anyone using hardware independent images for nuke and paves?

[16k_zx81]

Ive got a stack of machines on my bench and every single customer wants their machine done 'today' Most are not re-install jobs, but two are, and both require sata/raid floppies. Another 30 mins wasted sourcing drivers and making floppies....

Ive been using nlited images with service/driverpacks but this process is too time consuming and Im looking for a quicker method.

Is anyone using hardware independent images to do nuke and paves?

Is this a viable / better solution than using custom install cd's/dvd's?

This issue of being intermittently swamped with work and having not enough time is no doubt something everyone is familiar with. Any suggestions that may help to speed things up would be very helpful indeed. Thanks to anyone who can contribute.

Jim

 

[Fixedathome.com]

I use Acronis True Image + Universal Restore and it works a treat.
Normally takes about 10 minutes to install the image. I have images of all the major O/S versions and update them periodically. Then it's just a case of driver install via driverpacks and change product key to customers and the job is done.

 

[DCGPX]

I've got a different MB to fit to a clients system tomorrow and I was going to N&P but I'll try Acronis again, didn't have any joy last time I tried Uni restore. Given he's over 500GB of games programmes/data he's desparate to try and save PC as it was before.

Is there anything you do during restore to keep it smooth or do you intervene with updated drivers during restore?? I seem to recall it asked for some drivers but I assumed they were for SATA drives like a normal install. Might have to actually read it this time!

If I can get this to work I'll be more confident offering it in future.

 

[Fixedathome.com]

I've got a different MB to fit to a clients system tomorrow and I was going to N&P but I'll try Acronis again, didn't have any joy last time I tried Uni restore. Given he's over 500GB of games programmes/data he's desparate to try and save PC as it was before.

Is there anything you do during restore to keep it smooth or do you intervene with updated drivers during restore?? I seem to recall it asked for some drivers but I assumed they were for SATA drives like a normal install. Might have to actually read it this time!

If I can get this to work I'll be more confident offering it in future.

When using universal restore it does give you the option to use a location for drivers. I normally skip that and do the drivers afterwards but I do plan on implementing a drivers folder onto my server at some point.

With regards to the motherboard swap, I have used Acronis and UR for exactly that reason in the past with no problems. Image the drive and then reimage back to the drive using Universal restore. It's worked everytime i've tried it. Takes a bit of time but if it leaves the O/S and clients data intact it is worth it.

 

[MobileTechie]

I think I'm correct in saying that the Paragon range of imaging apps come with a h/w independent restore system as standard.

 

[iisjman07]

I think I'm correct in saying that the Paragon range of imaging apps come with a h/w independent restore system as standard.

Yup, it says on the product website:

No hardware dependency with the next generation of Paragon Adaptive Restore™; our technology guarantees a Win2K+ system will boot on different computer hardware (P2P) by automatically injecting the required drivers and other actions crucial for this type of migration

 

[ATTech]

Paragon or Acronis if you want to do it the easy way. If you want to do it the free way, you can do it through sysprep. Just google sysprep hardware independent, and you should be able to find a few tutorials on how to do it.

 

[dbdawn]

I currently use Acronis, works pretty good.

 

[MobileTechie]

So the people using Acronis or Paragon - did you spend the time doing all the different variations of XP, Vista and 7 installs to obtain the images or do something a bit cleverer? Seems that it would take ages.

 

[ATTech]

So the people using Acronis or Paragon - did you spend the time doing all the different variations of XP, Vista and 7 installs to obtain the images or do something a bit cleverer? Seems that it would take ages.

I only bother doing the operating systems that are commonly seen: XP Pro/MCE OEMs, Vista Home Premium/Ultimate and all 7s minus starter.

 

[MobileTechie]

SO which of the Acronis products will allow images to be deployed over the network either via PXE or boot disk?

 

[16k_zx81]

So whats the story with license keys? Is there ever any issue there? or is it just a matter of changing the key once the image is installed?

 

[ATTech]

SO which of the Acronis products will allow images to be deployed over the network either via PXE or boot disk?

Snap Deploy.

So whats the story with license keys? Is there ever any issue there? or is it just a matter of changing the key once the image is installed?

Depends on what system you use. I use MDT and it gives you the option to ask for a license key when deploying images.

 

[16k_zx81]

Snap Deploy.

$35 per license. Does that mean every time you use it, it costs $35?

 

[ATTech]

$35 per license. Does that mean every time you use it, it costs $35?

It's either per computer you use it on (so for a computer repair shop, basically per computer used on), or per server, which in other words $35 means you can install it on 1 server and use it as much as you like. The latter seems more reasonable as their are far cheaper options out there. If you want to be certain, however, I would contact the company to get clarification.

 

[MobileTechie]

It's either per computer you use it on (so for a computer repair shop, basically per computer used on), or per server, which in other words $35 means you can install it on 1 server and use it as much as you like. The latter seems more reasonable as their are far cheaper options out there. If you want to be certain, however, I would contact the company to get clarification.

Which other options are worth looking at in your opinion ATTech?

 

[DCGPX]

Well, replaced a motherboard on the Vista system I had, as mentioned earlier, MSI to Gigabyte, however I used Paragon Adaptive Recovery as it said all you need to do is put everything together, boot off the CD and let it do the magic.. and it did.

Everything went very well and literally 5min later I had a PC up and running on a new motherboard and looking OK. Loaded new drivers from CD supplied and all OK.

Very very impressed.

I want to try Acronis and UR but backup is 500GB so I think I'll wait till I get a smaller backup!

I'm tempted to try and restore my laptop backup to a desktop and then see if I can it up and running. That'll be one way to test and products fully!! Might try it in a VM to play with it.

 

[MobileTechie]

It's either per computer you use it on (so for a computer repair shop, basically per computer used on), or per server, which in other words $35 means you can install it on 1 server and use it as much as you like. The latter seems more reasonable as their are far cheaper options out there. If you want to be certain, however, I would contact the company to get clarification.

Looks to me like it's per deployment.

 

[ATTech]

Which other options are worth looking at in your opinion ATTech?

I personally don't use either of them; I use MDT. It requires a lot more set up, but there is greater customization options.

Looks to me like it's per deployment.

Did you receive any correspondence from them or is that just your perception of the verbiage?

 

[brokenmachine]

You should use Microsoft's ImageX Utility which is included in the WAIK/MDT for building deployable Windows Vista and Windows 7 images. Sysprep is used for preparing Windows XP based images.

ImageX can do everything related to building and applying Windows 7 images. It can also be used to apply a prepared image to a drive that still has data on it, which is extremely useful. Being able to reinstall Windows on a drive without having to copy off data, then copy it back on again is absolutely the single most timesaving technique you can use.

Anyways back on topic, ImageX is well worth learning to use and it doesn't cost anything.

You can also try GImageX which is a 3rd Party GUI version of ImageX, might be easier to figure out.

Brokenmachine