Creating full Image of Hard disk System & recovery partitions (Dell)


  1. zerone01
    Posts : 10
    Windows 7
       New #1

    Creating full Image of Hard disk System & recovery partitions (Dell)


    I have a Dell Inspiron 1520 with Vista Home Premium factory installed and now I need to install Windows 7. Before doing that I want to make sure I can restore my computer exactly to the way it came if anything goes wrong in the process of installing Win 7 or I needed back my original laptop with Vista.

    Figured out the best way to create a complete image of my Hard drive.


    • Capacity is 320GB
    • 4 partitions - System Partition (C), Recovery Partition, some other 2 small partitions.

    I have to modify these partitions and sizes when installing Win7. I want to completely image this HDD so I can get these back exactly the way they are now.

    What is the best software I can use and what are the best methods? Please give me your opinions and instructions. Thanks.
      My Computer
    Quote Quote

  3. mjf
    Posts : 5,969
    Windows 7x64 Home Premium SP1
       New #2

    (1) Download Macrium Reflect (Free)
    (2) Create an image with all 4 partitions selected
    (3) Make the linux recovery boot CD
    (4) Make sure the linux boot CD works and can locate the image you just made and shows the 4 partitions for selection. Exit.

    If the linux boot CD fails to work as will happen on some system configurations you can try in place of the linux CD:
    (1) Hirens Boot CD Macrium Reflect is part of the mini XP environment
    OR
    (2) Macrium pe recovery disk. To make this you will need to download the Macrium Reflect V5 trial and be prepared to do a large MS download of WAIK (~1GB). Macrium guides you through the quite straightforward process.
      My Computer
    Quote Quote

  4. whs
    Posts : 26,210
    Vista, Windows7, Mint Mate, Zorin, Windows 8
       New #3

    Free Macrium is definitely a good choice. Here is a video tutorial: Imaging with free Macrium --- Free Paragon is another alternative. It has some features (e.g. restore with shrink) that Macrium does not have. But it is a bit more difficult to navigate.
      My Computer
    Quote Quote

  6. Bill2
    Posts : 5,056
    Windows 7 x64 pro/ Windows 7 x86 Pro/ XP SP3 x86
       New #4

    Create a set of recovery disks also.
      My Computer
    Quote Quote

  7. kado897
    Posts : 10,455
    Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit Service Pack 1
       New #5

    whs said:
    Free Macrium is definitely a good choice. Here is a video tutorial: Imaging with free Macrium --- Free Paragon is another alternative. It has some features (e.g. restore with shrink) that Macrium does not have. But it is a bit more difficult to navigate.
    I think you are going to have to update that tutorial Wolfgang now that the free version 5 is out. The layout is quite different.
      My Computer
    Quote Quote

  8. whs
    Posts : 26,210
    Vista, Windows7, Mint Mate, Zorin, Windows 8
       New #6

    kado897 said:
    whs said:
    Free Macrium is definitely a good choice. Here is a video tutorial: Imaging with free Macrium --- Free Paragon is another alternative. It has some features (e.g. restore with shrink) that Macrium does not have. But it is a bit more difficult to navigate.
    I think you are going to have to update that tutorial Wolfgang now that the free version 5 is out. The layout is quite different.
    Yeah, maybe one day. But I am not using V5.0 yet. Why switch if something works perfectly. I am gettting lazy - else I already would have made a tutorial for Paragon.
      My Computer
    Quote Quote

  10. zerone01
    Posts : 10
    Windows 7
    Thread Starter
       New #7

    Thanks a lot everyone!


    I will do it through Macrium to do my job. Thanks for all the quick responses, useful links and information. Post back if there is any problem. :)
      My Computer
    Quote Quote

 

  Related Discussions
I use Windows 7 professional 64 bit edition. Im a novice user who is doing this for the 1st time. I intend to use Macrium Reflect Free edition to store an image of my C drive which is the only partition I have, (931 GB ( of which 537 GB is free) ) on an external HDD which is of Sony, 1TB & Fat32...
I'm running Windows 7 Pro 64 on a Lenovo T430u, and I would love to reinstall a clean copy of Windows without all the bloatware that came preinstalled (not to mention the ~15G of recovery partitions). But I do want to create an image of the OEM partitions in case I need to revert the drive to...
Dear, I have 3 identical PCs with 2 partitions: C and D. I created a system image for one PC, C only. But when I restore that system image into the other 2 PCs (using Wind7 DVD), it formats both C and D and restore. The problem is that I have data on D and I don't want it to be formatted. I...
hi, i would like to ask, i have a HP laptop, which has a HP Recovery Partition created (my main system partition is C:, the recovery partition is D: ). because i'm afraid that if my harddisk fail one day, if even the recovery partition is damaged or corrupted, i won't be able to recover my system....
When I try to use windows 7 to make a ISO out of disk instead of an hard drive since none are ntfs format I always get a message saying please insert disk and lable it "" so I did do that then it ask if I want to format the dvd I click yes and then get message saying insert disk greater then 1GB...
Our Sites
Site Links
About Us
Windows 7 Forums is an independent web site and has not been authorized, sponsored, or otherwise approved by Microsoft Corporation. "Windows 7" and related materials are trademarks of Microsoft Corp.

 © Designer Media Ltd
All times are GMT -5. The time now is 15:42.
Find Us