As was the case with Vista when Windows becomes unbootable, you can use system recovery tool, in Windows 7, the installation DVD options for recover the system.

Windows 7 also incorporates a very interesting feature: the creation of a repair disk directly from the system.

  • In Control Panel, click System and Security (System and Security), and then click Backup and Restore (Backup and Restore).
  • In the left pane, click Create a system recovery disk (Create a system recovery disc);
  • Insert a blank CD in the DVD, and then click Create Disk(Create Disc).


  • The disc is created is a few seconds:

  • To check, reboot the system on the DVD player.
  • After loading the files, select the language, and then click Next(Next).
  • Windows 7 installed the system is found, click Next (Next):

  • The recovery tools appear: 
    • Repair boot (Startup Repair)
    • System Restore to an earlier date (System Restore)
    • Restoring a backup image (Image Recovery System)
    • Memory Diagnostic Tool Windows (Windows Memory Diagnostic)
    • Command Prompt (Command Prompt)


It is hoped that the PC brand that does not provide the installation DVD will not bypass this feature which will repair a failing system.



This is a tutorial of how to take an image, or backup, of a computer using Norton Ghost. I have used the Ghost program in the past and always found that the best recovery scenario was to use a restore floppy. It always worked just fine. This is a review of the Norton Ghost hard drive imaging process.

I downloaded the program from the Symantec site and installed it with no problems. I have a bad habit of not reading the directions and just trying the program. I don’t believe it should take a 5 hour training course to use a program that I am semi familiar with. This is what I found.
After the installation, live update and a reboot, this screen came up.

Easy Setup

I plugged in a Lacie external hard drive and Norton Ghost found it with 
no problems.

New storage device found

As you can see on the next screen, Norton scanned my system and recommended this strategy. Of course, I took the recommended settings.

recommended settings

The recommended settings on this screen looked like what I wanted to accomplish so I accepted it and clicked next.

Define Backup Wizard

Of course I wanted to choose my C Drive.

Choose Drive C

I had to think about this next screen for a minute. The recommended setting looked like what I wanted but the other choice said that I should always create an independent recovery point. I took the recommended setting and clicked next.

Recovery Point Type question

Norton Ghost chose my external drive as the backup destination.

Backup Destination

Then there were a couple other screens that really didn’t tell me much so I took the defaults to get to the next screen. This screen just tells you what the program is going to do. It looks good to me at this point, so I checked the Run Backup Now checkbox and smacked the Finish button.

Completion of the Define Backup Wizard

All is going well. As you can see, I can still work while the program executes its commands, which is a great feature.

Progress and Performance

When Norton Ghost was finished with the image, I checked to see if the file were indeed where it was supposed to be. It was.

View Image File Created