creating an empty snapshot with Instant Recovery

I would like to create an empty snapshot with IR. The Raxco Help File and Gui have some "scary" alerts that this is an advanced feature and refer to the product manual for more information, e.g. "what to expect when you attempt to boot your system to a snapshot that does not yet contain an operating system". I am not sure where to find that specific info.

I also read Pandlouk's sticky on how to do things with the old FdISR with an extra file to be downloaded and executed. Is this still necessary with the new IR or are things easier now?

 

Go here, http://docs.raxco.com/instantrecovery/Index.htm , and do a search for "empty".

No, the new InstantRecovery is now perfectly compatible with Win7 and Win8, no longer any need to do the "Pandlouk" hack.

Acadia

 

Acadia,

thanks for the link but this is what I already have and was quoting. If I just need to follow the instructions in the pdf, I will be ok. Just wondered if there are other "tricky" bits that may be relevant apparently referenced in a product manual. Not sure what that is ( I am already looking at the in-built help file as well as the User Guide).

 

Ok, afraid I cannot help you then, I have never created an empty snapshot.
Acadia

 

There is nothing to worry about when creating an empty snapshot.
Uses of empty snapshots:
1. Installing a new Windows OS
https://www.wilderssecurity.com/showpost.php?p=1641585&postcount=4
just follow the instructions and ignore the Bootsect.exe part.
2. For making a compressed snapshot. You can create an empty compressed snapshot and then import/update it from another snapshot or archive.
3. For having the ability to boot from IR's menu to a WinPE, WinRE and other live OSes e.g. https://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=259064

Panagiotis

 

Thank you Pandlouk - I had seen your comprehensive instructions and appreciate the screenshots for nervous nellies like me - just wasn't sure if the new IR required any adjustments. Will give this a try later today.

 

Just one more question - assuming I only want the empty snapshot filled to reboot and access archives - is it possible to install XP in this empty snapshot instead of the OS run normally? Would the procedure still be the same and what drawbacks should I be aware of?

Edit : well, I guess something is different as it did not work for me - got a bsod - inititally installation went through fine but never got to choose "not to format" and did not properly reboot. Can't put my hands today on the Win 7 disk, so have to wait for a few days before trying that.

 

doing the empty snapshot with Win 7 and following Pandlouk's advice worked fine - this way I managed to get a much smaller snapshot than removing files for a stripped down snapshot. Since I just want the snapshot for rebooting using archives instead, this keeps my OS drive smaller, helping to keep imaging (space and ) times shorter too.

 

Make an archive for it save it to a dvd. Do it before it gets to big.
Call it XP Archive.