Backing up an image from a SSD to a HDD for later restoration back to a SSD is fine, just do not restore an image created from a HDD to a SDD otherwise performance will be below optimum. As I said before it would still work but it wont be as fast as it could be. Imaging from a HDD to a SDD is not something you are doing anyway Howard so no need to worry.

Brilliant, thanks for the help Andy, appreciated.

Hey I have a much easier solution for backing up FSX on an external HDD and reinstalling fresh. I made a youtube video as I was facing a problem of lost CD #1 and knew I had to reinstall Windows.Heres the video on how to do it http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T8MIvlipo9M

Yesterday I used Acronis 2012 for the first time in anger. I'd been having an issue with FSX just freezing for a few days and after building the cfg and doing a system restore, neither of which helped, I did a reinstall of all my drives. The reinstall took about an hour and it now all works perfectly. The best money I've ever invested for the PC!

I used the image backup included with Windows 7. It's free and made to work with Windows 7. I have had to use it twice to restore my C drive, on a 80GB Intel SSD. If it is a old backup, all Microsoft updates and new programs have to be installed. I keep my imsge backups of C (Win7) and D (FSX) on my E drive (1TB Data). A new image will overwrite the old one.Works like a charm!DaveIntel Core I7 975 Quadcore OC @ 3.75 Ghz (Air)Asus P6T DLX V2 X58 1366, BD Combo Plextor B310SA6GB (3x2GB) Corsair Dominator DDR3 1866C7GTHIS ATI 6950 2GB, Samsung 24", Saitek X-52 ProLogitech Z680 5.1 Speakers, G15 Keyboard, G5 MouseThermaltake Element S Case, Corsair 850HX PSUC: Intel 80GB SSD w/Windows 7 Home 64D: WD 300GB Velocity Raptor w/FSX+Accel+GEX, F4AFE: WD 1TB Caviar Black w/Data SH4

I use Acronis to make an ocasional image of my C drive (saved on an external drive) and Synctoy for my regular routine backups.So in the event of a major crash, I have an image which is 2 or 3 months old which gets put on and has me up and running again very quickly, updating from the synctoy backup as and when required.IAN

Hello folks i have done just that , i have backed up my entire computer and all thats on it with Clone zilla . works great for me.So even just a little screw up with my computers i wiil take my back up dvd,s and in about and hour all is back to normal.W7 FSX and all of the go withs.Try it Clone ZillaThanks............................................Robert

I used the image backup included with Windows 7. It's free and made to work with Windows 7. I have had to use it twice to restore my C drive, on a 80GB Intel SSD. If it is a old backup, all Microsoft updates and new programs have to be installed. I keep my imsge backups of C (Win7) and D (FSX) on my E drive (1TB Data). A new image will overwrite the old one.Works like a charm!DaveIntel Core I7 975 Quadcore OC @ 3.75 Ghz (Air)Asus P6T DLX V2 X58 1366, BD Combo Plextor B310SA6GB (3x2GB) Corsair Dominator DDR3 1866C7GTHIS ATI 6950 2GB, Samsung 24", Saitek X-52 ProLogitech Z680 5.1 Speakers, G15 Keyboard, G5 MouseThermaltake Element S Case, Corsair 850HX PSUC: Intel 80GB SSD w/Windows 7 Home 64D: WD 300GB Velocity Raptor w/FSX+Accel+GEX, F4AFE: WD 1TB Caviar Black w/Data SH4

I second this. I have used Acronis in the past and works well but if you run W7, the imaging program incorporated in the operating system is fantastic. I am sure that it also performs the alignment with SSD"s when restoring from an image which Acronis I don't think does.

Hi Howard I use Macrium Reflect FREE edition, simple, flexible, smart and free!Try here:http://www.macrium.com/reflectfree.aspx

I also use Macrium Relect (payware version) on both my XP and W7 systems. I keep cross-copies of backups on each machine and on an external drive.George

Hi guys, I now have Acronis 2012 and did in fact do a restore a week ago. It was so simple and did the restore with nothinhg more than a couple of clicks... simples!

Bad idea. You can't save things like that in Windows (programs). You need imaging - a process of partition-saving. Basically all such programs do is make an image, much like the one of the DVD or CD, onto another disk - ergo: backup.I use Acronis True Image, but I'm sure there are also others. Acronis True Image is definitely worth it, it has saved me numerous times.

+1 for acronic True image.. Never failed me. Once a month I make a full system backup (clone) Aaaahh the ease to just pop in another drive and be on the way in 5 minutes when things did go wrong.. and it have happened..With all my addons, I can sleep easy knowing I have at least 3 backups locked away in the safe.. (I have 3 HDrives I rotate on monthly basis - works like a charm so I can go back basically 3 months if I need to go back that far..)

Backing up an image from a SSD to a HDD for later restoration back to a SSD is fine, just do not restore an image created from a HDD to a SDD otherwise performance will be below optimum. As I said before it would still work but it wont be as fast as it could be. Imaging from a HDD to a SDD is not something you are doing anyway Howard so no need to worry.

Never had a problem writing an HDD image to a SSD with decrease in SSD performance and I have done it a few times (well to be more specific I recon more then 10 times - Yes I am fanatical about backups).Maybe it is because I backup (clone image) my SSD to a HDD. I have then copied back the HDD to another SSD and it never ever decreased performance on SSD. I have always tested with ATTO Benchmark and never it indicated any detoriation.It could be if you have an HDD optimised and then copy it to an SSD, but then there is just a few things that need to be chnaged to optomise the SSD again like switching off indexing etc.. and then it will be just as good as starting off with a new SSD. Please let some common sense prevail. There are huge databases on this subject, so do yourself a favour and read up what to do and you cant go wrong..

Edited January 3, 201214 yr by bliksimpie

Its all about it being formatted for 4k clusters, if the HDD image you want to write to a SSD is not already formatted to 4k clusters then you wont get as optimal performance as you would if it was formatted to 4k. Most people probably wont notice the difference unless they benchmark.

Edited January 3, 201214 yr by Andydigital