new HD and then what? I don't have the original Windows 7 disc.

If the PC came with Windows pre installed, then it should have another partition on the HD with the Windows setup files on it so it can be restored back to the HD. If so, it has the option of duplicating the setup files to CD/DVD in case the whole drive dies. In that scenario you get the new drive in the same machine, install Windows from the CD/DVDs and hey presto, back to as it left the factory.

OK the-bloke, how can I find out whether my computer has these setup files or not? Presumably I would get my personal files plus any application files too? I assume I can back these up all on the same disc as my OS?

the-bloke, suppose my hard drive failed. I get a new HD and then what? I don't have the original Windows 7 disc.

Cyclone, sounds good but can Amazon cloud store my OS too? I mean will the OS be allowed to go there? I'm referring to Microsoft's aversion to having their OSs copied to another computer and thus preventing them from selling a new os. Have I got this wrong?

Amazon cloud can store anything, a HD image is just a large file. There is no restriction on your imaging your HD and storing it in a backup service.

---------- Post added 15-01-2017 at 19:59 ----------

Glacier also charges for upload and download bandwidth. It's designed for upload and forget data for archiving, not for backups, nor is it very quick, hence the name.

He asked if the "cloud" could do backup, glacier is an example of it doing it.

I didn't say it was a good idea.

---------- Post added 15-01-2017 at 20:00 ----------

 

If the PC came with Windows pre installed, then it should have another partition on the HD with the Windows setup files on it so it can be restored back to the HD. If so, it has the option of duplicating the setup files to CD/DVD in case the whole drive dies. In that scenario you get the new drive in the same machine, install Windows from the CD/DVDs and hey presto, back to as it left the factory.

If his HD fails then he won't have access to any partitions on it, that's what failed means.

Why he's worrying about this is a different question.

Make a note of the windows activation code, you can then reinstall it from a downloaded image.

Backup your data separately, it's rarely worth backing up the OS IMO.

OK the-bloke, how can I find out whether my computer has these setup files or not? Presumably I would get my personal files plus any application files too?

I'm having to assume at this point that whilst you are asking quite technical questions about partitioning and imaging, you are coming at this from a limited knowledge of the machine you own.

Depending on the manufacturer, such as Dell, HP or whatever, the setup partition will either be a visible partition so appear as D: in Windows, or a hidden partition that you'd need to verify with a software utility. Disk Management would also show a hidden partition but won't tell you what the content is.

A Windows setup partition will restore the PC back to factory settings, so if the HD fails you'd lose any extra data you have put on it.

If you have no partition and no Windows media, then I'd be wondering how Windows got on the machine and how legal it is.

---------- Post added 15-01-2017 at 20:02 ----------

If his HD fails then he won't have access to any partitions on it, that's what failed means.

Which is why you should always make a backup set of media of a Windows setup partition as soon as you get a new machine. No point trying to do it after six years and the drive has just died.

Nobody seems to have mentioned the amount of time it'll take to upload the file...if you're talking a 256GB file....it's going to take a very long time to get uploaded.

A cloud backup is useless if your computer fails anyway. How exactly would you use that cloud backup to re-image your drive? You can't. You need a local backup.

A remote backup image file is always a good idea, especially if it is stored onsite but detached from the internet and ideally, remote from the computer (fire). I'm thinking about security here. Putting anything on the cloud is a complete act of faith because you lose control over it and have absolutely no idea of who has access to your files. A local NAS drive would be my preference with a couple of say 2TB drives configured in a raid array such that if one fails, your backup is still available. For maximum security, keep the NAS detached so that any viruses that encrypt file systems, miss the NAS. 15 mins or so and you are back in business after a full restore. For Windows, EaseUS is a good backup solution.

Just to add some laptops now don't come with pre-installed software to create a recovery disk. With my Asus I had to download the software first and if I remember rightly it was hard to find. Although was a few years ago now so its hard to remember. Its almost as if Asus did it on purpose so that if my HDD failed later I would have to buy recovery media from them.

Cyclone, what does OS IMO mean? Apelike, is the activation code the same thing as the licence number? Thanks everyone. You've given me a lot to think about before I act. My PC is an HP, the-bloke. I bought the PC with Windows 7 already on it and no license number was given to me. There is info on the machine ref creating partitioning and I do have Windows Media in my PC. I thought partitions were divisions of the HD. And you're right I don't know enough about computer software so I wouldn't understand what I was doing if I tried to make an image of the HD and then put it on a cloud. We all have to start somewhere.

Cyclone: "Make a note of the windows activation code, you can then reinstall it from a downloaded image."

Where can I find this activation code? How does this downloaded image get to wherever it comes from? I assume you're telling me what to do if I have already put the image on a cloud? Yes? No? I've got the activation code now using Jelly bean. Will I need the licence number?