Does Windows 7 make volume shadow copies of external drives?

[jj1984]

I know that under certain conditions Windows 7 and other modern versions of Windows will make copies of either important system files or of the entire system drive thereby creating a restore point in case of some unforeseen disaster.

But, I'm curious as to whether Windows 7 or other versions of Windows also make volume shadow copies of external drives like USB drives.

If so, where might these shadow copies be held?

Also, how do I turn off the volume shadow copy function altogether?

 

[johnb35]

If you had system restore enabled for the usb drive then its slightly possible depending on the data you need. System restore is not a full fledged backup program in case disaster strikes, so please don't think that.

 

[jj1984]

System restore is not a full fledged backup program in case disaster strikes, so please don't think that.

What is system restore then? How does it work exactly? How does it work with volume shadow copy?

 

[johnb35]

This may help you.

http://blog.szynalski.com/2009/11/volume-shadow-copy-system-restore/

If you want a full backup in case disaster strikes then use something like acronis true image to where it backs up whatever you want to an external drive or wherever you choose. You would need an acronis boot cd in order to recover the image back on to a new hard drive when old drive fails.

 

[jj1984]

I appreciate it.

 

[Agent Smith]

This guy asked the same question on Anandtech.

 

[Darren]

This guy asked the same question on Anandtech.

Very helpful, thank you for your contribution.

 

[Agent Smith]

Very helpful, thank you for your contribution.

You're very welcome since I gave him his answer in that forum.