Operating System Backup

[Blaze]

So I want to back up my Operating System in the event anything would happen since I don't have the disc (bought it with everything installed, never had the disc).
My best bet is a USB backup, however I don't know how big of a USB is needed for just the Operating system.

I'll get another USB for random important file backups or stuff I can't be bothered to find again, I just want one to hold the OS Backup.
I tried looking it up but couldn't find anything really saying exactly how much I needed for a USB OS backup for Windows 7.
I'm looking for the exact size a Standard Windows 7 OS is, or the folder location for the OS so I can find out how big my OS is.

The C:\Windows folder is just under 30 GB, would this be about right? Saying it's the right folder, presuming so since it contains the System32 folder, explorer.exe and other stuff.

[asmussen]

You might check to see if there is an installed option to burn recovery CDs/DVDs. A lot of times with the pre-installed operating systems, the manufacturer puts a recovery partition on the drive that can be used to reinstall the operating system to the condition it was sold in. Often, they also ship a utility that lets you burn the data onto recovery media (CDs/DVDs/USB stick) that can be used to boot up and do the same thing if you ever lose the entire drive.

[Blaze]

You might check to see if there is an installed option to burn recovery CDs/DVDs. A lot of times with the pre-installed operating systems, the manufacturer puts a recovery partition on the drive that can be used to reinstall the operating system to the condition it was sold in. Often, they also ship a utility that lets you burn the data onto recovery media (CDs/DVDs/USB stick) that can be used to boot up and do the same thing if you ever lose the entire drive.

There is an HP_RECOVERY (D:) partition that has 2.08 GB free of 16.7 GB on here.
When I go into it, there is a Recovery that is listed as a Folder but has a different Icon, and it won't let me browse what is in it, along with two files that have a date in them.
One is a .dat file and the other a .txt file. Date of text file is "7/4/2012 3:19:11 PM" and date of the .dat file is "20120703" both copied exactly how they appear in the files.
I just want to have a backup for safety, in a worst case scenario event.

[asmussen]

You might check to see if there is an installed option to burn recovery CDs/DVDs. A lot of times with the pre-installed operating systems, the manufacturer puts a recovery partition on the drive that can be used to reinstall the operating system to the condition it was sold in. Often, they also ship a utility that lets you burn the data onto recovery media (CDs/DVDs/USB stick) that can be used to boot up and do the same thing if you ever lose the entire drive.

There is an HP_RECOVERY (D:) partition that has 2.08 GB free of 16.7 GB on here.
When I go into it, there is a Recovery that is listed as a Folder but has a different Icon, and it won't let me browse what is in it, along with two files that have a date in them.
One is a .dat file and the other a .txt file. Date of text file is "7/4/2012 3:19:11 PM" and date of the .dat file is "20120703" both copied exactly how they appear in the files.
I just want to have a backup for safety, in a worst case scenario event.

You wouldn't normally interact directly with that partition. It's very possible that HP installed software on your Windows partition that will bring up a menu driven interface to use the data from that partition to burn recovery media. From the looks of the name of your recovery partition, I'm assuming it's an HP, so you may find this link helpful.

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?docname=c01867124&cc=us&dlc=en&lc=en

[Blaze]

You might check to see if there is an installed option to burn recovery CDs/DVDs. A lot of times with the pre-installed operating systems, the manufacturer puts a recovery partition on the drive that can be used to reinstall the operating system to the condition it was sold in. Often, they also ship a utility that lets you burn the data onto recovery media (CDs/DVDs/USB stick) that can be used to boot up and do the same thing if you ever lose the entire drive.

There is an HP_RECOVERY (D:) partition that has 2.08 GB free of 16.7 GB on here.
When I go into it, there is a Recovery that is listed as a Folder but has a different Icon, and it won't let me browse what is in it, along with two files that have a date in them.
One is a .dat file and the other a .txt file. Date of text file is "7/4/2012 3:19:11 PM" and date of the .dat file is "20120703" both copied exactly how they appear in the files.
I just want to have a backup for safety, in a worst case scenario event.

You wouldn't normally interact directly with that partition. It's very possible that HP installed software on your Windows partition that will bring up a menu driven interface to use the data from that partition to burn recovery media. From the looks of the name of your recovery partition, I'm assuming it's an HP, so you may find this link helpful.

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?docname=c01867124&cc=us&dlc=en&lc=en

Yeah, that helped quite a bit.
Looks like I'd need the 32 GB one, which my dad says is too expensive right now.

Oh well, my computer is running perfectly fine, and not visiting any bad sites and I have a good anti-virus, so I should be okay for now.

In other news I cleaned out my computer, lowered the temperatures by several degrees.
Down to 20 °C from 26 for CPU, 44 °C from 49 for Motherboard, and down to 44 °C from 46 for GPU.

Also re-overclocked to 4.0 GHz for the CPU since updating my Catalyst Control Center reset it to 2.6 GHz.
Going to see if I get any improvements on my games now. :D

I didn't see a point in making another thread for this little statement.
I guess I could have put it in the "What did you do today" thread...

[asmussen]

I assume you're talking about a USB stick? That's only one of the options. If you have a DVD burner, you can burn it onto some DVDs instead.

[Blaze]

I assume you're talking about a USB stick? That's only one of the options. If you have a DVD burner, you can burn it onto some DVDs instead.

I haven't seen any clean discs in this house for years.
Guess we could pick up a box, simply to have a backup on hand.

In other news, ran game that really kicked up on my CPU and GPU, ran so much cooler with all that dust cleared.
Normally my computer makes a rattling noise of sorts when it's overheating, always making that noise pretty loudly after that game.

It was barely making that sound after just getting off and stopped after about a minute. ;D

[Grayzzur]

Looks like I'd need the 32 GB one, which my dad says is too expensive right now.

Team S Series 32GB Flash Drive from NewEgg. $15 with shipping. Keep an eye on their website, they have a couple items on sale that changes every day (Shell Shockers), and sometimes it's USB sticks, you might be able to get one for even less. I'm not sure what too expensive is for you, but I know they can easily run double that price or more at places like Target or Wal-Mart where you'd think stuff would be cheap.

[Blaze]

Looks like I'd need the 32 GB one, which my dad says is too expensive right now.

Team S Series 32GB Flash Drive from NewEgg. $15 with shipping. Keep an eye on their website, they have a couple items on sale that changes every day (Shell Shockers), and sometimes it's USB sticks, you might be able to get one for even less. I'm not sure what too expensive is for you, but I know they can easily run double that price or more at places like Target or Wal-Mart where you'd think stuff would be cheap.

Wow, that's less than half the price.
It was $40 where my dad looked, I'll show him this tomorrow, thanks!