looking to take an image of my OS

jebusv20 · 16th July 2012, 4:12 PM

hey guys, I have an itch to beat up my raid controller and see what it can handle.

I have 4 identical SSD's on me at the moment, so Im going to use it as my test group. Problem is, two of those drives are OS's for my main two boxes.
Is there a way that I can take an image, to be stored on my external / server, whipe the drives, build the raid, have my fun and then put the image back on and the computer be none the wiser?

jebusv20 · 16th July 2012, 4:15 PM

side note: the drives are OCZ Agility 3 120G's
I just realised that they are all at differing levels of firmware.
Which means I'll probably have to update them, what are the odds of patching the SSD breaking the OS.

ie. take image of OS -> format drive -> update drive -> replace image

Matt_NZ · 16th July 2012, 6:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jebusv20

hey guys, I have an itch to beat up my raid controller and see what it can handle.

I have 4 identical SSD's on me at the moment, so Im going to use it as my test group. Problem is, two of those drives are OS's for my main two boxes.
Is there a way that I can take an image, to be stored on my external / server, whipe the drives, build the raid, have my fun and then put the image back on and the computer be none the wiser?

If it's Windows 7, just use Windows Backup to create a system image. When you want to restore it, boot off a setup disk (or make a recovery disk during the backup process) and choose the repair option. Within there you will have the ability to restore a backup image.

jebusv20 · 17th July 2012, 12:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Matt_NZ

If it's Windows 7, just use Windows Backup to create a system image. When you want to restore it, boot off a setup disk (or make a recovery disk during the backup process) and choose the repair option. Within there you will have the ability to restore a backup image.

how close is this to perfect? Does it effectly grab 'everything' including docs and programs?

Darmok · 18th July 2012, 12:00 AM

System image is exactly that.. full backup of the whole filesystem (almost like ghost)... used when you want to do a bare-metal restore

RB

Matt_NZ · 18th July 2012, 3:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jebusv20

how close is this to perfect? Does it effectly grab 'everything' including docs and programs?

As long as it's going on to the same hardware again it will be an exact replica of the C drive. It won't image other partitions or drives in the same way, though. If you want to backup those, you will need to tell Windows Backup the individual folders on those extra partitions that you want.

renagade · 19th July 2012, 9:52 AM

I recently went from a 750Gb Platter drive to a 240Gb SSD (Sandisk).
I tried a number of imaging programs including Shadow Protect and Windows 7 built-in.
I ended up needing to only backup the space being used (<100GB after I had moved all the documents onto another drive)
Acronis was the only way that shrunk (effectively imaged just the space being used, forgetting empty space) and restored.
I have a full image backed up on a 2TB drive which I will keep for a while in-case something is missing or not working. Acronis was just a trial copy and worked with no problems.

bsbozzy · 19th July 2012, 10:04 AM

http://clonezilla.org/

jebusv20 · 20th July 2012, 2:55 PM

I just bought myself a revodrive, im not sure if I will be able to find my windows disc, if I fail to find it. Would acronis (or clonezilla) be an appopriate method of transfer? Or would I be wasting my time, changing from ssd to revo without a reinstall?

samwise123 · 22nd July 2012, 2:18 PM

http://drivesnapshot.de/en/index.htm

Best for making in Windows drive snapshots. We use it at work everyday for backing up client PC's before we work on them.

Dr Jon · 22nd July 2012, 7:49 PM

So how does snapshot work? Just download, run the .exe file, and select the new drive to copy to, then I can change the boot disk order to boot from it? Sorry to hijack, but have been wondering the same thing, as just about to go from an Intel 120 to a 256GB ssd, and seriously don't want to have to reload all my programs, download steam games, etc!

bsbozzy · 22nd July 2012, 8:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by samwise123

http://drivesnapshot.de/en/index.htm

Best for making in Windows drive snapshots. We use it at work everyday for backing up client PC's before we work on them.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dr Jon

So how does snapshot work? Just download, run the .exe file, and select the new drive to copy to, then I can change the boot disk order to boot from it? Sorry to hijack, but have been wondering the same thing, as just about to go from an Intel 120 to a 256GB ssd, and seriously don't want to have to reload all my programs, download steam games, etc!

I use snapshot as well, although it is not free, hence the clonezilla post above.

With snapshot you backup to image, restore image to drive. You can backup your main OS while it is online, it uses shadow copy to get the files that are in use, however, best to use something like BartPE to run snapshot and image the OS drive while it is offline.

Dr Jon · 22nd July 2012, 8:52 PM

Sounds like snapshot is worth the money though - being able to have it run once a month, and have a clone of my c drive available at any time for an easy restore sounds like a good idea!

Matt_NZ · 22nd July 2012, 10:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dr Jon

Sounds like snapshot is worth the money though - being able to have it run once a month, and have a clone of my c drive available at any time for an easy restore sounds like a good idea!

That's exactly what Windows Backup does in Windows 7, and it's free

16th July 2012, 4:12 PM	#1
jebusv20 Member Join Date: Apr 2011 Location: Brisbane 4074 Posts: 425	looking to take an image of my OS hey guys, I have an itch to beat up my raid controller and see what it can handle. I have 4 identical SSD's on me at the moment, so Im going to use it as my test group. Problem is, two of those drives are OS's for my main two boxes. Is there a way that I can take an image, to be stored on my external / server, whipe the drives, build the raid, have my fun and then put the image back on and the computer be none the wiser? __________________ RIG#1: Gaming i7 3930k\| RipjawZ 4x4Gb 2133 C9\| Rampage 4F \| 2 x HD7970 \| REVODRIVE3 240Gb \| XONAR DX \| ST1500 \| Silverstone FT02 \| Magicool 180.3 DDC 355 E/XSPC ResTop \|Raystorm \|EK 7970 Blocks RIG#2: Storage AMD 5000+ 'Brisbane' \| PNY 4 x 2Gb DDR2 800 \| MSI K9N2-Plantinum \| HighPoint RR2320 \| 4 x 2Tb + 2 x 1Tb + 500Gb OS RIG#3: bench1 E8400 \| GA-P45-UD3R \| CM 1250W \| OCZ Agil3 \| LianLi T60b \| XSPC kit loop \| 9800GT \| F1ee

16th July 2012, 4:15 PM	#2
jebusv20 Member Join Date: Apr 2011 Location: Brisbane 4074 Posts: 425	side note: the drives are OCZ Agility 3 120G's I just realised that they are all at differing levels of firmware. Which means I'll probably have to update them, what are the odds of patching the SSD breaking the OS. ie. take image of OS -> format drive -> update drive -> replace image __________________ RIG#1: Gaming i7 3930k\| RipjawZ 4x4Gb 2133 C9\| Rampage 4F \| 2 x HD7970 \| REVODRIVE3 240Gb \| XONAR DX \| ST1500 \| Silverstone FT02 \| Magicool 180.3 DDC 355 E/XSPC ResTop \|Raystorm \|EK 7970 Blocks RIG#2: Storage AMD 5000+ 'Brisbane' \| PNY 4 x 2Gb DDR2 800 \| MSI K9N2-Plantinum \| HighPoint RR2320 \| 4 x 2Tb + 2 x 1Tb + 500Gb OS RIG#3: bench1 E8400 \| GA-P45-UD3R \| CM 1250W \| OCZ Agil3 \| LianLi T60b \| XSPC kit loop \| 9800GT \| F1ee

19th July 2012, 9:52 AM	#7
renagade Member Join Date: Jun 2001 Location: Sydney Posts: 2,271	I recently went from a 750Gb Platter drive to a 240Gb SSD (Sandisk). I tried a number of imaging programs including Shadow Protect and Windows 7 built-in. I ended up needing to only backup the space being used (<100GB after I had moved all the documents onto another drive) Acronis was the only way that shrunk (effectively imaged just the space being used, forgetting empty space) and restored. I have a full image backed up on a 2TB drive which I will keep for a while in-case something is missing or not working. Acronis was just a trial copy and worked with no problems. __________________ SmugMug \| RedBubble \| Google+

19th July 2012, 10:04 AM	#8
bsbozzy Member Join Date: Nov 2003 Location: Sydney Posts: 3,552	http://clonezilla.org/ __________________ WTB: Any one have a VT SS Commodore die cast model in heron white? Please PM Me.

20th July 2012, 2:55 PM	#9
jebusv20 Member Join Date: Apr 2011 Location: Brisbane 4074 Posts: 425	I just bought myself a revodrive, im not sure if I will be able to find my windows disc, if I fail to find it. Would acronis (or clonezilla) be an appopriate method of transfer? Or would I be wasting my time, changing from ssd to revo without a reinstall? __________________ RIG#1: Gaming i7 3930k\| RipjawZ 4x4Gb 2133 C9\| Rampage 4F \| 2 x HD7970 \| REVODRIVE3 240Gb \| XONAR DX \| ST1500 \| Silverstone FT02 \| Magicool 180.3 DDC 355 E/XSPC ResTop \|Raystorm \|EK 7970 Blocks RIG#2: Storage AMD 5000+ 'Brisbane' \| PNY 4 x 2Gb DDR2 800 \| MSI K9N2-Plantinum \| HighPoint RR2320 \| 4 x 2Tb + 2 x 1Tb + 500Gb OS RIG#3: bench1 E8400 \| GA-P45-UD3R \| CM 1250W \| OCZ Agil3 \| LianLi T60b \| XSPC kit loop \| 9800GT \| F1ee

18th July 2012, 12:00 AM	#5
Darmok Member Join Date: Jun 2001 Location: Hastings, Vic Posts: 339	System image is exactly that.. full backup of the whole filesystem (almost like ghost)... used when you want to do a bare-metal restore RB

22nd July 2012, 2:18 PM	#10
samwise123 Member Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Brisbane, QLD Posts: 408	http://drivesnapshot.de/en/index.htm Best for making in Windows drive snapshots. We use it at work everyday for backing up client PC's before we work on them.

22nd July 2012, 7:49 PM	#11
Dr Jon Member Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Hobart Posts: 167	So how does snapshot work? Just download, run the .exe file, and select the new drive to copy to, then I can change the boot disk order to boot from it? Sorry to hijack, but have been wondering the same thing, as just about to go from an Intel 120 to a 256GB ssd, and seriously don't want to have to reload all my programs, download steam games, etc!

22nd July 2012, 8:52 PM	#13
Dr Jon Member Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Hobart Posts: 167	Sounds like snapshot is worth the money though - being able to have it run once a month, and have a clone of my c drive available at any time for an easy restore sounds like a good idea!