Imaging a Server 2008 R2 installation

elrasho · 22 Jul 2011 at 01:04

As the title suggests what do you guys use to do this? I used something called macrium reflect 5 but unfortunately when I tried restoring the WinServe2008 image onto a new hard drive it kept missing the Bootrecord.

I tried inserting the WinServe2008 DVD and running bootrec /Fixmbr but it didn't work. I'm having to install Server2008 from scratch now

brainchylde · 22 Jul 2011 at 13:10

SCCM/WDS when we need to do it. Mostly we use VMWare so we just use a template.

elrasho · 22 Jul 2011 at 13:14

brainchylde said:
SCCM/WDS when we need to do it. Mostly we use VMWare so we just use a template.

sorry but that makes no sense to me at all

Dr. Pain · 22 Jul 2011 at 13:39

elrasho said:
sorry but that makes no sense to me at all

If you don't know what he means, just buy/use Acronis.

It just works, and it sounds like you may not have the highest level setup if your not sure about SCCM and VMware.

I hope this doesnt sound condescending, its not meant to be!

elrasho · 22 Jul 2011 at 13:40

Dr. Pain said:
If you don't know what he means, just buy/use Acronis.

It just works, and it sounds like you may not have the highest level setup if your not sure about SCCM and VMware.

I hope this doesnt sound condescending, its not meant to be!

Im starting MCITP so I'm getting there

brainchylde · 22 Jul 2011 at 15:39

elrasho said:
sorry but that makes no sense to me at all

Sorry - I assumed most people on here knew these things because I've seen these sorts of questions answered before.

SCCM is Microsoft client management tool
WDS is a method of deployment.

The two integrate to provide a complete deployment platform. You can also use MDT = Microsoft Deployment Tools to help along the process.

VMWare - virtualisation platform - instead of installing from scratch you create a machine once, convert it to a template, then you can provision a new machine by just taking your template and creating a new machine. Very very quick.

Probably right with regards to Acronis or similar tho. You would need some infrastructure investment in order to use the products we use.

aspirin · 22 Jul 2011 at 17:46

Acronis the best (IMO) disk backup/imaging tool but is also very expensive.
I have used this in the past without too much of an issue:

http://www.todo-backup.com/business/server-backup.htm

I have also used this:

http://www.symantec.com/business/system-recovery-server-edition