Backup to ISO files?

[Boriyako]

Good morning

I have recently purchased a new asus laptop.

I am getting a reminder saying that I have not created a backup copy of my factory state windows and I should create one now. I assume this is because I was not given a copy of windows7 to reload in the case of a severe disc failure

I am given a choice of backing up to DVD or ISO files. I am not familiar with ISO files

Can anyone tell me which is better and what is the difference?

Thank you

[ChuckFickens]

Create them to DVDs.

ISO files are an exact image of a DVD stored as one single file that would enable you to create the DVDs in the future... For restore purposes it's not a lot of use to have ISO files on your hard drive because if your hard drive fails you lose the ISO files.

[Boriyako]

Thank you - you confirmed my suspicions

[Aslans]

But having your ISO-file on an external disk might me a good choice!

[methyl]

@Aslans
Holding the ISO images on DVD is the best choice.

Holding an additional copy of the ISO image on an external disc drive is indeed wise, but this would be no substitute for cutting the recovery DVD twice.