HDD Image over remote access

[Azz]

Hi all,

As the title says. I want to take a direct image of a system over a remote connection. The idea is if this PC goes down, I have an image to write to another HDD that I can send to them.

What is the best imaging software to do this with?

Thanks,

Aaron

 

[NYJimbo]

A true image, not some kind of windows/dos based backup to a binary file ?. I dont think they exist via a remote connection.

 

[Azz]

A true image. There is no software that can be ran on the remote computer to take an image over a remote connection?

 

[NYJimbo]

A true image. There is no software that can be ran on the remote computer to take an image over a remote connection?

There might be, but be VERY careful of companies that use the term "image" or "bare metal". There are so many liars that will leave you hanging when you try to restore.

 

[Larry Sabo]

Given the slow upload speeds of an internet connection, you might be best to install a free version of Acronis (available for Seagate and WD drives) or Macrium reflect and create an image on a partition of the customer's drive or on the customer's external drive, if they have one, all from within Windows. If they don't have a another partition, you could create one using remote support and one of several partition programs that run under Windows (but which probably will boot to apply the prescribed tasks). Sounds like too much time and trouble to do remotely, especially if you expect the customer to pay for that time. Probably more practical to run Fab's Autobackup and at least have their data safeguarded.

 

[chrisaroz]

I don't know what kind of money you have, but you want to take a look at DoubleTake.

 

[imjonah]

The hard way

1. Obviously you could use any imaging product to save an image on their end using extra space on some storage medium and then transmit that file to you like any other remote file transfer.

My guess is you want to do the above in one step.

2, Isn't the trick part going to be the doing the recovery remotely?

 

[Azz]

Given the slow upload speeds of an internet connection, you might be best to install a free version of Acronis (available for Seagate and WD drives) or Macrium reflect and create an image on a partition of the customer's drive or on the customer's external drive, if they have one, all from within Windows. If they don't have a another partition, you could create one using remote support and one of several partition programs that run under Windows (but which probably will boot to apply the prescribed tasks). Sounds like too much time and trouble to do remotely, especially if you expect the customer to pay for that time. Probably more practical to run Fab's Autobackup and at least have their data safeguarded.

The problem is the site is about a 220 mile round trip. So it would cost them more if I was to go onsite, which I have no problems with, was just thinking of a way of doing it without going there.

There is also a digital signage program that the company who created it are lets just say, less than willing to help if there are any problems. There is no data as such.

1. Obviously you could use any imaging product to save an image on their end using extra space on some storage medium and then transmit that file to you like any other remote file transfer.

My guess is you want to do the above in one step.

2, Isn't the trick part going to be the doing the recovery remotely?

The plan is if there are any problems then I can recover the image onto a new hdd and either send it up or take it up. Less downtime then.

 

[Larry Sabo]

The problem is the site is about a 220 mile round trip.

Okay. Maybe you could install Macrium Reflect using remote support, create the image to a DVD(s) and have them mail it(them) to you. You could then restore the DVD(s) to a hard drive, and ship it back, with instructions on how to swap drives. How much (GBs) in on the drive?

 

[tkrabec]

Take an image of any machine of similar os. Prefferably something you can mount the image. Then use the same software remotely & use rsync or a similar program that allows you to sync differences. Then you can run this on a daily weekly or monthly basis to keep the image ready to be put to drive.

Note there are no /real/ differences in windows installs from 1 machine to another that would require copying huge amounts of binaries. At least not that you couldn't install from the standard media before you did the sync.

 

[Azz]

Okay. Maybe you could install Macrium Reflect using remote support, create the image to a DVD(s) and have them mail it(them) to you. You could then restore the DVD(s) to a hard drive, and ship it back, with instructions on how to swap drives. How much (GBs) in on the drive?

Its a rack server that has no DVD drive. Its just a basic install with 1 program on it so it shouldn't be huge.

Take an image of any machine of similar os. Prefferably something you can mount the image. Then use the same software remotely & use rsync or a similar program that allows you to sync differences. Then you can run this on a daily weekly or monthly basis to keep the image ready to be put to drive.

Note there are no /real/ differences in windows installs from 1 machine to another that would require copying huge amounts of binaries. At least not that you couldn't install from the standard media before you did the sync.

Its not really the installation of windows thats the problem, its the software that is used on it. The software is made by some guy who is a bit hard to get hold of and is reluctant to help out if it need reinstalling. It went down last week and its took over a week to get hold of this bloke. Obviously with an image of the drive it could be back up and running in a day.

 

[MobileTechie]

Given the situation I would have thought an imaging app that creates a pre-boot restore option would be worth considering. You could store the snapshot on a seperate partition or external USB drive. If they have a crash they can access the restore by using a key combination during boot and restore it as you talk them through it over the phone.

Comodo Time Machine does all of that for free. It uses shadow copy to do the backup whilst the machine is online so you can set it up and take a snapshot remotely. A good thing about this sort of system is that if the crash is not so catastrophic as to deny Windows boot and network access then you can restore it for them remotely.

Obviously a pre-boot restore function does write a custom MBR so this could be an issue with certain setups.

 

[Azz]

Given the situation I would have thought an imaging app that creates a pre-boot restore option would be worth considering. You could store the snapshot on a seperate partition or external USB drive. If they have a crash they can access the restore by using a key combination during boot and restore it as you talk them through it over the phone.

Comodo Time Machine does all of that for free. It uses shadow copy to do the backup whilst the machine is online so you can set it up and take a snapshot remotely. A good thing about this sort of system is that if the crash is not so catastrophic as to deny Windows boot and network access then you can restore it for them remotely.

Obviously a pre-boot restore function does write a custom MBR so this could be an issue with certain setups.

That sounds like a good idea, but then it takes work (and income) from me

 

[DarDar]

how about sysinternals disk2vhd?
Put the vhd on an external drive or elsewhere on the network. Depending on the server and its abilities, you could set it to boot from that. If things go wrong just copy over the vhd again and start the server again.

 

[MobileTechie]

Actually thinking about it I don't think CTM allows you to backup to a seperate drive so that's not use. There are others that do though that also allow the creation of a pre-boot restore function. Acronis for one.

 

[JRDtechnet]

I wouldn't attempt to actually backup the data across the internet. However, if you can get someone to plug in a esata or usb to the server you can use Drive Image xml and do a hot image while the machine is running, preferably after business hours when there is extremely little demand for the server.

 

[Azz]

I have to go there tomorrow as they are having problems with it again. So what is the best FREE imaging software I can use on site that will take an exact image that I can put on another hdd if needed?

 

[DarDar]

I use clonezilla all the time but i'm sure there will be some other recommendations. Do a search and you will find lots already given.

 

[Puff]

This makes an image of the HD using USB..might work for you.....might not.

http://www.hdd.ji2.com/products/hard_drive_duplicator_pc_aid.html