Image backup on same disk - like the OEM's

When I first got my Gateway, and as I'm finding almost all OEMs, there was a partition that, when I would push F8 I could "repair computer" and had the option to reimage the machine, no CD\DVD needed, and after 3 or so hours the machine was just like it was when I first bought it.

Now the Gateway system used was far and away the most inferior system used, Dell's have this same system but it goes for like 10 minutes to reimage from the repair partition and it's ready to go.

Anyway, I deleted this partition some time ago and have at this point mastered to perfection the art of reinstalling Vista and tweaking to the absolute max all of the apps\utilities I use.

My question is what is the best software (free or pay) to recreate this repair partition with 'my' image of a freshly installed OS with apps?

 

acronis true image--if you buy it today using their summer discount, you can get it for $25

 

well I'll pick that up for sure - do you have the summer discount code? link or pm would be nice.

 

go to the acronis homepage, and there is a summer link in the middle of the page...you click on that, register your name and email, and they send you a link to buy it for $25

 

also, did you see the thread Paragon Drive Backup 9.0 Professional Edition farther down the page?

Seems like it can do the same thing, but I haven't used it. But Free is even better than $25. Does not look like it installs a boot manager with repair function though..not sure

 

None of the commercial apps including Acronis will recreate this "repair partition" that was used via the f8 key. That F8 functionality is something embedded in the BIOS of the machine and can only use the partition you deleted.

However Acronis and other apps will create images of your drive, but to use them you MUST run the software that created the image, if you wish to restore from that image.

Gary

 

Many options, Acronis as suggested is a great option. But a couple of freeware ones are drive image xml or Easus Disk Copy.

 

I use Macrium reflect and it is easy to use and so far has been reliable with Vista and Win7

http://www.macrium.com/

and it's free

 

Acronis True Image FTW! 10 minutes is all you need and your system will be restored to the point you wish .


I just clean install, install all drivers / updates, install WLM, and create an image

 

Yep. Acronis is great IMHO. I do the same. And if I ever have to go back to the clean image, I update drivers and Windows updates and reimage before I start using again.

Although now that I have Windows Home Server when I start installing Windows 7 I'll plan on using that and see how that goes.

 

I'm sorry Gary, but that is not correct.

Acronis 2009 includes the Acronis Startup Recovery Manager which recreates the function that he is after. Instead of f8, you press f11.

Additionally, the function is enabled through a setting in the master boot record, not bios

 

yes. then, even if the disk dies, it's just boot from stick/disk/whatever, connect to server, select your system and wait for a moment. (or even on a different replacement hw, what ever).

for one-system environments, i suggest acronis (but not on the same disk. os failures can be fixed, disk failures can't. and only for disk failures, you need a backup-restore. os failures can be fixed without restore or reinstall about all the time).

so store your backup on some external place, too. internal for convenience if you want, but external for the real backup.


if you have more than one system, get a windows home server, and enjoy the "nas on steroids" and the best automatic backup solution existing.

 

Mea culpa, mea maxima culpa. I didn't know about that option even though I use Acronis for some things. So, they re-write the master boot record to implement this function. Very cool idea. It would have to be more than just a "setting" in the MBR though, wouldn't it? There needs to be code somewhere to bootup the system restore processing code.

On the SONY machines, I am pretty sure the "builtin" system recovery functionality (F10 on SONY) is actually part of the BIOS. I say this because I seem to recall some discussion of this regarding recovery of a machine where the MBR was hosed, only the system recovery partition was intact.

Nice to know that Acronis can do this. I'll have to investigate, as that would mean one less CD in my "just in case" set that travels with me on every trip away from the office. I keep a current image on a third partition anyway and a bootable copy of Acronis in my bag. So using this would be a help.

Thanks for the "heads up".

Gary

 

Precisely what I do. I keep a copy on the hard drive, just in case. And then another on an external drive. That way I can do a recovery if I happen to be hundreds of miles from the external drive.

Gary

 

Absolutely. Most peeps have an older box lying around. If they can even manage a couple 500GB drives to start and at least backup pertinent data, they can always add more storage later. Plus so far it seems MS is pretty relaxed about switching systems with the same key. I'm sure if you built one from spare parts to start and moved to a more robust server-like machine later, it wouldn't be a problem.

WHS is what I've needed for a very long time and didn't know it. Actually now I only need like a 500GB or 640GB drive in my PC's because I don't need the redundant backups in these machines. I just dump everything to the WHS, have regular system backups, and it's a real treat.

I will have a 2TB external backup to my WHS as well, and time and money permitting, putting two 1TB drives in my old Shuttle and hooking it up at my parents house for alternate site redundancy.

 

Setting is likely the wrong word...perhaps "entry" might be a better choice....I'm not sure when Acronis added this---on my old version of acronis (v7) it was not available, but somewhere a long the way they added the feature...perhaps even with 2009.

Cannot speak to your Sony. I know the function is part of the MBR is some of the old Dells and I recently repaired a Thinkpad's system restore function by using a lenovo utility to recreate the "entry" in the MBR for it.