In fact, the only reason Image Backup exists in Windows 8 is so that upgraders can still access their information in old backups.Īs I noted in Windows 8 Tip: Picking a Backup Strategy, Windows 8 “is architected with a device, rather than PC, mentality. But the important point is that, by Windows 8, this functionality was already on the way out. The original shipping version of Windows 8 embraced this new way of doing things, but it also provided hidden access to the legacy system image tools: You can read Windows 8 Tip: Use Windows 7 System Image Backup for more information about that. So the loss of a single PC is, if not meaningless, certainly less problematic than it would have been years ago. In the new way of doing things, your important information is not locked to a single PC, it’s stored in the cloud. But this type of system is also emblematic of the old, PC-centric way of doing things, where everything that was important to you was locked on a single PC. Understandably, many people like system image backups.
You can find out about this legacy usage in my article Windows 7 Feature Focus: Backup and Restore, but the short version goes like this: At any given time, a Windows 7 user could make a system image backup, and then use that backup to resuscitate the entire Windows install-including all applications, settings customizations, and documents and other data-back to the PC in the event of a hardware or software failure.
System image backup debuted as a feature of Windows Backup in Windows 7. And as I’ve noted in the past, the new way of doing things works quite well. But the move is in keeping with the broader transitions Microsoft is making to devices and services in Windows and its other core product lines. This has triggered a new round of fear and loathing among those who appreciated the functionality of that offering. In Windows 8.1, Microsoft has removed the Windows Backup tools that provided system image backup capabilities.