Boot Disk Advice please

I have recently changed over to Win 7 64bit. Late I know. My main imaging software that I have used since time began has been Drive Snapshot, and now with the new x64 machine I would like to use the 64bit version of DS.

Imaging is fine with the 64bit version, but I was wondering what boot disk I can use with it, for disaster recovery. Nothing that I have tried (Bart PE, UBCD, Active@ etc) will run the 64bit version of DS.
Is there such a thing as a 64bit Boot Disk, or have I lost the plot completely?

 

kennyboy,

You can use your 64-bit Win7 DVD. Or create a Win7 Recovery CD. 64-bit Drive Snapshot will run in that environment.

 

Duh! Must have had a mental block here Brian. Never even thought about that. Many thanks for the help.

 

Various methods....

Boot from a Win7 DVD
Next
On the Install now window, click Repair your computer
After the search completes, click Load Drivers
click OK on Add drivers (but move the Add Drivers window to the very edge of your monitor before clicking OK)
plug in a USB flash drive containing snapshot.exe
double click Computer
Navigate to snapshot.exe on the flash drive. Right click snapshot (the Application, file extensions aren't shown) and choose Open.
click Cancel on the "Open" window
click Cancel on the "Add Drivers" window
Close (click the X) on the "System Recovery Options" window
Minimize the "Install Windows" window

Drive Snapshot is now visible and ready to use.


Boot from a Win 8 DVD or UFD
Next
On the Install now window, click Repair your computer
Troubleshoot
Advanced options
System Image Recovery
Windows 8
Cancel on Re-image your Computer
Next
Advanced
Install a Driver
click OK on Add Drivers (but drag the Add Drivers window to the very top left corner of your monitor before clicking OK)
plug in a USB flash drive containing snapshot.exe (or snapshot64.exe). You can also use snapshot.exe on a HD partition.
double click Computer
(drive letters may be different from booted Win 8 )
Navigate to snapshot.exe on the flash drive or HD partition. Right click snapshot (the Application, file extensions aren't shown) and choose Open.
click Cancel on the "Open" window
click Cancel on the "Add Drivers" window
Drag the "Re-image your Computer" window to the bottom of your monitor so the Drive Snapshot window is in full view

Drive Snapshot is ready to use.



Instead of System Image Recovery you can click Command Prompt
diskpart
list vol
(make a note of the drive letter you will need to use)
exit
(now the prompt is X:\Sources> )
(change to the drive letter of the UFD or HD partition containing snapshot.exe. For example...)
G:
(now the prompt is G:\> )
(you need to know if snapshot.exe is in the root or in a folder. If it was in G:\abc\def you would type...)
CD \abc\def
(now you can run snapshot)
start snapshot64.exe

Drive Snapshot is ready to use.





If you don't have a Win7 DVD you can make a System Repair Disk. The same comments apply if your system is 64-bit. You will need snapshot64.exe as the System Repair Disk will be 64-bit.

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/w...em-repair-disc

Boot the disk
choose US keyboard
Troubleshoot
Advanced options
System Image Recovery
Cancel on Re-image your Computer
Next
Advanced
Install a Driver
click OK on Add Drivers (but move the Add Drivers window to the very edge of your monitor before clicking OK)
plug in a USB flash drive containing snapshot.exe (or snapshot64.exe)
double click Computer
Navigate to snapshot.exe on the flash drive. Right click snapshot (the Application, file extensions aren't shown) and choose Open.
click Cancel on the "Open" window
click Cancel on the "Add Drivers" window
Drag the "Re-image your Computer" window to the bottom of your monitor

Drive Snapshot is now visible and ready to use.

 

Many thanks for such comprehensive answers Brian. Will plough my way through them gradually, and decide on an option.

Question: Seems a lot of hassle to use 64bit. Would the 32bit version restore an image taken with the 64bit version? (Have just tried to Mount and explore with the 32bit version, and that works ok)

 

I think they produce the same image.

 

Hi Brian,

As another DS user (on Win7 x64) I would also ask for DS restores - is there a significant performance advantage using a 64-bit OS boot disk (running snapshot 64) as opposed to booting with a 32-bit disk (running snapshot 32)?

Cruise

 

None whatsoever from my experience...

 

Thanks Frog - I've been using a 32-bit Active@ BootDisk to run my DS-restores whenever there's a Win7 boot problem (which isn't very often) and that has always worked perfectly, but the OP had me wondering if I could do better.

Cruise

 

Cruise, the only thing that's really different between the two OSes is the address space available to tasks that require a large bit of RAM. The 32-bit OS can only use a max of about 3.5gB of RAM per system, no larger. The 64-bit OS can get its hands on a lot more. Most tasks, other than huge photoshopping requirements or video editing/converting, etc., don't use a lot of RAM, imagers included. The same amount of CPU power (4-cores and 2-threads per core in an i7 for example) is available to both OSes. That's why you won't see much difference for most apps.

 

I can understand that - thanks (again) Frog.