Which Partitions to Image?

Discussion in 'backup, imaging & disk mgmt' started by nozzle, Jul 28, 2015.

  1. Robin A.

    Robin A. Registered Member

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    Perhaps you are being rude to MS. When Win 8 is "upgraded" to 8.1 from the MS store, a new recovery partition is created after C:. The process doesn´t change the recovery partition for Win 8, but creates a new one for 8.1. However, that´s one extra partition, not two.
     
  2. Raza0007

    Raza0007 Registered Member

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    Well the MS monkey does it once. One recovery partition for Windows 8 and one more for 8.1.

    But that still does not account for the multiple recovery and oem partitions, plus the unallocated space on nozzle's system. There is at least one more monkey involved here :)
     
  3. Brian K

    Brian K Imaging Specialist

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    nozzle,

    Another reason to use IFL over IFD in your computer: IFL can boot in UEFI mode and IFD can't. So you don't have to edit the BIOS when you want to boot the disk and then re-edit the BIOS when you want to boot Win8.

    Also, you can run BIBM Partition Work from IFL.
     
  4. frank7

    frank7 Registered Member

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    Exactly what I do as well with every single machine I work on. Though sometimes I keep the recovery partitions in case the client at a much later stage decides to sell the gear and restore the original factory default state. Lots of people stick with the original default state and wonder why it gets slower and slower after some time with background apps and such constantly checking for updates and system status and what not..

    Would you be so kind and provide a make and model and perhaps what store you this "confuser" from? At least make and model would be great.

    Also are you using 8 or 8.1 and are happy with it? Perhaps you like to go back to 7 and be happy with that? 10 came out today as far as the wiki goes so could not tell you anything about it. All I am saying I am fine with 7 since a long time and not really thinking or changing that for a long time either.
     
    Last edited: Jul 29, 2015
  5. Brian K

    Brian K Imaging Specialist

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    frank7,

    I'm interested to hear how you accomplish this if a client brings in a computer with a Win8.1 UEFI system. What steps do you take in deleting partitions, preserving the recovery (partition) image and installing the OS in UEFI mode? Thanks.
     
  6. frank7

    frank7 Registered Member

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    Sorry, not a specialist, but if this is needed I just image the whole HDD to an external HDD and hand that to the client. Also so far I have not a single person asking me to keep 8 or 8.1, most people want 7.
    If I understood this correctly, or what I meant, is, that sometimes people come back and want to sell the gear on, have the external HDD we used to image the whole internal HDD, wipe the internal HDD clean, bang that image from the external HDD back on and have the original factory partitions like they were before even turning on the machine the first time. I wish all people would make an image of the HDD before letting it run for the first time once they unpacked the machine.

    From how you ask, I assume this is impossible? Or could you explain your question a bit more to me please? Not a pro user here. So far things worked out with restoring things. Using Macrium for all this.
     
    Last edited: Jul 29, 2015
  7. Brian K

    Brian K Imaging Specialist

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    Not impossible, fairly straight forward. I was just interested to hear how you did it with a UEFI system as opposed to a MBR system. Do you work with UEFI systems?
     
  8. frank7

    frank7 Registered Member

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    I guess UEFI systems got introduced with 8 and 8.1 and MBR (Master Boot Record) systems are the old way of doing things so any Windows up to 7, correct?

    Since I am no hero in this but love to know more and have been using Macrium for all this, would you mind linking me to a quick tutorial on how to just extract and the Recovery partition and then later bang it back on, so that it really integrates with the existing, for example OS partition?

    I am thinking though what use does this procedure have if the client any ways wants the entire HDD wiped and all partitions restored like they were when they got the box? Usually then the client already has all their data on an external HDD and I wipe the whole drive, and restore the HDD image with Macrium.

    This helped my quite a bit http://www.howtogeek.com/193669/whats-the-difference-between-gpt-and-mbr-when-partitioning-a-drive/ knowing what I am actually talking about with you regarding MBR and GPT.

    The one scenario I can see where this would come in handy or the advantage of just being able to image the recovery partition and later bang that back on would be to save HDD space, no?

    But this might cause issues. So let's take the following example. Client shows up with spanking new 8.1 box, likes to have it all wiped and put 7 Ultimate 64 on there but waves finger and says "might wanna resell this in 6 month time and then it has to look like it was never used" (at least from the inside..) what for me then usually means, image the whole HDD and give that to client, including OS and recovery partitions alongside GPT partition table.

    Now with this other approach it would be a huge space saver to just be able to image the recovery partition(s).

    Though this would also mean that once client comes back, I wipe the entire HDD, it would be ME that re-installs 8.1, then restore the recovery partition(s) and once done most possibly do a Windows recovery from the maker (e.g. Lenovo, etc) of the box, so that is really looks like it has the factory default. During the recovery process of the maker I assume the HDD would any ways be partitioned again, though I think this is not the case and the size of the OS partition could cause errors if during the maker recovery process it is discovered that for example the OS partition is either too small or perhaps no Data partition, D:, was present when it had its factory default and this could lead to issues with the whole recovery process. Hence I just image the whole HDD, this costs more HDD space but client and myself have peace of mind, knowing I can get the true factory default state back by simple inserting the restore CD from Macrium, select the HDD image, bang it back on et viloà.

    So this is what I usually do with GPT HDDs and systems with 8 and higher, takes more HDD space but I have the assurance of being able to restore things like they were without hassle. So far this has not failed me using Macrium. Mind you I don't use 8 or 8.1 but know how to restore such systems to their original factory state.

    AND nozzle..
    I am still highly curious what make and model and perhaps what store you got this "confuser" from? At least make and model would be great. Thank you.
     
  9. Brian K

    Brian K Imaging Specialist

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    frank7,

    Good reply. Fortunately, I don't have clients to deal with. When friends ask me to do something I don't believe in, I just laugh. By choice I wouldn't do what you are doing. But none of my friends dislike Win8.1.

    I don't mind UEFI systems. I've installed enough, imaged and restored them to be comfortable. But for my main computer I use MBR systems as they are more flexible than UEFI systems, especially with multi-booting. I'm a fan of Win8.1. At present I prefer it to Win10 but I'm warming to Win10. Give me a week.

    The link you quoted could be a little dated. I have 3 Win8.1 UEFI systems that are 32-bit.
     
  10. nozzle

    nozzle Registered Member

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