Corsair blog

The October 22nd official launch date for Windows 7 is just around the corner, and of course like everyone else we hear lots of buzz about this latest OS. I have been using Microsoft Windows 7 on various computers since shortly after the beta first came out. I wanted to get a handle on the way Win 7 uses memory and SSDs... and of course it didn’t hurt that it booted faster, was more stable, and was much more fun to use than the various versions of Vista that I was barely tolerating!

One feature of Windows 7 that I stumbled upon by accident is the upgraded backup and restore capability. It is known, cryptically, as “Backup and Restore”, and can be found in the “Maintenance” folder in the start menu. Now, my backup scheme is all set up, at work and at home, so I didn’t really want to mess with that. The problem is solves for me is a little different.

The way it has worked out, I do my work on a bunch of different computers. I have the usual desktop computer in my office. I have a netbook that I use for meetings and for short trips. I have a full function notebook that I use for longer trips or if I need to make a presentation. And, at home, I usually end up on my wife’s Dell or my kids’ gaming rig—whichever one is unoccupied at the time. And I can’t count the number of times that I have found that the ONE file I need is the ONE file that is not around or inaccessible just when I need it!

Now, I know this is going to sound old fashioned... and I will plead guilty to being well over forty. But I carry in my pocket a 64GB flash drive, and on that flash drive I have a backup of all the systems that I work on. Not a complete backup, of course, but just my own work files, pictures, music, and stuff like that. In fact, selecting “Let Windows choose” which files to back up works perfectly for this. I back up on to the drive every day, or when it occurs to me, and once the original backup was done (which took, maybe, an hour per machine), the subsequent backups are all incremental, and take seconds. So, in my pocket, I basically have a copy of almost any file I could conceivably need to access!

Simple and old fashioned, I know, but so easy! If I need a file, I just plug in the drive and click on the computer name where the file resides, and there it is!

View of desktop during restore

I’m sure there is a better way to do this, and you can tell me how below if you’d like. But even so, that won’t change the fact that Windows 7 is fun to use and will make your simple computing tasks easier. I tell you, with the upcoming Windows 7, recent CPU and GPU releases, and exciting new technologies like SSDs, it is a great time to build a new system! With Corsair cases, cooling, memory, PSUs, and SSDs, of course!