TRF, Win10 has 4 default partitions when installed in UEFI mode... Recovery ESP MSR Win10 I've restored these in random order with IFW/IFL but with each partition restore I used the "Update Boot Partition" option. The Boot Partition is ESP (EFI System Partition). No problems. I recall I did a test without this option and Win10 didn't boot. I haven't tested Win10 MBR restores lately but I'd expect the same to apply. The need for the "Update Boot Partition" option. If Win10 doesn't boot, a BCD Edit should fix it. If you get two Recovery partitions you can delete the redundant one and Slide the new one into the position you desire. If you really hate Recovery partitions you can use a method to move the files into the Win10 partition and still have a functioning Recovery Environment.
I don't hate the RECOVERY partitions, I just hate the way Windows rips apart my WINDOWS partition to create yet another larger one every time it puts out a major change... I always have to put humpty back together again!
TRF, I just did a 1703 MBR install to a single partition. From UFD boot to completed install took 14 minutes. No Recovery partition was created.
If you install Windows to an existing partition, no new Recovery partition is going to be created on a MBR machine. If you delete the partition and let the installer create a new partition, then the recovery partition will be automatically created.
Brian, OJ... I completely understand CLEAN INSTALLs, it's the UPGRADES to those very configs that are driving me crazy... Windows will not leave well enough alone!
Are there any compelling reasons to upgrade to v3.x, even with the 50% I'm offered? v2.x seems to be working fine on my newest Win 10 machine, and I still use an older Win 7 laptop. EDIT never mind, I see some posts on this above...
I would think the main compelling reasons would be two-fold... 1. Faster imaging in general due to new use of modern multi-core/multi-threaded processors. 2. Much faster Differentials and Incrementals due to metafile-based delta imaging.
Why does IFW refer to both differential and incremental images being the same in the help file? They are not the same. Is there no way to create incremental images?
Yep. If you want diff's always start with the base image. If you want incrementals select the latest image as the input.
Nate, To create an incremental image you base it on the last Changes Only backup. ("Select where the existing backup file is located:") To create a differential image you base it on the last Full backup.
Question: Is there a way to run a command that starts Image for Windows to automatically automatically run a backup, but will open a window during the execution of the command to allow manual entry of a description for that particular baclkup?
TheBear, The best I can think of is an Alarm or reminder text that pops up. Then you manually type your description into an existing batch file and run it manually. Would that help?
Thank you, Rollback. after upgrading to v3.x I have to confess I'm having a hard time noticing any speed advantage whatsoever, whether I'm backing up full or differentials. This performance is the same whether I'm backing up via my boot disk usb or from within Windows 10 using vss. My processor is an i5-6400, so maybe it's not powerful enough to harness the advantages of v3.x? The other possible - and likely - bottleneck is the usb 2 cable to my external backup h/drive. It has a sata connector and cable, but unfortunately my m/board doesn't have a sata port At any rate, for 50% off and support for Win 10 moving forward, I've no regrets upgrading. Just thought I'd share my experience so far with v3.x
Wat0114, you won't gain much speed with any imaging software when using a USB2 targeting device, they're just too slow to take advantage of any kind of software speed improvement. Targeting an internal device (HDD) or a USB3-based HDD and you will be fairly impressed.
wat0114, Even with a USB2 external HD you should notice a speed improvement when creating differential images. My test computer has an i3 CPU and writing an image to a USB2 external HD was almost twice as fast when using the "Use Metadata Hash Files" option. Are you using both Hash options?
Hi Brian no I guess I've missed the boat on those options. Should I enable both? I can try next time whatever you recommend. Maybe things are faster than I expect, at least with the O/S system drive. Today I full backed up my 128 Gb ssd drive which has the Win 10 Pro O/S installed on it (C: drive), no validation, to the internal WD Caviar black drive and it took about 5:10. However, I have the majority of the x86 and x64 programs installed on a 200 Gb partition (E: drive) on another 1 Tb WD Caviar Blue, because my son's games eat up substantial realestate. This one is always a much slower backup; it took 30:44 to complete a full backup to the same WD black drive. my next test will be with the hash option(s) enabled and they will be differential backups. You're right, without question the internal drive backups are certainly faster than to the external over usb2. I'll try again later to this drive as well with the hash option(s) enabled.
wat0114, For a full backup select these two options... Create Sector Hash Files Use Metadata Hash Files For a differential backup select this one... Use Metadata Hash Files When you create a full backup you will find 4 files have been created. Keep all. When you create a differential backup you will find 2 files have been created. You can delete the differential .@0 file if you wish as it is only needed if you are creating incremental backups. But no problems if you keep it. You have to create a new full backup to be able to use the Hash for new differentials.
I just got a blu-ray burner. I am certain an IFW/IFL complete backup image of my OS partitions will not exceed 50GB, which is the limit for double-layer blu-ray discs (although I could go triple-layers if I need to). Is there a way to include both recovery softwaer (PE/IFL) and the image(s) on the same disc?
Nate, Your optical media will boot into IFD or IFL. Open IFW, Settings, CD Boot Image. Make your choice.
Well I meant more of creating the disc separately, after the image has been created, but that could work if those options where available to me. For me, they're greyed out.
You need to re-install IFW, over the top and select... Image for Linux CD Boot Files: Image for DOS Recovery Disk: Image for Linux Recovery Disk:
Hi Brian, I've was working out of town this past week so I was just able to test backing up differentials based on my drive specs in post #891, and using v3.06a, IFW x64, VSS. A differential backup of my C:\ drive to an internal SATA drive using only the metadata hash option: 08:50 A differential backup of my E:\ drive to an internal SATA drive using only the metadata hash option: 23:14 It seems quite slow for the 200 GB partitioned E: drive (80 GB used) to me, but maybe this is normal?
wat0114, I've been away. Were those differentials based on a full backup created by IFW 3.06a with both Create Sector Hash Files and Use Metadata Hash Files options used for the full backup?
