free clone/imaging solution needed
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I'm looking for a way in which I can set myself up to clone/image a 'Gold' image PC and restore it to other PCs over and over.
The PCs will be Windows based.
What I currently do is boot up off a WinPE USB and restore images off a USB HDD. However I have to use a GUI tool and click this and that and it takes time.
What I'm wanting to do is be able to restore the image off a USB HDD and invoke the restoration simply via command line.
I've seen that dd in linux can do this, but I'm not a linux guy. How hard would it be to put together a linux live USB with dd and a script and use that OR, something similar????
I don't want to learn linux, so I can get this going, I just want a tool for imaging.
I looked for something like this in the Windows sphere, but can't find anything.
Thanks for any help.
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@siringo said in free clone/imaging solution needed:
I'm looking for a way in which I can set myself up to clone/image a 'Gold' image PC and restore it to other PCs over and over.
The PCs will be Windows based.
What I currently do is boot up off a WinPE USB and restore images off a USB HDD. However I have to use a GUI tool and click this and that and it takes time.
What I'm wanting to do is be able to restore the image off a USB HDD and invoke the restoration simply via command line.
I've seen that dd in linux can do this, but I'm not a linux guy. How hard would it be to put together a linux live USB with dd and a script and use that OR, something similar????
I don't want to learn linux, so I can get this going, I just want a tool for imaging.
I looked for something like this in the Windows sphere, but can't find anything.
Thanks for any help.
There are a few options and that aren't that difficult
- CloneZilla
While Linux based - is not difficult to use, and if you follow the prompts (Read them unlike me) It's easy. - Macrium There is a free version - but also a paid version.
These are the two I've used the most and the most reacent...
- CloneZilla
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@gjacobse thanks for the input. I've looked at them. actually used macrium a fair bit, that has a gui which is what i'm trying to move away from .... but I have a feeling i'll be using it once more as it is the most reliable tool i've used.
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@siringo SmartDeply or MDT
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Maybe you should look into automating windows 10 installs instead.
A gold image is not ideal because you are doing lots of step, usually manually, to create the gold image. The image is large and it's basically out of date just a couple of days after creating it.
With an automated install you are basically installing windows from scratch with your own customizations and additional software and settings. It's much smaller and easier to maintain long-term.
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@pete-s said in free clone/imaging solution needed:
Maybe you should look into automating windows 10 installs instead.
A gold image is not ideal because you are doing lots of step, usually manually, to create the gold image. The image is large and it's basically out of date just a couple of days after creating it.
With an automated install you are basically installing windows from scratch with your own customizations and additional software and settings. It's much smaller and easier to maintain long-term.
Are you currently leveraging any Microsoft services? We have been working to get Microsoft (Azure) InTune / Auto Pilot in place. The only -wall- is the write back from Azure Active Directory to the local DC... You out of box a computer, and can then remotely manage it and apply applications to it. or Wipe it if lost/stolen and for a new user.
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@siringo said in free clone/imaging solution needed:
I looked for something like this in the Windows sphere, but can't find anything.
From a market perspective, it would make zero sense due to licensing and technology to have a Windows product to do this... because as an imaging tool there is zero "knowing Windows" or "knowing Linux", the OS underneath the application has no bearing on the use of the tools on top. You don't interact with the OS in either case.
Because the tools for this are native to and universal with Linux, and free, and can be distributed for free, someone would be crazy to make this on Windows as they couldn't then sell it or give it away. It's not viable as a commercial OR free product. So from a market perspective, it would never exist. It just doesn't make sense.
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@gjacobse said in free clone/imaging solution needed:
There are a few options and that aren't that difficult
You can just download "dd" for Windows and do the same as on Linux, it's just more effort and can't be all packaged up nice and easy.
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@siringo said in free clone/imaging solution needed:
@gjacobse thanks for the input. I've looked at them. actually used macrium a fair bit, that has a gui which is what i'm trying to move away from .... but I have a feeling i'll be using it once more as it is the most reliable tool i've used.
Macrium automates VSS. So it is really VSS that you are seeing in action (and works quite well.)
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thanks everyone for the help and info it's much appreciated.
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@gjacobse said in free clone/imaging solution needed:
There are a few options and that aren't that difficult
CloneZilla
While Linux based - is not difficult to use, and if you follow the prompts (Read them unlike me) It's easy.I use CloneZilla with CloneZilla SE (Server) to do this. Just make sure you can boot to PXE or leave a USB onsite for other people to stick in and power on.
Hint: With Wake-On-Lan and PXE we reimage PCs at schools all the time without ever going there. Takes only a few minutes to get a PC back up and running.
