How-To Geek Forums / Windows 7
Win 7 disc image
(8 posts)
jeb1,
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http://www.howtogeek.com/howto.....windows-7/
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ADDED: by raphoenix from another post.
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"The main hardware limitation for restoring a system image backup is that the target computer must have at least as many hard drives as the source system and each drive must be at least as big as its corresponding drive in the source system.
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Other target computer hardware is irrelevant because hardware drivers are isolated from the rest of the image information and are rebuilt as part of the restore process.
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A backup image file can be stored on an external hard drive or in a shared network folder.
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You can start the image restore process from a system repair disc you create or a windows 7 installation DVD."
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Above info from Windows 7 Inside / Out; Published by Microsoft Press.
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Regards,
Rick P.
Rick, let me see if I understand -
1- If one had a 1T external drive and did an image to it, one could not then restore this image to a 350gb drive.
2- If one did an image to an external 350gb drive one could then restore to a 500gb or a 1T drive.
3- One can not just connect the "external" UBS drive with the image on it to the computer and then boot from and use this drive as a "normal" drive.
4- One needs to make a "restore" disc before doing an image and must have this disc to restore the image to a new or a re-formatted drive if one has a problem and should need to re-format a drive.
5- One could not image several drives to the same external drive and then choose which one to restore.
Ref #5, does one have more flexibility to image several drives to one larger drive with the backup/image software that comes with other drives like WD? The reason I ask is that two laptop computers I would like to image have smaller drives in them and it is getting harder and harder to find "small" drives that would be equal to or less than these drives.
Tks for your help - I appreciate it. - jb
mfletch, I am not clear on a couple of things -
On #1, you stated that the rest of the external drive could be used for other backup, etc - but the external drive must still be the same or smaller than the drive being imaged?
ON #3, could this imaged drive replace the master drive that was imaged in the computer and then boot and run programs as per normal or must the image be copied back to a new drive or a re-formatted drive only?
Another question, if I had one Win 7 drive, one Vista drive and one XP drive - I do, BTW - I could image all of these using WD's or Seagate's software but only Win 7 using the Win 7 software?
Tks all and Mfletch - I appreciate it. - jb
1/ No the drive can be any size as long as its big enough to take the drive image, Any space left over can be used for other storage.
3/ No but not 100% sure/ the drive image may well be compressed to save space so would have to be copied back onto another drive to work.
Yes you can put all the images on one drive but only if the image software allows you to do so.
Some take over the entire drive but the Windows 7 one does not it just puts it in a folder so if the other image back-up software does the same all will be OK and all the images will be in there own folders.
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