How long does it take you to restore a full W7 Image?

How long does it take you to restore a full W7 Image file?

It takes me around 20 minutes using Paragon. My C: is around 35GB in size.

Yet some people tell me it only takes them around 2 minutes to restore an entire W7 image file of their entire Windows 7 C: drive.

Anyone care to answer? What's the smallest size possible to have W7 on C:?

And where do you install all your programs? Onto C: or somewhere else?

Anyone able to provide hints and tips exactly how to restore an entire Windows 7 C: image file in around 2 minutes?

 

When I used Macrium it took about 7 minutes to restore a full Win 7 image from one internal hd to my C: drive. No data, just a core 7 system with office installed. That's about as fast as I've had.

Windows own image program took more like 15-20 minutes.

Now, on my laptop, from an external usb drive that's slower, Macrium takes about 20 minutes, and Win more like 30. I guess that's with data though.

I can't believe anyone can restore in 2 or 3 minutes unless they're talking about restoring XP, which uses much less space than 7. Then maybe just a few mins. Or maybe if they're using an SSD possibly? No idea....

 

around 3 minutes, give or takes 10 seconds or so depending on the planets alignments.
on Windows 7.
i only calculate the time to restore the image, not the time it takes to boot, load the CD, etc...

used space on C = 12.5 Gb
image size 3.65 Gb

product used IFW/IFD/IFL
that with a 5 years old computer.

you should get similar times with Windows 7 own imaging utility.

different imaging apps have different speed.
chose wisely.

 

i keep my image small by using portable products and small apps.
it's not an option for everybody though.

also, all of your data (images, music/videos) can be stored on another drive.

even better imaging/restore speed could be had using SSD drives i presume.

if you are using Windows 7, you should test the times you get creating images and restoring using Win 7 own imaging utility, and compare these times with competing products.
not too many products can compete with Win 7 when it comes to imaging speed.
just saying...

 

I've never seen Win 7 only using 12 gigs.... how do you manage that? Mine typically is in the 30's..... are you 32 bit? maybe that's it?

 

32 bits, yes.

unfortunately, i'm not rich enough at the moment to get a new 64 bits computer.
maybe in a year or 2.

 

That must be it then. 32 bit 7 takes a lot less space, therefore a smaller image and much quicker restore. 64 bit eats about 30-35 GB on mine.

 

yes, that would take about 9 minutes top to restore 30-35 GB using Win 7 own imager.

if the imaging speed are the same for 32 and 64 bits that is.
probably less than 9 minutes if using a newer computer.

 

My turn

2 minutes to backup
3 minutes to restore

used space on C = 25.6 Gb
image size 15.5 Gb

I'm using Active@ Disk Image on Windows 7 x64
main drive: SSD
storage drive: 7200rpm drive (backups are put here)

 

wow!

the SSD really seems to make a big difference!

 

Sure does. I love my SSD.

 

Moon, what on earth does IFW/IFD/IFL mean?

And how did you get W7 to 12.5GB and where do you install programs to and how? And how do you tell W7 to use /Program Files folder on another partition?

And what if your hard drive breaks, you would then lose everything in Program Files folder and would need to start all over again installing everything from scratch, seeing you would only have an image of a base W7 partition minus ALL the programs you installed. So how do you explain that?

Where as my Paragon image file contains W7 base + all Program Files + everything, so I can restore EVERYTHING as is in case my hard drive fails etc. What would you do in that situation, seeing you only have a BASE W7 image file minus all your installed programs?

 

W7 32 bits only uses about 12 Gigs of disk space.
if you read Kerodo's post above you'll notice W7 64 bits is much larger; 30 Gigs or so.
i only have 4 or 5 programs installed.
i do not set my Program Files folder to another partition.
all the other apps i uses are portable but since all my portable apps are no more than 300 megs they stay on the C drive with the image.

IFW/IFD/IFL means Image for Windows/DOS/Linux.
a bunch of imaging apps i have

 

Moon, you must be a very light and casual windows user with only 4 or 5 programs installed, 300MB worth of program files installed.

My Program Files folder is 18GB.

 

wow 18gb? that reminds me of the days when i was testing different software. I keep 2 images of my windows 7. 1 is a base install of 64bit windows which is often restored to apply updates from wsus. restoring this image takes about 4 minutes the 2nd has personal files and VMs ranging around 30gb. restoring that takes around 10 minutes. no ssd here.

 

I mainly use Acronis home 2012 and it takes me 7-8 minutes to restore, about 12 minutes with Image for windows. I have SSD if that changes anything. I find it hard to believe that there is a imaging software that restores about 40-50 GB in 2-3 minutes.
Back in 2008 when I used windows more regulary I used Shadow Protect wich was IME the fastest restorer then (and I tried most of them). Back then a restore with SP took about 10 or 15 minutes and about 30-40 minutes on Image for windows (the latter has improved alot I have noticed)

 

3 minutes to backup and 3 to restore, 30GB compressed to 7GB, spinner drive, macrium reflect free.

 

actually, it is 300 megs of portable apps, not a Program File folder of 300 megs.
you read too quickly!

my Program Files folder is only 523 megs, so yeah, there isn't much.

 

Whats a spinner drive?

 

a typical hard drive with heads and platters. Not a ssd lol.

 

So what can I do with my 18GB Program Files folder and hard drive to make W7 a lot smaller so restoring is a lot quicker? Any hints and tips?

 

This works but you don't like it.

https://www.wilderssecurity.com/showpost.php?p=2055618&postcount=20

 

So how do I move the entire C: Program Files folder to D:?

junction.exe "C:\Program Files\" "D:\" -s

Is that right? Is that exactly how I type the command the JUNCTION program?, including the ""?

The link doesn't go into detail. Can you elaborate please?

And then I can completely remove C:\Program Files and when W7 boots, it will read it from D: instead?

 

my setup may be a bit over the top to some not sure but i want my data SAFE and being this business i see it every day where people loose their info even after telling them they need backups till im blue in the face..i currently still run all platter based drives except at home i use a ssd on my personal system and the wife main drive. the routine i follow is:

i keep a base FRESH image from each system which include only win7 x64 and nothing else no added drivers. updates programs, etc.. this way my win7 lic's dont have to be reactivated all the time.. this serves as a base for me when i need to reinstall. they are system specific of course due to base drivers during installation.

then i keep a second image of each system which includes win7 x64 (i dont run x86 anymore except for testing), the added base drivers, updates, and office 2010. this will serve as a restore for me when i want a fresh win 7 with office again so office doesnt have to activate each time and say i have exceeded my activations and i have to call etc. this image every 2-3 months will get restored updated the backed up again so it stays current.

then the third i keep is a current full system image BEFORE ANY AV or backup programs are installed. since i find these are the ones that mess with the system the most and sometimes are the hardest to cleanly remove (not in ifw's case though) and when i want to change av's but keep my current setup this gets restored and then i can install the av to the pre av state.

finally is a daily running backup which includes everything.

some think im nuts but this makes life crazy easy later when and or if there are issues. all desktops i build for me and my office ALL have 2 hdd's minimum installed with the second strictly for constant running backups. this allows local backups. then i have a networked hdd nas setup as a second point for the systems to backup to. for me this is so important especially with my office systems we have more than 25 of them and i have things like client info etc i CANT afford to loose.

but for the main question i would say around 35gb takes under 10min prob more like 6-7 or less depending on the system for the full current daily backups. the fresh ones i have take only maybe 2-3 min tops.. this is with ifw running on most of them. i also have shadow protect for a few systems i run over the main network but it was WAY to expensive for me to run throughout the whole setup buying based on amount of lic's so i only let that run on my main pos (point of sale) system and the ones tied to that system. if ifw was a bit more networked friendly it would be all i used honestly.

 

you prob dont want to move the whole program files folder. i would do as brian said in the thread he linked to and move select large folder to your d: drive. unless im wrong but i have never attempted a junction with the entire program files folder.

in his example:

Let's say your folder is C:\Program Files\abc\games

Move (not copy) the "games" folder to another partition. Let's say it is now E:\def\ghi\games

Use this from a command prompt (junction.exe is in the folder where you are running the command prompt)

junction.exe "C:\Program Files\abc\games" "E:\def\ghi\games" -s

your current folder where this "abc" game is would be the C:\Program Files\abc\games, you then create or already have a folder on drive e: (d it seems in your case) E:\def\ghi\games (as a example) then MOVE not copy the older previous folders/files from the original location into the new folder where you want them to be.

then by running the command junction.exe "C:\Program Files\abc\games" "E:\def\ghi\games" -s with the quotes it will create a junction (kind of like a shortcut) for the original folder to the new one so it can re-direct the usage of them to the new location. does this explain a bit better??

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otherwise you can do a fresh install and while reinstalling your programs and or games etc you have to make sure to choose a location on the d: drive to place the files into. like when installing imgburn for example you will be able to browse for the location on drive d: and tell it to place things there instead..