Imaging Software

Soldato
Joined
30 Jul 2005
Posts
19,901
Location
Midlands
im currently building 3 identical machines and am now installing windows, office, all apps and updates to the machines. the hardware is identical. whats the fastest way to make an image and then use it on the other 2 machines to get them up and running without having to do full installs again.
 
I'd install 1 PC, then use Ghost to image it to CD/DVD after running sysprep.
Or you could image it directly to the other hdd's if you have them handy.

Many other options as I'm sure others will tell you soon.
 
how does ghost then get the image ready for installation onto another pc? can it do it via usb hard drive and boot cd combo?

only software i have used before is powerquest, but my powerquest server is down with a busted psu. so gonna have to find a quicker route.
 
wondering, would Acronis True-Image be able to do what im after?
which is to bang in a bootable cd, and image the pc drive to a usb hard disk then boot the other pc up using the bootcd and restor the image from the usb hard drive to the pc.
 
Yup, True-Image works with USB drives out of the box in every test I've given it.

If these PCs are going to be on the same network, you'll probably want to use Sysprep (free from MS and is on the XP disk anyway), which will regenerate the SIDs (security IDs). You'd have to run Sysprep immediately before you clone the drive, so run sysprep, set it to "shutdown", plug in your USB drive, and boot from the True-Image CD. Clone the drive, and when finished, you can start up the source PC - it'll run through the actual SysPrep routine itself, but that's no worry.
 
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