Imaging with HIR

As far as I am aware there are very few software titles capable of HIR. Those include ShadowProtect, Paragon Drive Backup (maybe), and Acronis Snap Deploy.

Can anyone think of any others?

 

Paragon only supports Vista - as confirmed by there tech support!

 

You mean for the windows enviroment?

Symantec Backup Exec, Cristie CBMR for Windows, UltraBack UBDR GOLD

Panagiotis

 

Well damn. This sucks. It looks as though there's no way to get anything like this for less than $80 USD.

 

Nothing, right now. But I don't assume my hardware will remain the same forever. When my hardware changes, and it evetually will, it would be nice to be able to restore an image. Also, you never know when your system will fail, or what hardware will be required to get it going again.

 

Doesn't Image for Windows/Dos offer some kind of HIR feature?

 

Sort of, you need to use TBOSDT (TeraByte OS Deployment Tool) scripts. It is not intended for newbies.

 

"HIR"? Whazzat? Is it perhaps the Hebrew Institute of Riverdale? The Harvard Israel Review?

But seriously -- is it that hard to define an acronym at first use in a thread (for doofus like me) -- as was done for TBOSDT?

 

Hardware Independent Restore

I had to ask too.....

 

What OS are you using? If you have vista and you want to be able to restore in different hardware Paragon Drive Backup Personal is the way to go.

I would advise you not to make your choice based on HIR(and similar functions) ability. It is the feature that probably you will never use. Fast performing, scheduling, easy of use and most important reliability of imaging/restoring are the aspects that you should value.

Panagiotis

 

I'd hate to wake up one moring and having things not function right. In this instance would it not be better to be safe than sorry. Unless you guys live in a magical world where nothing will ever break on your PC, I would think the answer to that question would be obvious.

The reality is PCs do break. It would be better to prepare for the worst and have that never come than to not and have it happen.

 

I may be missing something but does HIR really give a perfect solution or is it just a stop gap. I have just spent the last few days installing a clean XP SP3 plus programs . The last thing I would want is some copy of the junk from my old machine. One of the benefits of a new machine is that you get to start clean. I can not see how HIR could ever give a better leaner solution then a clean install.

 

Of course,but its an extremely useful feature if you are prepared to undertake a hardware install or repair yourself.

For example,recently changed over the mobo several times and HIR was indespensible for this.

Generally some hardware changes need HIR to avoid a reinstall of the OS-not always predictable

Of course you can always send it to the local repair shop and pay a fortune,but why do this when its all so easy with HIR.

Apart from that and as regards the other factors-this reputable test reviews the various apps.;

here

 

That answer depends on the personal. Take me, for instance. I have litterally spent years getting my active partition 'perfert'; clean, error free, compact, powerful, and extremely customized. For me than there would be no addded benefit to having to reinstall everything and start from scratch, as things are the way I want them already.

That being said, not everyone is as anal about things as I am. Perhaps other can benegit from what you suggest. I couldn't.

 

True,but you can save a vast amount of time-in my case days getting everything just right.

With HIR,you are restoring a previous image plus drivers.

So it really depends how clean that image is.

As regards any drivers which may need seperate reinstallation-these mainly are a few MS ones which reinstall themselves,the whole lot takes minutes

I have not noticed any penalty whatsover by using HIR instead of a clean install.

 

Finally, someone understands.

 

In my case, a clean install means that a week later I am still fine tuning some aspect which previously worked perfctly!

Not necessarily fun!

 

It occured to me the other day that I shuold just let Windows do the dirty work for me. What's the difference between using an HIR product and restoring a non-HIR image then doing a repair installation? If need be, add another step and let Windows setup partition a new disk then do everything. It might be unorthodox but does it work?

 

for me reinstalling windows isnt an issue, i dont have much to install. i install stuff as i need it. my music and documents are on a different partition. so within a few hours im back and running. i know most people think of windows as a blank canvis. but seruiosly how long does it take you to get windows just to your liking?

 

one day max and if you have a number of machines you can still work on the others. Provided you keep programs drives etc in an organized manner it's not like you actually have to do much. You can get on with other things while the machine is updating.

 

hey long view,
if it would only take the OP max one day to reinstall windows and have it completely setup then maybe investing in a product with HIR is pointless.
HIR has its place which is in the business environment. just think a company buys 200 new computers. 100 for one department and 100 for another department. the company can use an existing master image using hir can easiily deploy it to all the new computers without having to create a new master image everytime you get a new computer. it will save hours and hours.

but home users buy a new computer say once every say 3-4 years. if you keep a computer that long you wont mind doing a fresh reinstall of windows. plus more likely than not there will be a new version of windows by then making HIR a waste of cash for a home user.
maybe its useful for people who change hardware alot.

 

dont forget imaging software also give you 100% malware and trojan free environment. if you do it right.

i have read that there are trojan/malware which can jump virtual environment, and shadow environments, imaging software give you malware/trojan free environment to work from.

basic setup i would recommended for imaging software, do fresh install then do all the windows and software updates, then take a image on cd or external harddrive.

 

For sure your right, but the thread was about HIR.
If you tune/change hardware often then HIR would be indispensable in a way Hairy use it.But for most people who drop their systems once in every 3 or 4 years to get new stuff it has limited value.