System image restore question

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I have a “C” drive that is exhibiting a “death rattle”, so I know it’s only a matter of time. I have backups and system images. The system images are on an external drive, but as I poked around the web, I see that system images might not always work when a boot drive needs to be replaced. I was reading on the Microsoft site of difficulties people had using system images. I have a 500GB WD Caviar that I will replace with a 1TB Western Digital. Neither drive is/will be multi-partitioned.

I assume I will have to do a new Win7 Home Prem install and then attempt to restore my disk with the system image, but should I copy the system image to DVD before I attempt to use it or take the image from my Toshiba external drive drive directly?

Thanks very much.

Diane

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Was your image created with the Windows imaging native app? If so, create a system repair disk. It will allow you to boot from the disk (or flash drive) and restore the image without the need to install Windows.

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Thanks for your reply..I did use the native Win7 app for creating my system image. I did create the system repair disk. I wasn’t sure whether or not I could restore the image from my external drive though.

I really appreciate the help I have received here over the years.

Diane

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Thanks for your reply..I did use the native Win7 app for creating my system image. I did create the system repair disk. I wasn’t sure whether or not I could restore the image from my external drive though.

I really appreciate the help I have received here over the years.

Diane

You can. The previous post has a rather good guide, so check it for extra guidance…

P.S.: Obviously posted too late :).

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This may be of help to you.

http://winsupersite.com/windows-7/replace-your-hard-drive-using-free-windows-7-tools

Regards,
rknee46

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rknee46,

Thanks for the link….what I found particularly informative is what to do if the replacement drive is larger than the drive it’s replacing. I did not know about Extend Volume. The info was appreciated.

Diane

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You might also check on third party Imaging apps. My experience is that Win 7 generally works well, but is more difficult to use and is not always 100% effective.

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PeaP, hello.

>>I have a “C” drive that is exhibiting a “death rattle”, so I know it’s only a matter of time. I have backups and system images.<<

Why not do a clone ? You can clone from a smaller to a larger HD or vice-versa. No need to worry about using an image, a clone is so simple specially in your case where you desire to replace a HD with another. I have done this umpteen times. I use Acronis ( not a paid advert ) and it does clones like this quite successfully.This is the main purpose for a clone. Have fun. Jean.

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PeaP, hello.

>>I have a “C” drive that is exhibiting a “death rattle”, so I know it’s only a matter of time. I have backups and system images.<<

Why not do a clone ? You can clone from a smaller to a larger HD or vice-versa. No need to worry about using an image, a clone is so simple specially in your case where you desire to replace a HD with another. I have done this umpteen times. I use Acronis ( not a paid advert ) and it does clones like this quite successfully.This is the main purpose for a clone. Have fun. Jean.

The Windows native imaging app does not clone, JP.

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Rui, hello. You wrote : The Windows native imaging app does not clone,

Why ? What did I miswrite to bring this comment ? Next line I wrote that I use Acronis. That was my suggestion to cure the problem as a clone is the ideal process to replace a HD, methinks.

You be good. Jean.

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This is another reason to choose a 3rd party app that does have these additional features. I use Acronis True Image and have never been let down by this app. Others use Macrium Reflect or EaseUS ToDo with equal confidence. I was just never confident in the built in Windows app.

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This is another reason to choose a 3rd party app that does have these additional features. I use Acronis True Image and have never been let down by this app. Others use Macrium Reflect or EaseUS ToDo with equal confidence. I was just never confident in the built in Windows app.

The cat is already out of the bag. The existing backups were made by the Windows 7 backup tool, and I wouldn’t risk adding another tool with the disk already failing. I would simply try a restore with the tools available and see how things turn out from there.

I have been using imaging for years and the only time I used cloning was with a specialized tool from the migration toolkit that I bought with my SSD, to migrate from my HDD to my SSD.

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You are smart to not put off saving your system. I have used all of the imaging programs mentioned and prefer the free native Windows imaging. I have imaged AND restored computers with Windows 7 Create a system image and then restored them using the repair disk more than fifty times. I have made and restored my system images since Win 98SE and XP with Ghost in 2000-2003, then Acronis True Image from 2004-2010 on XP and two Vista systems. Acronis TI 10 won’t work with Windows 7. Acronis goofed there as rather than buy five more upgrade licenses at then 29 bucks each, I now had a free imaging program in 7! I tried it while building that new system after having to start over when I goofed on the then new to me Win 7 groups and network settings. I have used it to image and restore many customer computers who are repeat customers with infections and who are indiscriminate “click on anything” users.

My suggestion would be to image the system from your new drive to the external one now. Then install the new drive and remove your still working old drive. Restore and make sure it boots and no errors occur. Then keep the old drive for a few months just in case. After a few months you can dispose of it by disassembly and hammering the platters into folded messes that can never be read again, or hook it up to your external dock or USB connector. I have heard that some folks say USB 3 is not supported by the Windows imaging program. I have USB 2.0 ports on all my new machines and would just connect to those if I had an issue with USB 3, since my USB three external dock is backwards compatible.

I agree that Acronis works great for those of us who have already learned their counter intuitive menus and interfaces. I also agree that Windows has no cloning program, but it does have partitioning software also built in to do all the partitioning needed by average users in disk management under administrative tools. For cloning the best tools out there are also free which do all the average user needs. These include Macrium Reflect Free, which also does images and will clone to smaller drives if the data fits. And for advanced users who are comfortable with Linux-like text user interfaces Clonezilla is a powerful tool. I dislike the interface but muddled through this one once, it worked, then switched to Macrium reflect, much easier. I really liked EaseUS Todo a few years back, but they took too much out of the free version. So, until Macrium goes the same way, I’ll stick with Win 7 images and their restore disk for images, and Macrium reflect free for my cloning. For XP, Vista, and if they remove Windows File recovery from Windows 8.1, I won’t have any issue using Macrium reflect free alone with all my machines except my wife’s desktop which is still 7 Pro, and my old backup system with plain Windows 7.

If I may reiterate a suggestion and take it a step further. Just replace it with the new drive then restore it. If it works report back here. Any issues make notes and check back. Lots of knowledgeable folks here who want to help.

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Jean,

I wrote that because the original poster stated that she was using the Windows native imaging and asked for advice regarding the use of Windows native imaging. Just that.

Regards

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I just experienced a similar problem and found a simple technique. In my case, the C:drive was full so i wanted to install a new larger C:drive. Here are the steps I followed:

1. Installed brand new drive in an available internal HDD slot inside the computer
2. After computer boots as normal from the existing C:drive right click on computer and go to MANAGE – STORAGE – DISK MANAGEMENT. Make sure the new drive is reconized and allow windows to format it as necessary. For me that was BASIC NTSF SIMPLE PARTITION
3. Use Acronis True Imagine 2013 to create a regular CLONE from the old C drive to the new drive
4. When clone is available open computer and swap the two drives so the new drive is in the Bus “0” slot and the old C:drive is in the second HDD slot
5. Restart computer – it should boot. I even removed the old C:drive from the BIOS boot sequence to be certain the new disk was working.

WHen you turn on the computer it will boot normally from the new HDD that is sitting in the Bus 0 slot and is now the new bootable drive.

Everything working perfectly x 2 days.

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