So it seems that Macrium is just like any other partition type program, it works but doesn't actually restore a single program to an existing OS and registries right? Otherwise you'd have to just restore your entire OS to where it was before to get all the addons working as before. As for the Backup Program, looking at it closer, it doesn't even look like it backs up the registry-just the FSX directory which if true, is more or less deceiving unless your addons are freeware.

Macrium is a backup program. I like it because if you don't run it it takes zero resources. The payware version allows file-based backup as well as imaging, so you can do differential/incremental backups if desired. Also the pay version provides a Windows PE license for restore. The free only has a linux restorer (though if you are on XP Bart's PE is an option).I'm not sure how you would do an FSX backup program that includes all addons. AFAIK, FSDT scenery requires some esellerate hooks that are in C:\ and registry for example.scott s..

That is the thing that would make it the most useful IMO. But this is what they are quoting: "FSX Backup is a new utility that backs up your add-on files, registrations and more and with a simple click, can restore them to your PC." So it seems to indicate that it is a one click affair, but I am still skeptical of how that is possible. I'm off to vegas atm but perhaps i'll pick it up when I get back and see if indeed it does work as advertised.

Hello, I have tried this product.I use 2 HDDs for my FSX : 1 for main FSX, 1 for my Addon Scenery.This product does NOT allow to backup from 2 different HDDs. I have uninstalled it.May be a updated version later?Regards

Thanks for letting us know. What a useless piece of software!Cheers,- jahman.

Well easy solution don't use 2 HDDs for FSX :(

Interestingly I was looking a backup software the other day and did the usual google search and found I think it was the allreviews website it suggested novabackup was the best with the most features.This lead me on to look at network attached storage and the like which I intend to use soon for my backup.Tom

Hello, I have tried this product.I use 2 HDDs for my FSX : 1 for main FSX, 1 for my Addon Scenery.This product does NOT allow to backup from 2 different HDDs. I have uninstalled it.May be a updated version later?Regards

Perhaps if you send an email to the developers about it, they might be inclined to put it in as a new feature in a later version.

Using that little nice Dos based Ghost v.8.3. Never let me down. After fresh install of OS and FSX on seperated disk's, i make a image of C: and D: to my backup HD.Best result so far when doing this, set CPU down to org clock (to avoid data corruption when making image's), boot from a memorystick with a copy of Ghost8 on, run Ghost8 and then make a image of each partision i want.

I also have a very customised FSX installation so I do almost anything to avoid having to reinstall FSX (or my OS drive for that matter) manually so this was an interesting subject.My solution since quite some time back now has been a combination of two Windows built-in programs (Robocopy and Wbadmin) and so far this has worked really nice and saved me already a number of times.What I've done is to create a batch file with a shortcut to it on my desktop so I can execute it anytime I want simply by double-clicking the shortcut, this way a have made myself a "one-click backup" that includes both all my FSX stuff including my OS drive.Inside the batch file I first use the the robocopy command with the /ZB /MIR /COPYALL switches to copy my complete FSX folder + a number of other folders I find important to my separate backup HDD and then I end the batch file by using the wbadmin command to perform a complete image backup of my OS partition and direct this image to my separate backup disk as well.It's a really simple solution but again I find it very robust and also I don't need to buy any extra backup programs. I've used programs such as Acronic True Image before but I find this solution to be much more simple honestly.Below is an example what my batch file looks like if anyone want to try it out but if so I of course take no responsibility should something go wrong and obviously you would have to change both the drive letters and pathes to match your own environment. My environment consists of a C partition for Windows, a D partition for various data, an E partition which serves as my backup drive and a F partition for FSX. All are physical separate drives with only one partition on each for best performance where the C and F drives are SSD drives and the D and E drives are regular SATA drives since the performance isn't that important on those.@echo offclsecho.echo Manual backup of important dataecho.echo Press any key to continue, CTRL-C to quitpause > NULLecho.REM ---------------------------------------------------------------------------FSX related files and settings-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------REM robocopy "C:\Users\Richard\AppData\Roaming\HiFi\ASE\Options" "D:\Install\MSFS\FSX\Payware\HiFi\Active Sky Evolution\Options" /MIR /ZB /COPYALLrobocopy "C:\Users\Richard\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\FSX" "D:\Install\MSFS\FSX\Settings" fsx.cfg /ZB /COPYALLrobocopy "C:\Users\Richard\AppData\Roaming\IVAO\IvAp\config" "D:\Install\MSFS\FSX\Online\IVAO\IvAp\Config" /MIR /ZB /COPYALLrobocopy "C:\Users\Richard\AppData\Roaming\IVAO\IvAp\flights" "D:\Install\MSFS\FSX\Online\IVAO\IvAp\Flights" /MIR /ZB /COPYALLrobocopy "C:\Users\Richard\Documents\Flight Simulator X Files" "D:\Install\MSFS\FSX\Flight Simulator X Files\Documents" /MIR /ZB /COPYALLrobocopy "C:\Users\Richard\Pictures\Flight Simulator X Files" "D:\Install\MSFS\FSX\Flight Simulator X Files\Pictures" /MIR /ZB /COPYALLrobocopy "C:\Users\Richard\Documents\CH Control Manager\Maps" "D:\Install\CH Products\Maps" /MIR /ZB /COPYALLrobocopy "C:\Users\Richard\Documents\AivlaSoft\EFB\Settings" "D:\Install\MSFS\FSX\Payware\AivlaSoft\EFB\Backup\Settings" /MIR /ZB /COPYALLrobocopy "C:\Users\Richard\Documents\AivlaSoft\EFB\UserData" "D:\Install\MSFS\FSX\Payware\AivlaSoft\EFB\Backup\UserData" /MIR /ZB /COPYALLrobocopy "F:\Program Files (x86)\Real Environment Xtreme\Themes" "D:\Install\MSFS\FSX\Payware\Real Environment Xtreme\Settings\Themes" masterthemes.xml /ZB /COPYALLrobocopy "F:\Program Files (x86)\Real Environment Xtreme\Themes\MY OWN SETTINGS NON-HD" "D:\Install\MSFS\FSX\Payware\Real Environment Xtreme\Settings\Themes\MY OWN SETTINGS NON-HD" /MIR /ZB /COPYALLrobocopy "F:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Games\Microsoft Flight Simulator X\Modules" "D:\Install\MSFS\FSX\Payware\FSUIPC\Settings" fsuipc4.ini /ZB /COPYALLrobocopy "F:\Program Files (x86)" "E:\Program Files (x86)" /MIR /ZB /COPYALLREM ---------------------------------------------------------------------------FSX related files and settings-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------REM -------------------------------------------------------------------------Windows related files and settings---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------REM robocopy "C:\ProgramData\Aqua Computer\aquasuite\hardwareprofiles" "D:\Install\Aqua Computer\Settings\hardwareprofiles" /MIR /ZB /COPYALLrobocopy "C:\Users\Richard\Favorites\Links" "E:\Favorites Bar" /MIR /ZB /COPYALLrobocopy "C:\Users\Richard\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Quick Launch" "E:\Quick Launch" /MIR /ZB /COPYALLrobocopy "C:\Users\Richard\Desktop" "E:\Desktop\Richard" /MIR /ZB /COPYALLrobocopy "C:\Users\Public\Desktop" "E:\Desktop\Public" /MIR /ZB /COPYALLREM robocopy "C:\Users\Richard\Documents\Mina G500-profiler" "D:\Install\Logitech\SetPoint\G500 Mouse\Mina G500-profiler" MIR /ZB /COPYALLrobocopy "C:\Util" "E:\Util" /MIR /ZB /COPYALLrobocopy "D:\Temp" "E:\Temp" /MIR /ZB /COPYALLrobocopy "D:\Media" "E:\Media" /MIR /ZB /COPYALLrobocopy "D:\Install" "E:\Install" /MIR /ZB /COPYALLREM -------------------------------------------------------------------------Windows related files and settings---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------REM -----------------------------------------------------------------------Complete image of SYSTEM (C:) partition------------------------------------------------------------------------------------WBADMIN START BACKUP -backupTarget:E: -include:C: -allCritical -vssFull -quietREM -----------------------------------------------------------------------Complete image of SYSTEM (C:) partition------------------------------------------------------------------------------------echo.echo.echo.echo The manual backup finished, press any key to close this window...pause > NULL

Great little script, Richard; you've given me the incentive to do it myself. I usually backup (Win7 and Comodo Backup) a whole drive at a time, and that's a loooong process if like me - you have a 200 for the OS, a 500 for 'other stuff' and a 100 for FSX, with a USB 1.5TB as the target drive. Some files - like TrackIR are on the C drive in their own folder: HiFi and REX have their own folders: likewise EZCA; so there are files all over the place - a dogs breakfast! To achieve a reasonably quick backup and restore, I think one needs to list all of these program paths, plus any registry entries, plus the source files and licensing info, and then incorporate it all into your script, plus make the OS image, and that means most of a days work in remembering and tracking down everything you've ever done with the sim.

I'd sure like more info on this product-if it does what it seems to say I would gladly pay to have a one click backup.My problem has always been my operating system gets trashed at a certain point-therefore a restore of a backup/image just isn't going to do anything. I'd do anything to not have to manually reinstall my now more than 100 add ins, their serial codes etc.

I'd sure like more info on this product-if it does what it seems to say I would gladly pay to have a one click backup.My problem has always been my operating system gets trashed at a certain point-therefore a restore of a backup/image just isn't going to do anything. I'd do anything to not have to manually reinstall my now more than 100 add ins, their serial codes etc.

I use shadowprotect by storagecraft to image my partitions.Saved my bacon times and again.

Like probably most of us I've been thinking about a good backup strategy over and over again through the years, both for the OS should something go wrong where you otherwise have to perform a complete reinstall of your PC but of course also a backup strategy which will work for FSX. I've tried manual approaches like the one I mentioned here but also commersial backup products.What I like with the approach I currently use is it's free and you have 100% control since you have made the backup script yourself. At one point I used wbadmin to perform an image backup of both the OS and FSX drive but even though wbadmin is said to only backup changed data my expreience was it was taking far too long. Another problem was that sometimes you want to quickly only restore a singel file on the FSX drive and when using wbadmin you need additional software installed to be able to restore single files from the image....which I don't like. Using robocopy like I do know for the whole FSX installation lets me pick whichever files I want to be restored by simply copying them back to the FSX drive from the backup drive. Another great thing about using robocopy with the switches I use is it will only look at all your files and compare the destination to the source and only copy any new or modified files or delete any extra files on the backup drive which are no longer on the source drive...ie make sure your destination is always an exact mirror of your source.Usually I run my script by doubleclicking it maybe once a week or so or right before I know I will do something with my computer where I don't feel 100% secure or before installing any new stuff. In that way should something go wrong it's very easy for me to roll back my PC to a state where I know everything is working 100% perfect - I have my complete FSX folder structure along with all other settings etc I find important and I also have a perfect image of my OS drive. To restore the OS drive I simply use the 'Restore your computer to an earlier time' and then choose 'Advance recovery methods' and then click on 'Use a system image you created earlier to recover your computer' Using this method I'm also protected to any HDD physical failures since I have a backup of all my important data on the backup drive and would it become necessary I can very easily simply replacing the faulty drive with a new one and copy back all data to it.Like I already said I've tried a number of different approaches but I find this is what is working best in my case.One !!!IMPORTANT!!! thing though I want to point out regarding the image backup using wbadmin is that should you need to change your OS drive physically you must make sure to get a new HDD that exactly matches the original one. This is quite annoying and a weakness in the wbadmin program compared to other 3rd party products like True Image and such. One would think that you should always be able to restore your image to a HDD that is equal in size or bigger than the original one but that has not been the case when I at one point in the past got into that situation. This might have been addressed though since then because I know there were lots of people complaining about this stupid limitation of wbadmin and hopefully and maybe MS listened and improved wbadmin in the current version. It't not funny to belive you are fully protected and then when buying a new drive to restore your image you can't because it's not the exact same disk/size...

...should you need to change your OS drive physically you must make sure to get a new HDD that exactly matches the original one...

The script sounds fascinating and I'm going to have to explore the idea to see whether it'll work for me. The disk size issue seems like a constraint, though, since part of what I'd want to do is migrate to a more capable system (maybe replacing mechanical drives with SSD's, for example. So I may have to stick with my current rig 'til Flight is out... and decently populated with good add-on aircraft... at which point a new installation might make sense. But since I don't know enough yet to come to any conclusions, maybe I should avoid reaching any... :( Thanks for the suggestion - most appreciated!

I use Acronis and I do complete system backups. Trying to restore an FSX install in a later/prior OS configuration is calling for trouble. Once a month or whatever, I perform a system manteinance and do a backup of the whole system:-OS, and programs (including FSX) using Acronis. I can later restore the backup and the whole OS and programs are back to where the image was -Data partitions using AlwaySync, a free app to syncronize partitions. My "D:" partition is updated to my backup data partition in an external drive, that has another partition to store the Acronis system backups.