Unattended Installation or Cloning/Imaging of Win XP

[ravisunny2]

I am using Win XP Pro SP2 (updated to XP3) on a C2D (standalone).

I have had to reinstall sufficient times to make me look for a better option to a regular reinstallation of XP.

That is how I found this forum. (thanks to Google)

I have one hard disk with 4 partitions.

C: System (for Win XP)

D: General (for utilities)

E: Misc (for experimental purposes such as Virtual PC)

F: Work (working data/files )

I have narrowed down my options to

(a) Unattended Installation(as wonderfully documented on this site)

(b) Imaging/Cloning just the system partition

I have been browsing through both these options for a couple of days, and as both concepts are new to me, I am somewhat confused. I saw somewhere that (perhaps untrue) an ‘image’ is not bootable.

I need to get my system up and running, in pristine condition, with a minimum time/effort/attendance.

Can someone please suggest which would be the better option between (a) and (b) ?

My immediate concern is just the system partition, not the other partitions.

It would be wonderful to be able to create a bootable CD/DVD, and do a painless ‘restore’/reinstall.

I have downloaded a few imaging/cloning free softwares such as Clonezilla, HDclone, and DriveImage XML.

Your suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

[Martin H]

It's a personal preference, really... I myself prefer to use an imaging app to restore/backup my system partition, as it just takes a few minuttes(unattended with a Ghost 2003 DOS boot floppy).

Then i also on each patch-tuesday download the new MS updates, fire HFSLIP up(also completelly unattendedly), and then i have a 100% up-to-date ISO, which i can burn and install from, whenever i feel like it...

Of course you could also just use the CD as a restore solution, but i just preffer the effeciency of imaging instead(in my case, then the Ghost restore process is ~25 secs...).

I reinstall from CD about once every 3 month, and then i make a backup image, and then restore back from that image about once a week or so(i do much experimenting, and my system is to slow to use a VM for that)...

Just my 2 cent's

[DigeratiPrime]

Imaging is much faster, the only reason to create an unattended install source is if you are frequently installing Windows on multiple machines.

[Ponch]

I saw somewhere that (perhaps untrue) an ‘image’ is not bootable.

What's usually refered to as 'an image' is a (mostly single) file. A file is never bootable. What matters is being able to apply the image from a bootable media. Most imaging softwares allow that. For the rest, DigeratiPrime sums it up.

[ravisunny2]

Thank you, all, Martin H, DigeratiPrime and Ponch.

So imaging is what I need.

BTW I forgot to mention that I don't have a Floppy Drive (I believe Norton Ghost needs one).

Any suggestions/feedback regarding a free + user friendly imaging software ? Like clonezilla ?

[Ponch]

There is a sticky post about those.

[IcemanND]

http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=101383

http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=100299

[ravisunny2]

Thanks for the links, IcemanMD.

Actually I had already browsed through them, but found them to be somewhat inconclusive , and a bit of an information overload for a layman, such as I.

There is a great deal of info on the software available (along with pricing and links).

I wish there was a summation/categorization of the large list, based on some features and, in particular, of the user friendliness. Coupled with user feedback, it could, perhaps, help total noobs like me, to zoom in and select the most appropriate software.

I shall give these links another go.

Thanks again.