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#16
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Windows's System Image Resto How Flexible?
Gene E. Bloch wrote:
On 1/31/2014, Ed Cryer posted: I hate leaving this in the air. I could easily solve it for myself; thus. 1. Keep my established backup system running. 2 Take a sys image with only the C partition on it. 3. Restore and see what's there. I would if I had the time; and that I don't. Or maybe "I would if it would be fun, but it won't" :-) I tend to like experimentation, and being retired, I often can find the time - but some experiments just aren't that much fun. Can you see any ambiguity in this Windows dialogue box terminology? http://cdn.arstechnica.net/7000_7100...ry_methods.png Ed |
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#17
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Windows's System Image Resto How Flexible?
Paul wrote:
Ed Cryer wrote: Gene E. Bloch wrote: On 1/31/2014, Ed Cryer posted: J. P. Gilliver (John) wrote: In message , Ed Cryer writes: (PeteCresswell) wrote: I'm taking an image of somebody's laptop as I write this - using 7's built-in imaging utility. The Question: If/when the worst happens, how flexible is the restore process going to be? The drive is partitioned: about 50 gigs for the system and the rest for D: Data. At restore time, does the target partition have to be precisely the same size as the imaged system's partition? Obviously it cannot be smaller, but can it be a few gigs larger? It'll restore onto any HD not smaller than the original. When you do a restore the entire target drive is overwritten. If the drive contains, say, partitions C, D and E, and only C is on the image, then only C will be there after the restore. [] Eeek, are you sure about that? The process doesn't give any warning about that. Actually, come to think of it, I don't think it's so: I created a 50G C:, 400-odd D:, and 50 Z, and did a system image create (to Z) - specifying only C and the hidden etc. bits - and actually did a restore, booting from a system restore disc, just to be sure I could. After the restore, D: and Z: were definitely still there. I got the _impression_ it wasn't too bothered about sizes: it told me how much space the image would take (thirtysomething G IIRR at that point). (Yes, I know "backing up" to another partition on the same HD is unwise - the image creation process actually warns you of that fact anyway; this was [a] just a proof-of-concept, to verify that the restore process does actually work, [b] for a person for whom the most likely situation is that she "breaks" the system, rather than the HD dying.) I found the process - from making the system image through to booting from the restore CD (even the making of that; wish I'd known it was under 200M, as I'd have made it on a mini-CD for ease of identification) and restoring - reasonably straightforward, and it looked as if it would have been almost as straightforward using say an external USB HD. I am somewhat curious as to what Macrium, Todo, etc. offer that the included process doesn't. (Apart from maybe incremental/differential, which I didn't intend he the idea was to backup the system and programs-including-their-settings, not the data, which we'll do by other means.) (The one thing I found was that the page - I think it was a Microsoft one - describing the process which I'd printed out said, was that you could instigate the restore process by booting from the W7 installation DVD; when I tried to do that, I didn't succeed - I can't remember now, I think it said something like this image isn't accessible, usable, or something like that. But making and then using a Restore Disk was fine.) Hhhmm! I always include all the partitions on an image because I thought that was what occurred. I base it on warnings like these. "When you restore your computer from a system image, it's a complete restoration—you can't choose individual items to restore, and all of your current programs, system settings, and files are replaced with the contents of the system image." (http://windows.microsoft.com/en-gb/w...a-system-image) "In the event that you are unable to start Windows or wish to restore your hard drives to a previous backup you can use the System Image Recovery program from the Windows 7 or Windows 8 Recovery Environment. This process will overwrite the entire contents of your hard drives with the contents of a previously created system image. It is important to note that all of your data will be removed and replaced with the contents of the system image. Therefore, please backup any new data that has been since you created the system image that you plan to restore." (http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/tuto...n-windows-7-8/) I've often restored from an image. But (a personal quirk) I only ever use a C partition on my internal HD. More often than not it comes with a "D for data" one too, but I leave that empty, and include it in the saved image. All of which leaves me unable to put a stamp of "tried and proven" on my theory. I used to use Paragon backup but while commissioning a new Win8 box recently I found problems with it. So, for the first time, I installed Macrium Reflect. I was pleasantly surprised. It's good; smaller than Paragon, better GUI, and did its stuff well. The only downside I found was that to make a rescue boot disc it had to download a file about 1/2GB in size. Ed I wold say that the Microsoft description is ambiguous (thank, MS!), but to me it seems to agree with what John experienced. OTOH, Bleping Computer is not the official document. Maybe it is just wrong, given John's report, or maybe it tacitly assumes that the image was set up by the user as a complete image of the drive. Well, it wouldn't work in the case of a disk replacement; and that's my major concern when I take sys images. I use the term "sys image" very loosely. In practice I look upon it as a backup of the C drive. For other fails I have the sys restore option running. I hate leaving this in the air. I could easily solve it for myself; thus. 1. Keep my established backup system running. 2 Take a sys image with only the C partition on it. 3. Restore and see what's there. I would if I had the time; and that I don't. Ed Underneath, System Image is the equivalent of "wbadmin" command line utility. And I can't see any evidence there of a resizing capability. wbadmin http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/l.../cc754015.aspx wbadmin start sysrecovery http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/l.../cc742118.aspx The question would be, does the presence or absence of -recreateDisks, imply resizing ? Paul http://www.pagestart.com/win7bckuprstrnhd072610.html Ed |
#18
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Windows's System Image Resto How Flexible?
Ed Cryer wrote:
Paul wrote: Ed Cryer wrote: Gene E. Bloch wrote: On 1/31/2014, Ed Cryer posted: J. P. Gilliver (John) wrote: In message , Ed Cryer writes: (PeteCresswell) wrote: I'm taking an image of somebody's laptop as I write this - using 7's built-in imaging utility. The Question: If/when the worst happens, how flexible is the restore process going to be? The drive is partitioned: about 50 gigs for the system and the rest for D: Data. At restore time, does the target partition have to be precisely the same size as the imaged system's partition? Obviously it cannot be smaller, but can it be a few gigs larger? It'll restore onto any HD not smaller than the original. When you do a restore the entire target drive is overwritten. If the drive contains, say, partitions C, D and E, and only C is on the image, then only C will be there after the restore. [] Eeek, are you sure about that? The process doesn't give any warning about that. Actually, come to think of it, I don't think it's so: I created a 50G C:, 400-odd D:, and 50 Z, and did a system image create (to Z) - specifying only C and the hidden etc. bits - and actually did a restore, booting from a system restore disc, just to be sure I could. After the restore, D: and Z: were definitely still there. I got the _impression_ it wasn't too bothered about sizes: it told me how much space the image would take (thirtysomething G IIRR at that point). (Yes, I know "backing up" to another partition on the same HD is unwise - the image creation process actually warns you of that fact anyway; this was [a] just a proof-of-concept, to verify that the restore process does actually work, [b] for a person for whom the most likely situation is that she "breaks" the system, rather than the HD dying.) I found the process - from making the system image through to booting from the restore CD (even the making of that; wish I'd known it was under 200M, as I'd have made it on a mini-CD for ease of identification) and restoring - reasonably straightforward, and it looked as if it would have been almost as straightforward using say an external USB HD. I am somewhat curious as to what Macrium, Todo, etc. offer that the included process doesn't. (Apart from maybe incremental/differential, which I didn't intend he the idea was to backup the system and programs-including-their-settings, not the data, which we'll do by other means.) (The one thing I found was that the page - I think it was a Microsoft one - describing the process which I'd printed out said, was that you could instigate the restore process by booting from the W7 installation DVD; when I tried to do that, I didn't succeed - I can't remember now, I think it said something like this image isn't accessible, usable, or something like that. But making and then using a Restore Disk was fine.) Hhhmm! I always include all the partitions on an image because I thought that was what occurred. I base it on warnings like these. "When you restore your computer from a system image, it's a complete restoration—you can't choose individual items to restore, and all of your current programs, system settings, and files are replaced with the contents of the system image." (http://windows.microsoft.com/en-gb/w...a-system-image) "In the event that you are unable to start Windows or wish to restore your hard drives to a previous backup you can use the System Image Recovery program from the Windows 7 or Windows 8 Recovery Environment. This process will overwrite the entire contents of your hard drives with the contents of a previously created system image. It is important to note that all of your data will be removed and replaced with the contents of the system image. Therefore, please backup any new data that has been since you created the system image that you plan to restore." (http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/tuto...n-windows-7-8/) I've often restored from an image. But (a personal quirk) I only ever use a C partition on my internal HD. More often than not it comes with a "D for data" one too, but I leave that empty, and include it in the saved image. All of which leaves me unable to put a stamp of "tried and proven" on my theory. I used to use Paragon backup but while commissioning a new Win8 box recently I found problems with it. So, for the first time, I installed Macrium Reflect. I was pleasantly surprised. It's good; smaller than Paragon, better GUI, and did its stuff well. The only downside I found was that to make a rescue boot disc it had to download a file about 1/2GB in size. Ed I wold say that the Microsoft description is ambiguous (thank, MS!), but to me it seems to agree with what John experienced. OTOH, Bleping Computer is not the official document. Maybe it is just wrong, given John's report, or maybe it tacitly assumes that the image was set up by the user as a complete image of the drive. Well, it wouldn't work in the case of a disk replacement; and that's my major concern when I take sys images. I use the term "sys image" very loosely. In practice I look upon it as a backup of the C drive. For other fails I have the sys restore option running. I hate leaving this in the air. I could easily solve it for myself; thus. 1. Keep my established backup system running. 2 Take a sys image with only the C partition on it. 3. Restore and see what's there. I would if I had the time; and that I don't. Ed Underneath, System Image is the equivalent of "wbadmin" command line utility. And I can't see any evidence there of a resizing capability. wbadmin http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/l.../cc754015.aspx wbadmin start sysrecovery http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/l.../cc742118.aspx The question would be, does the presence or absence of -recreateDisks, imply resizing ? Paul http://www.pagestart.com/win7bckuprstrnhd072610.html Ed I was talking about a resize option being available in the restoring from System Image capabilities. I don't see anything in the command line version, to suggest they had a plan to do that. Whereas, a tool like Macrium Reflect Free, has an option to control the size of a new partition. Sure, any kind of partition manager, could be used to resize after the fact. But restoring to s smaller hard drive could be a problem, as this process stands. What the Microsoft software amounts to, more or less, is just something that copies a .vhd image of a partition, back to a partition. That's what it looks like to me. The file by file capability would be different, but I've never used that, and have no idea what options it presents. Or whether you could use that to restore an entire disk. Paul |
#19
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Windows's System Image Resto How Flexible?
Paul wrote:
Ed Cryer wrote: Paul wrote: Ed Cryer wrote: Gene E. Bloch wrote: On 1/31/2014, Ed Cryer posted: J. P. Gilliver (John) wrote: In message , Ed Cryer writes: (PeteCresswell) wrote: I'm taking an image of somebody's laptop as I write this - using 7's built-in imaging utility. The Question: If/when the worst happens, how flexible is the restore process going to be? The drive is partitioned: about 50 gigs for the system and the rest for D: Data. At restore time, does the target partition have to be precisely the same size as the imaged system's partition? Obviously it cannot be smaller, but can it be a few gigs larger? It'll restore onto any HD not smaller than the original. When you do a restore the entire target drive is overwritten. If the drive contains, say, partitions C, D and E, and only C is on the image, then only C will be there after the restore. [] Eeek, are you sure about that? The process doesn't give any warning about that. Actually, come to think of it, I don't think it's so: I created a 50G C:, 400-odd D:, and 50 Z, and did a system image create (to Z) - specifying only C and the hidden etc. bits - and actually did a restore, booting from a system restore disc, just to be sure I could. After the restore, D: and Z: were definitely still there. I got the _impression_ it wasn't too bothered about sizes: it told me how much space the image would take (thirtysomething G IIRR at that point). (Yes, I know "backing up" to another partition on the same HD is unwise - the image creation process actually warns you of that fact anyway; this was [a] just a proof-of-concept, to verify that the restore process does actually work, [b] for a person for whom the most likely situation is that she "breaks" the system, rather than the HD dying.) I found the process - from making the system image through to booting from the restore CD (even the making of that; wish I'd known it was under 200M, as I'd have made it on a mini-CD for ease of identification) and restoring - reasonably straightforward, and it looked as if it would have been almost as straightforward using say an external USB HD. I am somewhat curious as to what Macrium, Todo, etc. offer that the included process doesn't. (Apart from maybe incremental/differential, which I didn't intend he the idea was to backup the system and programs-including-their-settings, not the data, which we'll do by other means.) (The one thing I found was that the page - I think it was a Microsoft one - describing the process which I'd printed out said, was that you could instigate the restore process by booting from the W7 installation DVD; when I tried to do that, I didn't succeed - I can't remember now, I think it said something like this image isn't accessible, usable, or something like that. But making and then using a Restore Disk was fine.) Hhhmm! I always include all the partitions on an image because I thought that was what occurred. I base it on warnings like these. "When you restore your computer from a system image, it's a complete restoration—you can't choose individual items to restore, and all of your current programs, system settings, and files are replaced with the contents of the system image." (http://windows.microsoft.com/en-gb/w...a-system-image) "In the event that you are unable to start Windows or wish to restore your hard drives to a previous backup you can use the System Image Recovery program from the Windows 7 or Windows 8 Recovery Environment. This process will overwrite the entire contents of your hard drives with the contents of a previously created system image. It is important to note that all of your data will be removed and replaced with the contents of the system image. Therefore, please backup any new data that has been since you created the system image that you plan to restore." (http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/tuto...n-windows-7-8/) I've often restored from an image. But (a personal quirk) I only ever use a C partition on my internal HD. More often than not it comes with a "D for data" one too, but I leave that empty, and include it in the saved image. All of which leaves me unable to put a stamp of "tried and proven" on my theory. I used to use Paragon backup but while commissioning a new Win8 box recently I found problems with it. So, for the first time, I installed Macrium Reflect. I was pleasantly surprised. It's good; smaller than Paragon, better GUI, and did its stuff well. The only downside I found was that to make a rescue boot disc it had to download a file about 1/2GB in size. Ed I wold say that the Microsoft description is ambiguous (thank, MS!), but to me it seems to agree with what John experienced. OTOH, Bleping Computer is not the official document. Maybe it is just wrong, given John's report, or maybe it tacitly assumes that the image was set up by the user as a complete image of the drive. Well, it wouldn't work in the case of a disk replacement; and that's my major concern when I take sys images. I use the term "sys image" very loosely. In practice I look upon it as a backup of the C drive. For other fails I have the sys restore option running. I hate leaving this in the air. I could easily solve it for myself; thus. 1. Keep my established backup system running. 2 Take a sys image with only the C partition on it. 3. Restore and see what's there. I would if I had the time; and that I don't. Ed Underneath, System Image is the equivalent of "wbadmin" command line utility. And I can't see any evidence there of a resizing capability. wbadmin http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/l.../cc754015.aspx wbadmin start sysrecovery http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/l.../cc742118.aspx The question would be, does the presence or absence of -recreateDisks, imply resizing ? Paul http://www.pagestart.com/win7bckuprstrnhd072610.html Ed I was talking about a resize option being available in the restoring from System Image capabilities. I don't see anything in the command line version, to suggest they had a plan to do that. Whereas, a tool like Macrium Reflect Free, has an option to control the size of a new partition. Sure, any kind of partition manager, could be used to resize after the fact. But restoring to s smaller hard drive could be a problem, as this process stands. What the Microsoft software amounts to, more or less, is just something that copies a .vhd image of a partition, back to a partition. That's what it looks like to me. The file by file capability would be different, but I've never used that, and have no idea what options it presents. Or whether you could use that to restore an entire disk. Paul Hi. The conclusion of that website reads; "Using Windows 7’s built in Backup and Restore was relatively easy both when creating and storing the image backup to an external USB drive. Restoration of the image to the new drive was even easier with no unpleasant surprises. The only minor drawback is the inability to automatically expand the Windows partition to take advantage of a larger hard drive, forcing the use of Disk Management’s partition ‘Extend Volume’ option which was only a minor inconvenience." I'll say it before you do, here, because I've often seen your comments on system partition resizing. Extend volume has problems with resizing the C partition. Ed |
#20
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Windows's System Image Resto How Flexible?
Gene E. Bloch wrote:
On 1/31/2014, Ed Cryer posted: I hate leaving this in the air. I could easily solve it for myself; thus. 1. Keep my established backup system running. 2 Take a sys image with only the C partition on it. 3. Restore and see what's there. I would if I had the time; and that I don't. Or maybe "I would if it would be fun, but it won't" :-) I tend to like experimentation, and being retired, I often can find the time - but some experiments just aren't that much fun. I'm retired too. But some how or other I've taken on so much to do that I can't figure how I ever had time to go to work. This seems like a job for BillW50 and his umpteen laptops. He must have one spare, with just the system initialisation stuff on the HD, and hence quick to dump & restore. He could quickly create a Z partition, take a sys image excluding Z, restore, tells us what's there. Ed |
#21
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Windows's System Image Resto How Flexible?
On Sat, 01 Feb 2014 14:30:58 +0000, Ed Cryer
wrote: I'm retired too. But some how or other I've taken on so much to do that I can't figure how I ever had time to go to work. LOL! Same here, and I've even cut back on a lot of volunteer things I used to do. |
#22
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Windows's System Image Resto How Flexible?
Ken Blake wrote:
On Sat, 01 Feb 2014 14:30:58 +0000, Ed Cryer wrote: I'm retired too. But some how or other I've taken on so much to do that I can't figure how I ever had time to go to work. LOL! Same here, and I've even cut back on a lot of volunteer things I used to do. I was hoping that when I retired I might become a spokesman for humanity; a bit like Bono, who tells us all about the rising Tiger economy, how Africa and India are on the rise, and other such stuff of international importance. Instead I appear to have become humanity's workhorse. Everybody who knows me and the skills I have comes along and asks me to do this, that and the other. So I mend computers, do gardens, teach languages and history on the Net, and a million other such things. (-: Ed |
#23
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Windows's System Image Resto How Flexible?
Ed Cryer wrote:
Ken Blake wrote: On Sat, 01 Feb 2014 14:30:58 +0000, Ed Cryer wrote: I'm retired too. But some how or other I've taken on so much to do that I can't figure how I ever had time to go to work. LOL! Same here, and I've even cut back on a lot of volunteer things I used to do. I was hoping that when I retired I might become a spokesman for humanity; a bit like Bono, who tells us all about the rising Tiger economy, how Africa and India are on the rise, and other such stuff of international importance. Instead I appear to have become humanity's workhorse. Everybody who knows me and the skills I have comes along and asks me to do this, that and the other. So I mend computers, do gardens, teach languages and history on the Net, and a million other such things. (-: Ed Or maybe I could astound the scientific world by discovering how the brain generates mind. And get a Nobel Prize. Me there, alongside Peter Higgs. But no. Ed |
#24
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Windows's System Image Resto How Flexible?
Ed Cryer wrote:
Ed Cryer wrote: Ken Blake wrote: On Sat, 01 Feb 2014 14:30:58 +0000, Ed Cryer wrote: I'm retired too. But some how or other I've taken on so much to do that I can't figure how I ever had time to go to work. LOL! Same here, and I've even cut back on a lot of volunteer things I used to do. I was hoping that when I retired I might become a spokesman for humanity; a bit like Bono, who tells us all about the rising Tiger economy, how Africa and India are on the rise, and other such stuff of international importance. Instead I appear to have become humanity's workhorse. Everybody who knows me and the skills I have comes along and asks me to do this, that and the other. So I mend computers, do gardens, teach languages and history on the Net, and a million other such things. (-: Ed Or maybe I could astound the scientific world by discovering how the brain generates mind. And get a Nobel Prize. Me there, alongside Peter Higgs. But no. Ed Or maybe write a novel from a God's-eye point of view, like Tolstoy and Dostoevsky. Or create a political ideology like Marx; give the world something to aim for, restore Eden. Or set an example like Che Guevara. Ed |
#25
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Windows's System Image Resto How Flexible?
Ed Cryer wrote:
Ed Cryer wrote: Ed Cryer wrote: Ken Blake wrote: On Sat, 01 Feb 2014 14:30:58 +0000, Ed Cryer wrote: I'm retired too. But some how or other I've taken on so much to do that I can't figure how I ever had time to go to work. LOL! Same here, and I've even cut back on a lot of volunteer things I used to do. I was hoping that when I retired I might become a spokesman for humanity; a bit like Bono, who tells us all about the rising Tiger economy, how Africa and India are on the rise, and other such stuff of international importance. Instead I appear to have become humanity's workhorse. Everybody who knows me and the skills I have comes along and asks me to do this, that and the other. So I mend computers, do gardens, teach languages and history on the Net, and a million other such things. (-: Ed Or maybe I could astound the scientific world by discovering how the brain generates mind. And get a Nobel Prize. Me there, alongside Peter Higgs. But no. Ed Or maybe write a novel from a God's-eye point of view, like Tolstoy and Dostoevsky. Or create a political ideology like Marx; give the world something to aim for, restore Eden. Or set an example like Che Guevara. Ed Or win Wimbledon for a Brit, after 70 years. Or bring the planets into alignment with music, like Bill and Ted. Or create something new, like a cuckoo clock. Ed |
#26
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Windows's System Image Resto How Flexible?
On 2/01/2014, Ed Cryer posted:
Gene E. Bloch wrote: On 1/31/2014, Ed Cryer posted: I hate leaving this in the air. I could easily solve it for myself; thus. 1. Keep my established backup system running. 2 Take a sys image with only the C partition on it. 3. Restore and see what's there. I would if I had the time; and that I don't. Or maybe "I would if it would be fun, but it won't" :-) I tend to like experimentation, and being retired, I often can find the time - but some experiments just aren't that much fun. Can you see any ambiguity in this Windows dialogue box terminology? http://cdn.arstechnica.net/7000_7100...ry_methods.png Ed Yes. -- Gene E. Bloch (Stumbling Bloch) |
#27
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Windows's System Image Resto How Flexible?
On 2/01/2014, Ed Cryer posted:
Ed Cryer wrote: Ed Cryer wrote: Ed Cryer wrote: Ken Blake wrote: On Sat, 01 Feb 2014 14:30:58 +0000, Ed Cryer wrote: I'm retired too. But some how or other I've taken on so much to do that I can't figure how I ever had time to go to work. LOL! Same here, and I've even cut back on a lot of volunteer things I used to do. I was hoping that when I retired I might become a spokesman for humanity; a bit like Bono, who tells us all about the rising Tiger economy, how Africa and India are on the rise, and other such stuff of international importance. Instead I appear to have become humanity's workhorse. Everybody who knows me and the skills I have comes along and asks me to do this, that and the other. So I mend computers, do gardens, teach languages and history on the Net, and a million other such things. (-: Ed Or maybe I could astound the scientific world by discovering how the brain generates mind. And get a Nobel Prize. Me there, alongside Peter Higgs. But no. Ed Or maybe write a novel from a God's-eye point of view, like Tolstoy and Dostoevsky. Or create a political ideology like Marx; give the world something to aim for, restore Eden. Or set an example like Che Guevara. Ed Or win Wimbledon for a Brit, after 70 years. Or bring the planets into alignment with music, like Bill and Ted. Or create something new, like a cuckoo clock. Ed Now I understand your problem! You spend so much time and energy on ideas that there's nothing left for implementation. I've got lots of time for implementation. All I need is an idea... :-) -- Gene E. Bloch (Stumbling Bloch) |
#28
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Windows's System Image Resto How Flexible?
Gene E. Bloch wrote:
On 2/01/2014, Ed Cryer posted: Ed Cryer wrote: Ed Cryer wrote: Ed Cryer wrote: Ken Blake wrote: On Sat, 01 Feb 2014 14:30:58 +0000, Ed Cryer wrote: I'm retired too. But some how or other I've taken on so much to do that I can't figure how I ever had time to go to work. LOL! Same here, and I've even cut back on a lot of volunteer things I used to do. I was hoping that when I retired I might become a spokesman for humanity; a bit like Bono, who tells us all about the rising Tiger economy, how Africa and India are on the rise, and other such stuff of international importance. Instead I appear to have become humanity's workhorse. Everybody who knows me and the skills I have comes along and asks me to do this, that and the other. So I mend computers, do gardens, teach languages and history on the Net, and a million other such things. (-: Ed Or maybe I could astound the scientific world by discovering how the brain generates mind. And get a Nobel Prize. Me there, alongside Peter Higgs. But no. Ed Or maybe write a novel from a God's-eye point of view, like Tolstoy and Dostoevsky. Or create a political ideology like Marx; give the world something to aim for, restore Eden. Or set an example like Che Guevara. Ed Or win Wimbledon for a Brit, after 70 years. Or bring the planets into alignment with music, like Bill and Ted. Or create something new, like a cuckoo clock. Ed Now I understand your problem! You spend so much time and energy on ideas that there's nothing left for implementation. I've got lots of time for implementation. All I need is an idea... :-) It's modern life. Imagine Leonardo Da Vinci in retirement; and a lady reporter keeps knocking on his door. "Is it true, Senr. Da V, that you dissected human corpses? Is it true that your Gioconda smile was induced with wine? Is it true that you designed murderous war-weapons?" Ed |
#29
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Windows's System Image Resto How Flexible?
In message , Ed Cryer
writes: J. P. Gilliver (John) wrote: [] Actually, come to think of it, I don't think it's so: I created a 50G C:, 400-odd D:, and 50 Z, and did a system image create (to Z) - specifying only C and the hidden etc. bits - and actually did a restore, booting from a system restore disc, just to be sure I could. After the restore, D: and Z: were definitely still there. I got the _impression_ it wasn't too bothered about sizes: it told me how much space the image would take (thirtysomething G IIRR at that point). (Yes, I know "backing up" to another partition on the same HD is unwise [] Hhhmm! I always include all the partitions on an image because I thought that was what occurred. I base it on warnings like these. "When you restore your computer from a system image, it's a complete restoration—you can't choose individual items to restore, and all of your current programs, system settings, and files are replaced with the contents of the system image." (http://windows.microsoft.com/en-gb/w...a-system-image) I think that was written for people who store all their data files on the same partition as their system, and basically was warning you that you can't restore an individual file from such an image. I think, reading further (including what's been posted here in this thread), it's basically an image of the C: partition (and possibly the hidden ones too), though does seem to eliminate unused space. "In the event that you are unable to start Windows or wish to restore your hard drives to a previous backup you can use the System Image Recovery program from the Windows 7 or Windows 8 Recovery Environment. This process will overwrite the entire contents of your hard drives with the contents of a previously created system image. It is important to note that all of your data will be removed and replaced with the contents of the system image. Therefore, please backup any new data that has been since you created the system image that you plan to restore." (http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/tuto...covery-in-wind ows-7-8/) If true, that would be unambiguous. But a lot of people (mis)use "drive" and "partition" interchangeably; what my experiment seems to have shown is that (possibly only providing the partition _arrangements_ [at least size, possibly more] haven't been changed since the image was made), then only the partition(s) that were imaged are restored, without corrupting others. (And yes, I did check that it had actually restored! I made a trivial change - changed the background slideshow settings between creating the image and doing the restore - and it did indeed restore to how they had been.) I've often restored from an image. But (a personal quirk) I only ever use a C partition on my internal HD. More often than not it comes with a "D for data" one too, but I leave that empty, and include it in the saved image. All of which leaves me unable to put a stamp of "tried and proven" on my theory. [] -- J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/1985 MB++G()AL-IS-Ch++(p)Ar@T+H+Sh0!:`)DNAf You cannot simply assume someone is honest just because they are not an MP. |
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Windows's System Image Resto How Flexible?
In message , Ed Cryer
writes: [] Can you see any ambiguity in this Windows dialogue box terminology? http://cdn.arstechnica.net/7000_7100...ry_methods.png Ed Well, apart from your joke one that there are two versions!, the text If you have backed up your computer by creating a system image, you can replace everything on this computer - including Windows, your programs, and your files - with the information saved on the system image. {If you have more than one partition on your computer, the system image is only made up of the partition that Windows is installed on.} (Text in {these} is what was only in one of your two.) is ambiguous to me: I can see that it is not clear whether the final sentence is just warning that you'll only _save_ the Windows partition, or warning that you'll lose any other partitions when you restore. In practice, I think it'll only save and restore the Windows partition, but not disturb any others. In fact, http://windows.microsoft.com/en-gb/w...#1TC=windows-7 says mo "If you're using Windows Backup to back up your files, you can have a system image created each time your files are backed up. The files can be saved on a USB flash drive, CDs, DVDs, or a hard drive. The system image must be saved on a hard drive. By default, the system image only includes the drives required for Windows to run." (I think they ought to have stressed - perhaps by bolding the text or similar - the difference between Backup and image-creation, but anyway note that "By default". It goes on to say "If you want to include additional drives in the system image, you can manually create a system image. If you manually create a system image, it can be saved on a USB flash drive, CDs, DVDs, or a hard drive." I would vouch for the first part of that: when I (manually) created an image, I certainly had the _option_ to add (for example) the D: drive to the image. -- J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/1985 MB++G()AL-IS-Ch++(p)Ar@T+H+Sh0!:`)DNAf You cannot simply assume someone is honest just because they are not an MP. |
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