Imaging brand new xp pro 4

[Antonimo]

I am awaiting deliver of a new Dell Laptop that will have Windows XP Pro pre-installed.

As soon as it arrives, I would like to be able to create a complete "image" of the system.

The laptop will come with a DVD burner installed.

What will be the simplest and quickest way to create a complete image of the system so that I can restore the system to the "delivery state" should I run into any problems in the future?

I would prefer to put the image onto a DVD, before I then partition the hard disk and set up other applications and tweak various settings.

 

[gavm99]

Hi there,

The easiest thing to do is purchase Norton Ghost 9.0 for around £30. Once you are happy with your install you can then run this software and create the image files. This can then be burned to DVD for safe storage. You could also use Partition Magic and store the original image on a backup partition.

Thanks.

Gavin.

 

[Antonimo]

Hi Gavin,

Can Norton Ghost create the image directly to the DVD, or would I use Partition Magic to create a partitiion to store the Ghost image before burning?

 

[gavm99]

When I have used Norton Ghost I have always put the image onto a seperate partition. This is because I like to have a local copy of the image and an offsite backup. Norton Ghost can drop the file straight onto a DVD according to the manual but this is something I have not done before.

 

[Tightpants]

I used Ghost to do what you want to do. I created a Drive Mapping Boot Disk and did a "Disk to Image" backup before and after configuring the laptop, saving the image files on another machine. I then backed up the image files to CD because I ran Ghost with the "size" switch to create 650Mb image files.

You may well need a floppy disk drive to run the Ghost disk so you might have to borrow a USB floppy drive if your laptop doesn't have one.

 

[linney]

What CD's, XP retail, OEM Recovery CD or hidden partition will the Laptop have for recovery purposes? You might have the image of the factory condition install already provided.

 

[Antonimo]

Hi Tightpants - Having a floppy drive would make this a bit easier because I don't know if I can run Ghost from a CD and then save the drive image onto a DVD (using the same CD/DVD drive).

As I would like to partition the disk as part of my own "setup", would the following be sound...?

1. Create a new partition on the hard disk.
2. Create drive image onto new partition
3. Burn image onto a DVD
4. Wipe the system, re-partition, reinstall, tweak etc...?

linney <<<What CD's, XP retail, OEM Recovery CD or hidden partition will the Laptop have for recovery purposes?>>>

Good question!
As I don't yet know, I planning for several scenarios. However, I shall not be requiring the additional software and clutter installed at the factory (imaging software etc.) and would like to re-claim all the hard disk space that I can.

If there are hidden partitions, I would like to reclaim those too.

If there is a recovery CD and not a full OS CD, there is no guarantee that it can restore the system to exactly the state that it arrives in.

It is better to be in full control...

Thanks for the replies

 

[Nelviticus]

The way Ghost works is like this:
- you have to install it to be able to make a backup image (so your backup image won't quite be of your vanilla installation - it'll be vanilla + Ghost);
- you can back up direct to DVD;
- you can boot from the Ghost CD when you want to restore.

However, I recently bought a Dell laptop and it came with a hidden recovery partition which had a cut-down version of Ghost on it, with an image of the factory default installation. If yours is the same then if you're happy for your backup to stay on your hard drive you won't need to buy Ghost at all. If you'd like to move it to DVD then I guess that you can buy Ghost, install it or boot from its recovery CD, then copy the existing images from the hidden partition to DVD.

Regards

Nelviticus

 

[Tightpants]

linney makes a good point and so does Nelviticus. The latest Dell workstations I bought did not come with a Windows XP CD so I called Dell. They pointed out that there is a menu option to burn your own XP CD and there is also a hidden partition to allow you to recover the system back to its original state (using a cut down version of ghost by the looks of it). However I was concerned what would happen if my hard disk failed after the one year warranty expired.

Hence I created a drive mapping boot disk in Ghost which allows me to boot to dos from a floppy and make an image of the entire hard disk (including all hidden partitions) to another machine on the network.

 

[linney]

Tuck this away for future reference.

1) Wiping Out Special "Recovery" Partitions, Pt. 1

http://www.langa.com/newsletters/2003/2003-02-06.htm

Another useful article from Fred Langa -

I used the techniques described in "Laptop Setup Secrets" (

http://www.informationweek.com/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=163105444

to do a clean install of XP that did NOT include the automated Dell
support tools.

http://www.russelltexas.com/delpart.htm

Search for resize at this page.
BootIt NG

http://www.terabyteunlimited.com/prodgrid.html

Have a look at their imaging software too.

 

[Antonimo]

All good replies...

If the Dell laptop does not come with a Windows XP CD, I shall look for the option to burn one.

I shall create a disk image for the future (Hope I'll never need it!)

Having looked at the Fred Langa articles, I shall follow the advice there and see about removing any hidden partitions.

Finally, I shall check with Dell regarding the warranty - As I have a three-year, international on-site warranty, I do not want to invalidate it, but if I follow the advice and suggestions in this thread, I should only need the warranty for fixing hardware problems because I should have the software "under control".

Thanks again to all who replied.

 

[Naro]

Acronis True Image (Acronis.com) will create a Boot CD and will burn an image wherever you tell it to do so..DVD, second HD, network drive, etc.

I've had no problems with the recovery scenario you're trying to establish, using Acronis True Image.

 

[user9876]

I have an office of about 25-30 computers, some laptops, some desktops, a combination of all types of things, I am wondering is there any way to cut down on setup time with this configuration. I would like to put xp pro and all the necessary software on the machine an then create an image. I realize that the hardware is all different and that will no doubt cause issues, but is there anything i can do to speed up the process of configuring new machines.

thanks

 

[linney]

need tutorial on sysprep for xp pro
thread779-636603

282190 - Description of New Features in Sysprep for Windows XP

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;282190&FR=1&PA=1&SD=HSCH

Sysprep and its documentation can be found in \support\tools\deploy.cab on the Windows XP CD.

For more information, see the OEM Preinstall Kit (OPK) or visit the following Microsoft Web site:

http://www.microsoft.com/oem