Making Recovery Backup Before Win 7 Downgrade
Hello 8 Forums,
This is my first post here but I suspect I will be a member for a long time because I have yet to see such comprehensive tutorials anywhere else online. Not even close. Steps are always left out.
After reading many many well detailed tutorials I beleive I am ready to "downgrade" ...feels like upgrade... my Windows 8.1 (came with OEM 8) Lenovo w530 to windows 7 ultimate. I have 1 TB HDD space and 16 GB SSD.
I do not have anywhere to store a system Image with around 600 GB of data. Even if I deleted all the data (because I don't care to back it up im an image form- it's already on a family members Mac to be dragged back over, albeit only about 25-30 GB... I scrificed abour 3-400 in videos..) I do beleive that the remaining system files may be too large for me to back up on their computer (which is my only option for storage) without feeling guilty for hogging their memory (even though the computer belongs to a computer illiterate person who barely used any memory despite having tons)
Maybe I would do a complete Image backup if I could get it down to 100 gb but I doubt that's possible.
So my question is: Can I only back up the system restore partition and If I do, will this be viable once I have followed the instructions on this site and wiped my C drive to istall windows 7? Could I use it to restore windows 8?
I am new to system images.
Could I back up the recovery image to the SSD? (that might be a retarded question)
I am also open to backing up the ability to restore windows 8 if I need to in different ways. This might not be the best for me.
I also may be wrong about how much space the image would take after deleting all my unwanted data and stripping to the system & programs. I read that am image is the same size as the data- not compresses- but then read elsewhere it compresses 50% of the data... -_- Which is it?
Also one more question while I'm at it- should I use the entire TB to to put windows 7 on or leave some space, and why? I will be installing a linux partition later (probably kubuntu... used ubuntu for years between XP and this new (about1-2 years old now) windows 8 computer) but I know they now have extremely easy ways to create these after windows is installed so I guess I'd rather do that unless there's a big advantage.
It took about 2 years of dealing with frustrating things, not liking the os, mourning customization abilities, bug bug bug bug bugs, laziness and being busy to finally crack down and try. Before finding your site I spent 7 hours using incomplete tutorials and fell asleep not being able to boot into windows 8 or the installer (dont worry I knew how to fix it... i rage quit) hoping it goes better tonight when Im home from work.
Thanks for any responses ahead of time...
-Caitlin
Hello 8 Forums,
This is my first post here but I suspect I will be a member for a long time because I have yet to see such comprehensive tutorials anywhere else online. Not even close. Steps are always left out.
After reading many many well detailed tutorials I beleive I am ready to "downgrade" ...feels like upgrade... my Windows 8.1 (came with OEM 8) Lenovo w530 to windows 7 ultimate. I have 1 TB HDD space and 16 GB SSD.
I do not have anywhere to store a system Image with around 600 GB of data. Even if I deleted all the data (because I don't care to back it up im an image form- it's already on a family members Mac to be dragged back over, albeit only about 25-30 GB... I scrificed abour 3-400 in videos..) I do beleive that the remaining system files may be too large for me to back up on their computer (which is my only option for storage) without feeling guilty for hogging their memory (even though the computer belongs to a computer illiterate person who barely used any memory despite having tons)
Maybe I would do a complete Image backup if I could get it down to 100 gb but I doubt that's possible.
So my question is: Can I only back up the system restore partition and If I do, will this be viable once I have followed the instructions on this site and wiped my C drive to istall windows 7? Could I use it to restore windows 8?
I am new to system images.
Could I back up the recovery image to the SSD? (that might be a retarded question)
I am also open to backing up the ability to restore windows 8 if I need to in different ways. This might not be the best for me.
I also may be wrong about how much space the image would take after deleting all my unwanted data and stripping to the system & programs. I read that am image is the same size as the data- not compresses- but then read elsewhere it compresses 50% of the data... -_- Which is it?
Also one more question while I'm at it- should I use the entire TB to to put windows 7 on or leave some space, and why? I will be installing a linux partition later (probably kubuntu... used ubuntu for years between XP and this new (about1-2 years old now) windows 8 computer) but I know they now have extremely easy ways to create these after windows is installed so I guess I'd rather do that unless there's a big advantage.
It took about 2 years of dealing with frustrating things, not liking the os, mourning customization abilities, bug bug bug bug bugs, laziness and being busy to finally crack down and try. Before finding your site I spent 7 hours using incomplete tutorials and fell asleep not being able to boot into windows 8 or the installer (dont worry I knew how to fix it... i rage quit) hoping it goes better tonight when Im home from work.
Thanks for any responses ahead of time...
-Caitlin
Last edited:
My Computer
System One
-
- OS
- 8.1
- Computer type
- Laptop
- System Manufacturer/Model
- Thinkpad w530