IMAGEX

[gregorys]

Hi, My first post here looking for an answer hopefully you guys can help me.

I'm imaging dell pcs with a recovery partition. Is there a way to not blow that partition away?

The only way i have found to work is if i blow the recovery partition away and blow away the existing partition and create a new partition then format it and apply the image.

I am using imagex

Here are the steps i have been taking

boot into imagex

disk part

blow both exsiting partitions away

exit diskpart

format c:

apply image

reboot

sysprep is run

everything works.

my goal is to keep the recovery partition

any ideas?

Thanks

[treyoliver]

I've had a similar issue with the Dell partition. The easiest way for me was to capture an image of the partition with imagex, and add it to my imaging process. This is the diskpart script that I use:

select disk 0

clean

create part pri size=50 id=DE

create part pri size=18000

create part pri

select part 1

assign letter=q

select part 2

active

assign letter=c

select part 3

assign letter=d

exit

This clears all existing partitions, and creates a 50 meg hidden Dell partition, a 18 gig C drive, and the rest of the drive for a D drive. I use the following batch file to call the diskpart.txt script, and to apply the images:

@ECHO Off

diskpart /s x:\IMAGE\diskpart.txt

CLS

ECHO Disk partitioning complete

sleep 5

CLS

ECHO Formatting C: Drive

format C: /FS:NTFS /V:SYSTEM /Q /y

CLS

ECHO C: Drive format complete

sleep 3

CLS

ECHO Formatting D: drive

format D: /FS:NTFS /V:DATA /Q /y

CLS

ECHO D: Drive format complete

sleep 3

CLS

ECHO Formatting OEM partition

format Q: /FS:FAT /y

CLS

ECHO OEM Partition format complete

sleep 2

imagex.exe /apply x:\IMAGE\OEMPARTIMAGE.wim 1 q:

CLS

ECHO OEM Partition imaged successfully

sleep 3

CLS

ECHO Imaging C: Drive

imagex.exe /apply x:\IMAGE\CDRIVE.wim 1 c:

CLS

ECHO C: Drive imaged successfully

sleep 3

CLS

ECHO Imaging D: Drive

imagex.exe /apply x:\IMAGE\DDRIVE.wim 1 d:

CLS

ECHO D: Drive imaged successfully

sleep 3

CLS

ECHO IMAGE COMPLETE!!!

sleep 5

Exit

This turned out to be a lot easier than trying to preserve the existing OEM partition. Hope this helps.

[Andromeda43]

Imagex not withstanding, what are you trying to accomplish as your end result???

I work with HD's with Restore Partitions on them all the time and I've never "blown away" the factory 'Restore Partition' in the process, unless I intended to.

Once an OS is all set up, tweaked and tuned and your programs and internet email is all set up, make an Image file of the C: partition to a bootable DVD with a program like Norton's Ghost and you can 'blow away' that restore partition, because it's no longer needed.

Again, "What are you trying to accomplish?"

Curious minds want to know.

Andromeda43 B)

[gregorys]

Sorry Ill try this again

I loading software and all my setting onto a pc to put on other computers,

I am using imagex to capture and deploy the image

If i dont delete the recovery partition the image will not load.

It comes with with the error hal.dll is missing.

If i delete the recovery partition it seems to work fine

partition 1 is hidden and that is the recovery partition

parititon 2 is where the os is located.

does that make a little more sense?

[Ponch]

Because you install XP on the other computer on the "first partition", it will boot dodgy when you reimage it on the 2nd partition of your first computer, that's why it does work when you wipe the Dell partition. So create your image as a 2nd partition and it will work.

Also unless Imagex is totally different of Ghost, it is not needed to format as the image will overwrite formattings and Labels.

Edited November 8, 2007 by Ponch

[spacesurfer]

Imagex is totally different than Ghost.

I once tried to recover an imagex image to a partition that already had an installation and it did not format the previous installation. Reason is imagex is file based. Ghost, I believe, is sector based. Thus, when restoring an imagex image, you are restoring the file structure and the previous file structure remains intact. Therefore, when I restored my image, all the programs I had installed remained intact but the registry files were overwritten. Therefore, it seemed as though I still had programs installed, like MS Office. But when I tried to run Word, it would not run because registry values were missing.

Makes sense?

[Ponch]

Yes it does, thanks. Next time I'll read some info about what I'm commenting, I was right to be cautious before my statement.

[gregorys]

ya hd does have to be formated, anyone else got any other solutions?

[Ponch]

I'll think about an other solution when you've tried the first one.

[gregorys]

The first one is no good. I need to use the recovery partition because it is specifically for the company im working for so there is no way i can recreate the one already on the drive. It comes from the factory like that.

[Ponch]

Ok, maybe I wasn't clear. What I'd do is.... on your "other" computer, create two primary partitions instead of one and install your XP in the 2nd partition. Get your image from that 2nd partition so you can apply it to the 2nd partition of your computer. So it boots the 2nd partition.