Format before restoring image?

Discussion in 'backup, imaging & disk mgmt' started by savalnc, Nov 11, 2013.

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  1. savalnc

    savalnc Registered Member

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    Do you format your drives before restoring a backup image? Do I have to do so?
     
  2. Cruise

    Cruise Registered Member

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    Imho that serves no purpose and would be a total waste of time.

    Cruise
     
  3. Brian K

    Brian K Imaging Specialist

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    I agree.
     
  4. TheRollbackFrog

    TheRollbackFrog Imaging Specialist

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    It really isn't necessary when restoring a disk sector-based image. I can't speak for so called "file-based" imaging.
     
  5. LoneWolf

    LoneWolf Registered Member

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    As others have already stated, there is no need.
    That's the beauty of an imaging program.
    All I can stress is to backup on an external hard drive.
     
  6. Jim1cor13

    Jim1cor13 Registered Member

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    Actually, I do format before restoring with any image program, mainly IFL or Aomei, more a personal choice, but I agree with the consensus, it is not at all necessary, I just do it wondering the whole time why...LOL

    That is just a habit of mine, quirky as it may be. Generally, with sector based restores, the partition(s) being restored will be deleted, some say overwritten, but in any case, sector based restores will do just that, restore all sectors backed up by the image program. I do think with file based restores, if one is doing a complete restore, probably wise to format, but I cannot say that with certainty. As Froggie said...not sure about that one.

    Jim
     
  7. Brian K

    Brian K Imaging Specialist

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    When you format a partition a file system is written to the partition. It takes a few seconds. Let's say the partition is NTFS and you do a FAT32 format. Then you restore an image of the previous NTFS partition into the FAT32 partition. The result will be a NTFS partition. The FAT32 format was a waste of time. Same result with a sector based or file based imaging app.

    If you delete a partition the files are not deleted. You can undelete the partition. It takes one second. But if you delete the partition and restore the above image into unallocated space the result will be the same as above. A NTFS partition.
     
  8. Jim1cor13

    Jim1cor13 Registered Member

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    Thank you Brian! Well explained, and although using BIBM, it takes only a few seconds to format, no reason to bother based upon your explanation.

    I was aware of much of what you stated, but for some reason I began formatting before restore, I always wondered why, but did it any way. Appreciate the detailed explanation.

    Thanks
    Jim
     
  9. Brian K

    Brian K Imaging Specialist

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    Jim,

    Do you use the IFD Run scripts in BIBM? I like them. A one click restore.
     
  10. oliverjia

    oliverjia Registered Member

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    Brian, could you please share your experience/thought with ImageX or Dism? I am interested in the capture and restore of Dism (formerly ImageX) but was not sure if they can be used to replace an imaging app such as IFL.

    OP, sorry to hijack your thread.. saw Brian is online so asked him my question.
     
  11. Brian K

    Brian K Imaging Specialist

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  12. oliverjia

    oliverjia Registered Member

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    Thanks Brian.
    No I have not used TBWinRE - I have a copy of IFL/IFD but not IFW. Yes I used the DISM GUI your linked and it worked OK. I could not recall if I used it from a WInPE environment or not but right now I intend to use it in a Windows 8 PE. It appears the coming version 4 will support this so I will wait for this version.
    I think it's feasible to use DISM as an imaging program but I remember I read somewhere that MS does not recommend this use of the DISM. I'll have to test it laster when version 4 is available.


     
  13. aladdin

    aladdin Registered Member

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    Hi Jim,

    In the old, old day, in the galaxies far, far away, when I had the IBM PC and then IBM XT, one can do a low level formatting from BIOS. That was real formatting which took two to three hours for a 10MB hard disk. Yes, a 10MB hard disk and no spelling errors here.

    That was basically completely wiping the hard disk. Now, we have Jetico BCWipe which does the similar feat.

    Best regards,

    Young Man! :D
     
  14. Brian K

    Brian K Imaging Specialist

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    oliverjia,

    IFL is currently my favourite restoring app. I've just learned how to do IFL auto restores from an IFL partition created in Ubuntu.
     
  15. whitefox42

    whitefox42 Registered Member

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    I am not restoring.. but my disk partition manager is saying that I have a drive that needs to be formatted before I can use it. I was under the impression that it already had been but if I format it, won't that delete everything on the partition? That's what I always thought. Is it different now?
    Thanks in advance for answering my question.
    WhiteFox42
     
  16. oliverjia

    oliverjia Registered Member

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    If you format the partition, you will lose your data.
    It appears there is some hardware problem or corrupted partition table.
    Use partitioning tools to repair partition table first.

     
  17. whitefox42

    whitefox42 Registered Member

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    Thank you very much Oliverjia. That was a fast response.
     
  18. blacknight

    blacknight Registered Member

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    If I had to restore an image after an infection, I would format all the HD in ext3, would'nt be a good idea?
     
  19. Brian K

    Brian K Imaging Specialist

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    Formatting before restoring a good image to an infected partition makes no difference. Simply restore the good image and the MBR contained in the image.
     
  20. J_L

    J_L Registered Member

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    Unnecessary, but if you want to be absolutely sure, zero the drive out (make sure image includes everything necessary for a blank drive).
     
  21. oliverjia

    oliverjia Registered Member

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    not really.
    I think all sector based imaging programs will format your target drive/partition first before start the actual restore process. I know Acronis did this for sure. Others will also wipe all the existing data, including viruses, on your target drive/partition before restore, so there is really no need to do a manual format before restore.

     
  22. GSL

    GSL Registered Member

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    Necessary if you used ISR software such as Rollback RX or it will end up with a corrupted system after the image restore.
     
  23. oliverjia

    oliverjia Registered Member

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    Are you sure? I thought this kind of software will require your base system to be present.

     
  24. GSL

    GSL Registered Member

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    Yeah, you can check the RollBack RX thread.
     
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