Cloning 1 machine's drive to a identical separate machine

[shawntkeating]

What I'm looking to do is to take an image from one working computer (PC-1) and put it onto another computer that will be getting a new hard drive after the old one died (PC-2), such that I can save time getting this PC-2 back up to working order and connected back to the network.

What is the easiest way to do this considering both computers have the exact same hardware and software prior to PC-2's Hard drive crashing.

I am a little lost as to the quickest simplest and most problem free way to go about this. Also what software is recommended as well as the configuration needed to avoid issues from having them interfere with each other over the network because of SID, or is identical settings not a problem? I want to save time by setting the PC-2 up quickly so the client can get back to work.

Thanks in advance for any help and guidance.

Edited August 6, 2010 by shawntkeating

[cluberti]

If you're talking about simply imaging the install from one drive and dropping that image on a new drive in the same PC, that can be done without anything special. This will work even if you're moving the image to a new PC entirely, as long as everything inside is exactly the same (depending on the version of XP, you may have to re-activate, but it will work once activated).

If you're cloning a machine and plan on putting that image on more than one machine, though, you need to consider using sysprep to "prep" the machine (and remove most machine-specific info, including the SID) before capturing the image - that way each iteration of the image put down on a new PC is different (after mini-setup runs). Note you need a volume license of Windows to do this legally, of course.

[shawntkeating]

If you're talking about simply imaging the install from one drive and dropping that image on a new drive in the same PC, that can be done without anything special. This will work even if you're moving the image to a new PC entirely, as long as everything inside is exactly the same (depending on the version of XP, you may have to re-activate, but it will work once activated).

If you're cloning a machine and plan on putting that image on more than one machine, though, you need to consider using sysprep to "prep" the machine (and remove most machine-specific info, including the SID) before capturing the image - that way each iteration of the image put down on a new PC is different (after mini-setup runs). Note you need a volume license of Windows to do this legally, of course.

/

I have a small network of 10 machines. One of those machines's drives died. I got the exact same drive brand new but I want to configure this windows xp installation exactly how it is on all the other machines. So, I want to clone one of the other 9 machines that is working great and configured correctly. Both these have the same hardware, and where previously set up the same. My goal is to get this replacement hard drive set back up and configure windows all the same as one of the working PC's

I am just a little worried about possible conflicts since these are all on a network, although this worry may not be valid. As for re-activating, yes each PC has its own windows key sticker on the tower so if the activation fails or has a problem, could I just simply re-activate and be done with it?

Will this new machine pop up as a double on the network, or will it automatically become unique? I have no intentions of doing this on a grand scale just this one machine because its drive failed and I want it to go quick.

So how do I do this?

Edited August 6, 2010 by shawntkeating

[Ponch]

you need to consider using sysprep to "prep" the machine (and remove most machine-specific info, including the SID) before capturing the image - that way each iteration of the image put down on a new PC is different (after mini-setup runs).

There's your answer in case you misssed it. As for imaging softwares, there is a whole list of them in the "stickies" in the software forum.

->image one of your computers to your new drive

-sysprep it, turn it off.

-make a new image of that that you keep somewhere else as backup for later cases.

-put your drive in the new pc, start it, it reinstalls Windows (mini-setup).

[submix8c]

More info here -

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb897418.aspx

which leads to here -

http://blogs.technet.com/b/markrussinovich/archive/2009/11/03/3291024.aspx

If they're OEM machines, more than likely the internal Product Key is "common" and the stickers are for licensing the OS to the given PC. SysPrep procedure...

Edited August 7, 2010 by submix8c

[dubsdj]

If you're talking about simply imaging the install from one drive and dropping that image on a new drive in the same PC, that can be done without anything special. This will work even if you're moving the image to a new PC entirely, as long as everything inside is exactly the same (depending on the version of XP, you may have to re-activate, but it will work once activated).

If you're cloning a machine and plan on putting that image on more than one machine, though, you need to consider using sysprep to "prep" the machine (and remove most machine-specific info, including the SID) before capturing the image - that way each iteration of the image put down on a new PC is different (after mini-setup runs). Note you need a volume license of Windows to do this legally, of course.

yep just sysprep it and boot something like symantic ghost. Take the image and then burn it to the other PC's.... also just to say that the sid thing doesnt really cause any probs that I have experienced except with wsus so if they are legit PC's without product keys then you prob can do without the sysprep part (just make sure that the computer names are different) and perhaps do a ipconfig /flushdns.... anyway there is a fix for the sid wsus problem and also a fix to change the sid later on...

symantic ghost is easy to use and dead simple.. you can probably get a trial that allows you 30 days usage.

netbootdisk.com can get you the drivers you need. if you dont have a floppy drive you can get an iso or just buy and external floppy drive... choice is yours.

on the server side install the symantec ghost server and set up a new image give it a session name ( wait fo the client to connect) .

once you are into the client by booting dos to the network... map the share that ghost.exe is located in (type at the prompt: net use * \\servername\share) making sure you have ntfs rights to that share on the server ( or Just share the folder that will contain the image to everyone).. and then type at the prompt: CD *drive letter you have just mapped ** eg.. cd U: once you are on the correct drive simply type: ghost.exe.. Do a unicast and type the session name in..

that should do it.

PS... if the PC's are very modern and have the latest hard disks in them you might hit probs with ghost.exe... to avoid this issue just type at the prompt ghost -wd -ws (This ignores any errors) and ghost works a treat.

I'm quite good with symantic ghost so if you need some more help let me know..

Edited August 11, 2010 by dubsdj

[jaclaz]

Just for the record, Mark Russinovich's new approach to SID:

http://blogs.technet.com/b/markrussinovich/archive/2009/11/03/3291024.aspx

jaclaz

[cluberti]

...so if they are legit PC's without product keys then you prob can do without the sysprep part...

No, Sysprep does more than just regenerate SIDs, it's useful for generalizing the machine, will allow duplicated machines to work properly with KMS and WSUS servers (and SCCM servers, for that matter, at the very least), and will trigger PnP detection so as to make a more hardware-neutral image. Even if SIDs aren't an issue, you should *still use sysprep* when creating a master image.

Also, I would argue that while Symantec Ghost is simple, it is not the best tool for the job anymore. Using even the free Microsoft tools from the WAIK to create a WIM image of the system, along with unicast or multicast deployment from a WDS server, are technically better than using Ghost at this point in time. If you need a solution for more than just imaging and re-deployment, Ghost isn't even the best solution from Symantec for that; Altiris is the product you'd want to look into (it's Ghost+management and deployment tools for SMB to Enterprise). For this user, though, Ghost is probably overkill (not to mention a proprietary image format from a vendor other than the one who makes the OS you're imaging). I would recommend either the OP use the WAIK and WDS, or some of the other open source and freeware previously posted.