02-16-2011, 11:47 PM

Hey guys! I am about to setup bootcamp with Windows 7 on my macbook pro and I will probably partitioning around 50GB. My only question is that how will i backup this portion of my internal HDD with my usb external HDD? Currently I am using CCC (carbon copy cloner) to backup my whole HDD. Will CCC backup the partitioned portion?!
Thanks for any help everyone, I really appreciate it!

02-17-2011, 12:03 AM

With CCC, backing up non-HFS+-formatted volumes (Bootcamp) is not currently supported.
But they are investigating how to provide this support in a future release.

I have read that people have used Winclone to backup their bootcamp partition but not with good results.

02-17-2011, 03:05 AM

Agree with not using Winclone. Too many problems and it reportedly has caused corruption for some.

However, Microsoft was real nice with Windows 7 and provided an easy way to make the backup direct from Windows. All you need is an external drive formatted to NTFS (must be NTFS or it will not work)

Select backup from the Start menu. Attach the formatted NTFS external drive. Now select backup and backup to image. (both) Windows 7 will make a clone copy of your partition to the external drive and at the same time make a compressed backup of the files and folders.

In order to restore, attach the NTFS external drive and then boot the machine (your Mac) with the Windows 7 DVD, select the Boot Camp partition, and click on restore image. Follow directions. The program will restore your Windows 7 partition from the external NTFS drive.

02-17-2011, 10:28 PM

Thanks guys! Cleared things up for me quite a bit.

02-18-2011, 01:02 AM

I just upgraded from WinXP Pro to Win 7 Ultimate on my Bootcamp partition and I am new to it. Thx for the backup info chscag!

02-27-2011, 05:36 PM

I just added a Bootcamp partition for Win 7 and wondered about the Windows backup. Does the external HDD need to be dedicated for backups only or can it have some existing files on it?

I know it's not a problem for Time Machine backups, except that it limits available backup space. I assume it works generally the same. Can someone confirm this?

-CAF

02-27-2011, 10:20 PM

As long as the external hard drive is formatted to NTFS and has space for the image and backup folder, it can be shared with other data. I have mine setup that way and it works fine.