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Use a typical Install setup

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Hi Guys
I am using ATI 2015
Latest Build: #6525 (Size: 282.97 MB2014-11-27 00:00:00)
MD5: 53bad995f178267d3cf2f330a00d6aa4

I am replacing, rebuilding, upgrading all the computers here,
A laptop & SPECIFICALLY, 3 desktops, the 3 desktops ALL use the same MB, same graphics chipset being R9-280 but are from 2 different companies, processors are same AMD-FX series & 2 exactly the same.

Here is what I want to do with the 3 desktops, I have one desktop completed & running like a champ,
I want to take that system image, either backup or clone? & apply it to the other 2 desktops including:-
1. All the windows updates
2. All programs, settings & program updates.
3. Pre setup links to moved user folders, ie:- http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/4275-user-profiles-relocate-anothe…
4. All the work involved in setting up OS preferences, managing add on's etc

and once on a new system, change Windows product keys on the new install's, and also computer details so that each "new system" is an individual on a network.
I can save a day at least per system, doing updates etc & save download allowances all round.
Now

Do I do this as a restore:- backup copy or clone?
& what problems amI going to have doing this?
I read about using "sysprep" etc, but Im not a guru, it took me quite a while to do move the user folder to another drive & get it correct.

Please give me your ideas & input

All the best to you all
Peter

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Peter,

Welcome to the Forum. I suspect that some of your reasoning to move User Profiles to independent drives from the System drive is that you are using SSD's for the OS to reside on and HDD's for User Data. This practice is not without controversy as there are those whom will argue that in doing so you effectively break the Windows installation. That argument is duly noted and acknowledged here. Having said that performing this procedure on a system does present a new set of issues with regards to backup of an entire machine and restore of same.

I personally own and run 2 machines on which the User profiles have been moved to secondary drives. These machines are running Windows 7 however that fact makes no difference here. The procedures outlined in the link you provided apply to Windows 8 and procedures for doing this on a Windows 7 install are a bit different but the end result and the changes made within the OS's themselves are the same. I have been running my 2 machines setup this way for a long time now (over 6 years) and performance has been stellar! Additionally, the SSD health of the drives on these 2 machines remain at 97% per SMART info so clearly moving the User Profiles off of system disks limits writes to such a degree as to prolong NAND chip life which of course was my goal when I built these systems.

On one of these 2 machines I have recently upgraded the System (OS) drive to a new larger capacity drive. I performed that upgrade using the Acronis Clone tool. That upgrade went without issue and was accomplished in just under 3 minutes. Quite impressive I thought! I cloned the original drive (60GB OCZ SSD) to a new 240GB Seagate SSD. The clone procedure was run from Acronis Boot (Rescue) Media that I created on a removable USB drive and not from within Windows itself. I am of the opinion that any manipulation of an OS install should only be performed from Boot Media and never from the installed Windows Acronis app for a number of reasons that I will not get into here. I consider that a best practice whether I am performing a clone operation or a restore backup. Additionally, before booting the machine with the boot media I first tested that media so that I was confident that it would boot, run the TI app, access or recognize all installed drives on the machine in question before proceeding further with the clone task. Once satisfied that all the aforementioned were a go I performed the clone as follows.

1. Setup bios to boot from USB drive containing the TI app.
2. Power down machine. Unplug original 60GB SATA data cable from old drive and attach to new 240GB drive. Attach any available power cables to both drives as well. Attached a spare data cable to the old 60GB drive and any free port on the MOBO.
3. Boot the machine and once in the TI app run the Clone tool. Select Source (60GB SSD) and destination (Target) (240GB SSD). Select Mode as Proportional so as to use all available drive space on the Target drive scaling existing partitions accordingly.
4. Choose Shutdown Computer after Clone
5. After clone complete and machine shutdown, disconnect original 60GB SSD from machine, both data and power cables. Remove USB Boot Media drive from machine as well.
6. Restart machine and enter bios to change boot order to newly cloned 240GB SSD.
7. Save and Exit bios and allow machine to boot from newly cloned drive.
8 Test cloned drive by starting a number of installed apps and especially User Data (music, photos, docs, etc.) access.

In my case all was a complete success. I will say here and now however that I do not guarantee success, I DID perform a complete OS and User Data backup prior to performing the clone as outlined above. I did that for insurance purposes so that in the event things did not go as planned I would have restorable backups from which hopefully I could restore the system. Those backups were done as separate backups 1 of the OS disk and 1 of the User disk.

When I was planning this successful clone I had anticipated that Acronis WOULD NOT during the clone operation copy over any User Data from the User drive. Instead, the app would copy over only the Registry entries and links (paths) to where User Data was located. That anticipation proved correct. Even though I did this as a Clone there is no reason to suspect that a backup restore would be any different. So even though I have not done the procedure as a restore operation I would suspect the same results would be true in doing so.

Given your scenario I would say the same would apply to you. Given you are working with a new fresh OS install on essentially identical machines there should not be any issues with drivers. If there are any differences I would suspect that Windows will handle those upon reboot to the new clone or restore disk whichever the case may be.

I would STRONGLY suggest to you however that before you perform either operation that you copy your User Data drive that you have setup onto the other 2 blank drives. The one caveat I see here is that in your scenario Windows will expect to find User Data in the exact same location on disk as that of the original so care must be taken to ensure that is correct. You can use the Clone tool for this purpose or you could use Windows xcopy command to do this. If it were me I would use the Clone tool as it will provide a bit for bit copy disk to disk.

For future backups of these systems you will need to run backups of the OS drives and separately configured backups of the User drives. I understand that it may not be practical for you to perform such backups relying solely on the boot media to do so. Those operations can be done using the installed version and rightly so if it is necessary to do so. For myself I do not mind performing backups on non OS drives with the installed app so I do so on a scheduled basis. As for the OS disk I perform a backup of those drives generally on a weekly basis using the boot media to do so. Since total data on the OS drives is minimal in size these backups run quickly and so are really not much of a headache or burden.

Hope this information will be of benefit to you.

Hi Enchanetec

Firstly I want to say, thank you, so, so much for your input.
I am not as literate as you writing like you have, so this won’t be as in depth as your reply.
Just to touch on what you have said:- YES users folders being on another drive is somewhat controversial, there is, however a definite need by anyone running their OS on a SSD to do this, I have tried several ways & yes some of the ways depicted in forums are simply registry hacks, which are bound to take you straight down the path of frustration.
After messing with the one system & playing with that to make sure all is running 110% prior to copying it over to the other systems I make the following comments:-

1. THE ONLY WAY to move your user folders to another drive is this method:- http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/4275-user-profiles-relocate-anothe…
Being as this method is very clear, concise & very user friendly & at the end of the day bullet proof, HOWEVER if you make this change YOU MUST backup not only your working O/S drive C:\, BUT ALSO your user folders drive, if you don’t not do this, you’re in for grief, as the 2 drive’s really work as one or should I say must work together & recovering a backup from only the O/S drive will cause problems….. been there, done that, end of story
2. In the interim of your comments & trying to only restore an O\S backup to a fresh drive attatched to “another spare sata cable” I immediately hit a wall, not only did I get an error corrupted message, to my dismay I also had some duplicate entries in my other drive\user folder\desktop.

Your comment was right on the money:- “The one caveat I see here is that in your scenario Windows will expect to find User Data in the exact same location on disk as that of the original so care must be taken to ensure that is correct”.

I am in the office today & I am going to try again today under your guidance or recommendation

I will let you know how it all goes.

All the best & thank you again.

Peter

I take note of your comment where you state "to my dismay I also had some duplicate entries in my other drive\user folder\desktop." Were these entries shortcuts, user created folders/files, or what?

I find it interesting that a backup recovery evidently wrote data to your user folder\desktop. Even more interesting that you have no duplicates elsewhere in the user folder.

Looking forward to your next post.

Hi Enchanted,
that was a big day, I have 20 minutes in 1 machine that's rock solid.
I have 10 hours in another that's flaky.
As for some duplicate entries, that's not entirely true & I actually did 3 installs, or clones.
This is what I did, firstly most media was cloned to separate 1tb WD passports, except operation 1.
#1 Operation, clone C:, :- remove Crucial M550 512gb SSD, install Samsung 850EVO SSD, attach M550 to another sata port, boot from Acronis disk & clone from the M550SSD to the new 850EVO SS, settings are, Tools, Clone, manual, proportional, shut down when complete,
Then
remove E:Users WD 1TB sata, install new WD 3TB sata, attach old WD 1TB to another sata port, boot from Acronis disk & clone from 1TB to the new 3 TB, settings are, Tools, Clone, manual, proportional, shut down when complete.
After old drives are removed at each stage, F2 into bios, change boot orders & configure, make sure Acronis boot no longer in CD & prepare for initial boot etc.
Booted that sucker up, windows took approx. 3 minutes to get everything ready (Windows 8.1 new it was all new & I suppose configured all drivers & setting to suit new hardware).
Once signed in & all looked good, logged out, reboot, logged into another account, logged out & logged in again on my user folder
Went to windows update, by the way, said NO update history!, hooked up a printer that I knew would want a windows update driver, downloaded the update & installed.
ALL IS PEACHY ON THIS SYSTEM 48hrs later. took a total of 30 minutes at the absolute max.

#2 Operation, I'm getting real ballsy by this stage....
Immediately after operation #1 with new C:Windows 850EVO & new Users 3TBWD, attach WD 1TB Passport USB3 to front header, boot from Acronis disk & clone from NEW C:Windows 850EVO to the WD 1TB Passport USB3, settings are, Tools, Clone, manual, proportional, shut down when complete.
2/2 Get another WD 1TB Passport USB3 out & boot from Acronis disk & clone from new Users 3TBWD, to the 2nd separate WD 1TB Passport USB3 settings are, Tools, Clone, manual, proportional, shut down when complete.
With both clones now on 2 separate WD 1TB Passport's, go to 2nd new system, clone from each WD 1TB Passport to firstly E: Users, and then to C:Windows, settings are, Tools, Clone, manual, proportional, shut down when complete.
Once the cloning to new system is complete, boot to bios, make sure bios settings are correct, then boot into windows, windows again takes several minutes to prepare system, sign into windows & man, this sucker is 100% as well.......

After 2 successful install builds in less than an hour, take a break with a cup of tea & pat myself on the back.....
While having a cup of tea, got to thinking, I still have my original C:Windows on Crucial M550 512gb SSD & also my original E:Users WD 1TB sata,
Why not throw these into the 3rd system & forget about cloning with Acronis?????

Operation #4 -Why not? all systems are exactly the same, only difference is a small PCI- IDE sata card & I'm thinking windows will take care of that on initial boot,
so I just install my old drives into the 3rd system, again windows takes 3-4 minutes to get everything ready, Windows 8.1 knows its another MB, CPU etc & it was all different/new & goes about configuring all drivers & setting to suit new parts & hardware.
Got into windows, Went to windows update, AND it said NO update history!, windows must have reconfigured the program, being as I didn't clone this, I thought I would have my update history?, not to be, do my usual, log in, log out, change users, shutdown, etc, all seems great.
Hook up that printer, Go to windows update & it just keeps searching & searching for at least an hour, so I close out of windows update & restart.
THIS IS WHERE IT ALL GOES DOWN THE TOILET........
Ive got a hung system, it just is stuck in a restarting loop, so I manually shutdown via the power button..
Reboot into windows, all seems Ok?, so shutdown, start up, shutdown, start up, sometimes doing shutdowns & start ups, windows will fix itself?, so go to do a restart & its hung again.
Remove all accessories & go to a bare bones, SSD & users drive, 1 stick of ram, no usb, no optical, no nothing......
Restart again, go to control panel, programs, uninstall everything that's not required for this configuration, restart & guess what, it hung again, manually shut it down.
Walk away & take a break.
THIS IS AT THE POINT WHERE I AMKE MY BIG MISTAKE.....
I start screwing with the thing, trouble shooting etc,
2hrs later Im still researching, troubleshooting etc, seems the now removed small PCI- IDE sata card driver is the root of the problem, here is a link to what I think is giving me grief?,

Long story short, if you do a search for JMicron JMB36X hung system, you will see what the problem is.
here's just one link to give you an idea :- http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/10297-63-diagnose-startup-boot-hang-w…
Thing is, the driver is not loading at startup?
Im 100% positive there are still remnants of the driver or maybe even the driver still there, just cant see it.
BUT
My 4th attempt has failed miserably.\
So as I write this, I have cloned system operation #2 above which resulted in a good, C; Windows on Crucial M550 512gb SSD & E:Users WD 3TB sata, installing that to this bad system, which is a C; Windows on Crucial M550 512gb SSD & E:Users WD 1TB
Again, my settings are boot from acronis optical DVD, Tools, Clone, manual, proportional, shut down when complete.

I will let you know how it all goes in the afternoon today........
All the best

Peter

Peter,

If you meant to supply a link to a web page or image that did not work here.

It is good to see that you had a good deal of success in your venture. It is always gratifying when things work out as planned.

With respect to the problem child of the bunch I can understand that a missing driver could cause issue with your original configuration.

I am attaching a link to a KB Article which discusses Windows update history missing on a backup restore operation. Not sure but I suppose this could apply to a clone as well.

https://kb.acronis.com/content/54536

MSDN article for further information.

https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/aa819132%28v=v…

If you did not make a whole bunch of changes to this problem install I would attempt placing the drives back into the original machine that they were configured in and see if the installation might come back around.

I now have my C;\Windows cloned, I have rebooted straight into acronis & am currently cloning the E:\ users to the bad 1TB WD
In the interim,
I arrived at the place I currently am from a flaky very first (couple of weeks ago install), initially on the very very first new system & new install which ran flawlessly for several weeks & then took a motherboard dive, I had troubles with the subsequent new board & new install, in fact many many hours of grief & approx. 5 re-installs of 8.1.
Here is a link to my initial problems:- http://www.eightforums.com/installation-setup/63515-installation-proble…

I am far from being a computer guru, in fact, I am really quite computer illiterate, but I get by the hard way, research & reading up.
So far Acronis has proven to be one of the most valuable PC items or software that I have purchased in the last few years.
Acronis can be a bit bewildering when first using it, but when you get used to source & destinations etc its really quite easy, there are a few things that could be improved with the user interface that would help amateurs use the program more easily.

Anyways, gotta go, my cloning is nearly complete

If you were working with a flaky install to start with then that certainly is a contributor to the issue at hand. Sounds like you are working around it so that is good. Hope success continues for you!

Hi Enchantech,
Your link to the article:- https://kb.acronis.com/content/54536
Is spot on, that's what I presumed, MS updates cannot be seen that came from the source clone.
My last clone attempt failed, in fact failed 4 times in a row.
The culprit, is a bad SSD, I changed over the SSD to a WD green & it cloned perfectly, so all is great here.
Ive just got to get Crucial to stand behind a warranty now, paid nearly $250 for that SSD & it lasted less than a month.
I don't think I would buy Crucial again after this episode, it has cost me days on that one flaky system originally &
with a good WD drive I achieved a perfect install in less than 10 minutes.

Its all been fun though
Just want to thank you so much for your help & I think your clone article should be a sticky, I now have several 1tb WD passport clones that when the time arrives, I can just do a clone on the system & freshen it up, all in probably 10 minutes per computer.
Should have found Acronis years ago.

All the best & thanking you again

Peter

Your quite welcome, glad to be of assistance.

This is a simple question, really. I am using Acronis 2015. I have completed a full backup to an external drive. Now I want to schedule a differential backup to be conducted weekly. How do I go about scheduling that? What commands or windows, for example? Thanks.

Hi Beth,
Thank you for your question!
Please refer to this instruction to get basic information about scheduling options in Acronis True Image 2015: http://www.acronis.com/en-us/support/documentation/ATI2015/#7941.html
If any questions remain, please let me know!
Thank you,