Please suggest an imaging solution for this

I am giving a new Dell laptop to a family member and have a very simple requirement. It has 2 partitions, C and D, with new install of Win7 on C, and I've installed antivirus, web browser etc and set it up. The user directories (Documents, Pictures etc) have all been moved to D.

What I want to do is -

1. Create an image of C
2. Have a boot menu entry that will let them do a resuce and restore from the image
3. The image will be on D, and also on external media
4. I do not need incrementals, updates to the image, rollback or any advanced features. One base image that works is enough

From what I've read, builtin Windows backup will clobber 2 partitions when I restore so I can't use it. Freeware/paid is ok as long as its simple and it works.

 

Defcon,

The simplest way is to give them a bootable DVD containing the image. They just boot from the DVD, choose "Yes" and the restore happens. Image for DOS will do this.

You could have a boot partition that does an automatic restore but it takes a little work to set up.

http://www.terabyteunlimited.com/kb/article.php?id=363

 

did you try Windows7 built in system image creation. I think it supports multiple partitions

 

My mistake. You don't even have to choose "Yes". Boot from the CD and walk away. It is automatic.

 

i can also recc macrium free. it will make a linux boot disk which i almost never have a issue with i think maybe on one system in the past i did. but its free creates full image and will allow you to make a boot disc to restore from. very easy to use imo. ifw is another great choice also though

 

Hi;

If your hdd is a Seagate or Western Digital you can download DiscWizard from the seaget website and WD Acronis True Image at western digital site. They are downgrade versions of ATI 11 but are very good. They dont offer incremental backups but you said you don't need to be doing it.

One thing is that I read about something "do an image backup to an external source rather than from the existing hdd". Haven't tried to do an image restore from a single disk with 2 partitions before since I always have the image backup externally.

Regards!