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imaging (cloning) for rolling out new PC's??


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#1 darren rose

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Posted 03 December 2007 - 07:20 PM

Hi

I have been asked by a client to produce a bootable environment which he can then use to image his master PC (with sysprep etc) and then roll it out to other PC's

Currently they use Drive Image and don't really want to spend the kind of money symantec want to move up to the latest version (obviously now Ghost as DI was bought out), can someone suggest some free (or cheaper) alternatives, seen mentions of drive image xml? imagex with gui wrapper?

Also have been trying a program called UIU which you run before taking the image which then makes the image universal i.e. I can restore one image to any make/model of PC and it will work, whereas before you would need serveral images for different makes/models (HAL's etc) - any other way I can do this manually?

Thanks for all the help in advance, and apols if posted in wrong forum, just I prefer VistaPE and would choose to use this as the base, even though the client is still using and rolling out XP machines

Darren

#2 Galapo

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Posted 03 December 2007 - 08:21 PM

You could give my OfflineSysPrep program a go. Details here:

http://www.911cd.net...showtopic=19397

There is a WB script here:

http://www.boot-land...?showtopic=3207

Unlike UIU, OfflineSysPrep can move systems between incompatible HALs. Lately I have been integrating the use of the DriverPacks mass storage drivers with the purpose to be able to move systems between various configurations normally resulting in BSOD.

Regards,
Galapo.

#3 2aCD

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Posted 03 December 2007 - 09:16 PM

Hi darren rose,
I am nearly finished with a Ghost 12 script.
With Ghost 12 you can write v2i-images and you can read old pqi-images and v2i-images.
Ghost 12 needs my DotNet 2.0-script to work. You need thus something place on the CD.
With running Internet Explorer you need also 1024MB RAM.

If these conditions all are given work the Ghost Script well.

#4 darren rose

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Posted 03 December 2007 - 10:24 PM

You could give my OfflineSysPrep program a go. Details here:

http://www.911cd.net...showtopic=19397

There is a WB script here:

http://www.boot-land...?showtopic=3207

Unlike UIU, OfflineSysPrep can move systems between incompatible HALs. Lately I have been integrating the use of the DriverPacks mass storage drivers with the purpose to be able to move systems between various configurations normally resulting in BSOD.

Regards,
Galapo.

Thanks Galapo, will take a look, it sounds like it could save some money, anything to avoid having to spend a fortune on UIU

Now all I need is a free alternative to drive image!

#5 darren rose

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Posted 03 December 2007 - 10:28 PM

Hi darren rose,
I am nearly finished with a Ghost 12 script.
With Ghost 12 you can write v2i-images and you can read old pqi-images and v2i-images.
Ghost 12 needs my DotNet 2.0-script to work. You need thus something place on the CD.
With running Internet Explorer you need also 1024MB RAM.

If these conditions all are given work the Ghost Script well.

@ 2aCD

Thanks for this, trouble is it has to be totally legit, which with this solution would mean buying a copy of ghost for every PC I intend to put an image on too, as under the symantec licensing it is per user (seat) at abour £20 per user soon mounts up

Really looking to save some money and find a cheaper or free solution

#6 Galapo

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Posted 04 December 2007 - 02:20 AM

Two free harddisk imaging programs I know of are:

SelfImage
http://selfimage.excelcia.org/

DriveImage XML
http://www.runtime.org/dixml.htm

Further free options are listed here:

http://grandstreamdr...-solutions.html

Personally, I just use DriveSnapshot -- its small size is great for PE, and I prefer its differential comparison to that of other software.

http://www.drivesnap...de/en/index.htm

Hope this helps.

Regards,
Galapo.

#7 Oleg_II

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Posted 04 December 2007 - 08:55 AM

Thanks for all the help in advance, and apols if posted in wrong forum, just I prefer VistaPE and would choose to use this as the base, even though the client is still using and rolling out XP machines

It seems to me that's the point :cheers: If you are going to use VistaPE as a boot evironment you don't even need any imaging programs. Just rar/zip/etc. or directly copy the content of your system drive. To make your copy of an ideal system smaller delete .TMP, .OLD, .BAK, .PNF, .LOG, etc. files and empty a few system folders like Driver Cache (you have all needed drivers for your PCs?), pchealth, dllcache and other similar. Use MS standard tools for partitionning HDD and Galapo's OfflineSysPrep to deploy copied systems to specific hardware.

#8 darren rose

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Posted 04 December 2007 - 03:02 PM

You could give my OfflineSysPrep program a go. Details here:

http://www.911cd.net...showtopic=19397

There is a WB script here:

http://www.boot-land...?showtopic=3207

Unlike UIU, OfflineSysPrep can move systems between incompatible HALs. Lately I have been integrating the use of the DriverPacks mass storage drivers with the purpose to be able to move systems between various configurations normally resulting in BSOD.

Regards,
Galapo.

@Galapo

Sorry for what probably sounds like a stupid question...

So I assume I create my image as normal, and then boot into LiveXP, run your plugin and then I can image the drive and copy it to other computers? is this correct, or do I need to run sysprep myself like I normally do first?

#9 Galapo

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Posted 04 December 2007 - 07:17 PM

@Galapo

Sorry for what probably sounds like a stupid question...

So I assume I create my image as normal, and then boot into LiveXP, run your plugin and then I can image the drive and copy it to other computers? is this correct, or do I need to run sysprep myself like I normally do first?

Yes, boot into PE and then run OfflineSysPrep. You will probably want to manually select a HAL option. Sysprep will automatically start after whaterver OfflineSysPrep operations were selected to perform, and you can sysprep as you normally would, selecting 'no restart' once you're done (or whatever the option that corresponds to this. OfflineSysPrep is basically a front-end for sysprep which allows for it being able to be run from PE.

Regards,
Galapo.




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