Forum Home
Press F1
 
Thread ID: 97741 2009-02-26 01:10:00 Disk Image davehold (13001) Press F1
Post ID Timestamp Content User
751427 2009-02-26 01:10:00 I have downloaded diskimage to be able to do an image of my OS partition but it asks how many files I want to create. Isnt the image supposed to be a single file and does it get compressed? My OS is XP Pro SP3 and the partition is 16Gb in size. Can I do the image but save it to another partition then copy to my USB ext HDD? davehold (13001)
751428 2009-02-26 01:34:00 Not sure how diskimage works, as I personally use DriveImageXML.
You can create an image directly onto your external HDD, you don't need to copy it over manually

Tutorial for creating a hot image using DriveImageXML:
lifehacker.com
Blam (54)
751429 2009-02-26 01:56:00 Thanks. Will the image be the same size as the amount of space taken up on the partition being imaged? davehold (13001)
751430 2009-02-26 02:37:00 When imaging a drive, usually the image is one big file with every thing in it - most disk imaging software only makes the image the size of the contents on the drive not the free space.

You can generally image to an external USB drive, as long as the software has USB support.

What Diskimage software did you download -- Thats a general name for many companies software. ??
wainuitech (129)
751431 2009-02-26 03:22:00 It was DriveImage that I downloaded. My laptop image was only 2.5Gb but the desktop for some reason is 16Gb. I think I will have to ensure that there arent any large un-needed files before I create the image to ensure it isnt unecessarily large. davehold (13001)
751432 2009-02-26 05:28:00 Run CCleaner, and right click drive>properties>compress drive contents.

Then image
Blam (54)
751433 2009-02-26 09:20:00 It's quite common for the imaging program to ask about file sizes to write so was this the question rather than how many files? The reason for keeping file size down is so you can copy the image files to a DVD. ISO 9660 level 2, for example, only allows 2GB file sizes. linw (53)
751434 2009-02-26 09:51:00 Never tried that DriveImage - downloaded it and gave it a go - NOT very impressed at all.

Made an image - total size was around 5.8GB,imaged to another drive attached as a slave - to try a recovery I got out a USB drive - easy enough to fit on the spare 20GB of USB drive but WTF!!:eek:

Comes up saying not enough room-- EH!! finally got it to go in, but only after I made enough room to the original drive size of 80GB.

rechecked the settings, it should have worked - all the other drive imaging software i have used makes an image to what ever it may be, not requiring extra spare space.

Also I noticed it cant image back from a bootable CD unless you make one from something like BartPE - HOPELESS.

Whats the point of having an image if you have to load it in either Via another PC or install windows first, then the program.

Think I'll stick to the ones I use and work - Acronis and Paragon.
wainuitech (129)
751435 2009-02-27 02:04:00 I use BootItNG. Boots its own OS from its CD so don't have to worry about Windows. linw (53)
751436 2009-02-27 12:33:00 I never had much luck with Drive Image & Norton Ghost 12 is bloated.
I prefer 'Acronis True Image' but 'Paragon' is also good but costs more.

Most have adjustable compression. Make you System partition small. In the backup program enter 'pagefile.sys' & 'hyberfile.sys' in the filter to avoid copying them. Run Crap Cleaner to remove dead files.
mzee (3324)
1 2