Automatic system image install?

[Silvereyes]

That's the whole point Culberti. He doesn't make his specific

requirements clear but it's obvious from his post that he is a

complete novice in this area.

That's why I suggested a tool suitable for a complete novice,

I don't believe a Ghost/DeployCentre combi is. Nor a PE based

solution.

I certainly didn't expect the Spanish Inquisition

[bj-kaiser]

...

I certainly didn't expect the Spanish Inquisition

"Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition."

Sorry, I couldnt help it.

and to add something to the thread:

the Acronis option I was talking about without knowing the exact name is called "one-click restore".

From the Acronis TI Home v11 user guide:

The Acronis One-Click Restore is a minimal addition to your rescue media, allowing oneclick

data recovery from an image archive stored on this media. This means that at booting

from the media and clicking “restore,” all data will be restored to its original place

automatically. No options or selections such as resizing partitions will be available.

[Oleg_II]

Don't think I deserve Spanish Inquisition too

I agree that Acronis option will be cheaper. That's all for it. I can't agree it's the best on the market - all functionality in Acronis and Ghost are nearly the same (for a novice). In fact using Acronis or Ghost ARE the same for a novice - in both cases program should be installed first, then boot media created, backup image made and placed on this media (last two could be in one step). GUI interface are different but I don't think Acronis is easier then Ghost (I used both).

Author of this topic came to this Forums for what? Please re-read his post - he needs this for regular reinstalling as many here. What does this mean? He may be a novice but he is in process of learning. Maybe he is not interested in learning some tricks with imaging software and will just take Acronis as simple and cheap option at the same time. But maybe he will be interested in more advanced technics (imaging scripting, using Grub4DOS, etc.). As I was re-installing test systems very often too I know that saving even a few clicks through GUI interface, not saying about putting CD in and out each time, will help and really speed up everything. He mentioned automatic restoring - I suggested my variant with automatic restoring option. I don't insist, that's up to him (and the choice of different appz for imaging is good nowdays).

PS Just to make it clear: I don't use Ghost myself, I prefere DeployCenter and I know that it doesn't have some functionality of Acronis or Ghost (hot system imaging, incremental archeiving, etc.). It just suites my simple tasks better

Edited July 15, 2008 by Oleg_II

[Phoneywar]

And I was told this was such a nice place with friendly, helpful natives.

I certainly wasn't expecting the System Imaging Tool Nazis (similar to Operating System Nazis but not quite so mature )

However, from my reading of the original post, I'd have to agree with Silvereyes and bj-kaiser about Acronis and it's one-click option. I would suggest the OP download the trial version and try it. It's the only real test of suitability.

[Oleg_II]

Yep, the key words were: "Suggest and let him choose". Not to insist on some app, and especially not to say - "other software is not worth".

And I hope you don't call supporters of Acronis - "Nazis", because nobody else insist on using some specific software

If it's about me... He-he Yes, maybe I'm getting older... I made my suggestion (peacefully I think) and probably was in bad mood when was criticized after it (and this is my favorite subject - I'm using imaging for nearly 10 years for now

PS There is a big banner for Acronis True Image 11 Home on these Forums - free choice for everybody

[Phoneywar]

Well we all have opinions but some people, ie. the afore mentioned OS Nazis, seem to think that their's is the only one which matters.

I have also been using system imaging for more than 10 years and over that time I've used a wide range of tools including both Ghost and True Image. I must admit I don't like the newer DriveImage based versions of Ghost and would not recommend them to anyone.

But I certainly would not declare they are s*** and no one else did either. I think you just reacted badly when Silvereyes tried to explain his reasoning, then he reacted badly when you appeared to be criticizing that, ad nausem.

[Oleg_II]

Frankly speaking, I don't like DriveImage versions starting from version 7 (the last one from PQ and followed by Ghost v9, 10, 12, 14). I prefer DOS-based solutions. But for some people it works fine.

In fact DriveImage based Ghost is nearly the same as Acronis True Image by its idea - both are big and main features are hot imaging and incremental backups. DiveImage based Ghost has two more bad features: not very friendly support (some time) and you can't make image from its boot media, only restore (if I'm not mistaken). It works fine on PE variations though but you have to create one of these variations first... And frankly speaking, I don't know if DriveImage based Ghost is scriptable (as I said - I use DOS version). So I would not recommend these versions (including Acronis Home) to anyone Maybe in some circonstances hot imaging is a must. But there are other professional appz for this (both Symantec and Acronis have those). And incremental backups... My personal point of view - for files and folders backup use specialized backup progams or just archiver and scripts

Well, comparing prices Acronis Home is cheapper. Can't beat it But if you are looking for cheap solutions - there are a lot of cheapper and even free ones out there. And some of them were mentioned here (a gave a link for a thread with lists of them too). Some of new tools are really worth checking (both commercial and free like ShadowProtect and Imagex.exe).

I repete it again - I don't insist on my point of view. If Silvereyes just said my variant is a bit difficult for a novice - that would be OK with me. I can agree it needs some time and a bit reading and testing. But isn't this place for learning?

PS DOS based Ghost versions are not lost. As DOS based DriveImage versions too - they called DeployCenter now (DriveImage Pro versions before). Both are included in Symantec Ghost Suite and still updating

[Phoneywar]

Yes, I think that was the point he was trying to make, that it might be a bit awkward for a beginner, particularly with something like system imaging which has such a huge potential for disaster.

The problem with a forum such as this is not so much what you write but what other people read into your writings. I've been on the receiving end of some really nasty flames over the years and thought "WTF?, what on earth did I do to deserve that?". I seriously doubt it's much different for you or Silvereyes.

Getting back on topic, I do know some people who use hot imaging for servers but it's not something I'm comfortable with and frankly, I can't really see any use for it at all in a desktop environment. Personally, I think the hot imaging facility in tools such are TIH and Ghost is aimed at people who can't or won't find something else to do while a backup is in progress.

Which is a bit silly as system imaging is primarily for deployment and disaster recovery, not normal day-to-day data backup operations. As you said there are far better tools for that. The problem is they require configuring and that's something Joe Public won't do. He will fiddle with parts of the system he's not supposed to. He'll delete essential operating system files despite all obstacles you put in his way but he won't take the time to properly configure a backup tool