New 1tb Drive best practice for partitions

[mickey megabyte]

i really wouldn't bother - i doubt whether you would notice the milliseconds of difference.

you would probably waste more time setting it up than you would ever save in performance.

but in the end, it's up to you!

 

[Mike Connor]

Imaging is the safest and fastest option to get your system back. And depending how often you make an image, it may be very close to today. I always have an image that is at most 3 days old.

I have used and tried many imaging programs and found free Macrium to be the easiest and fastest. It is also very reliable and has never failed me. I made a video tutorial that can you watch and go from there: http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/73828-imaging-free-macrium.html?ltr=I

If you want more general information, you can read this: http://www.sevenforums.com/backup-restore/128494-imaging-strategies.html

Agreed on free Macrium, I still use it for imaging my XP machines. Unfortunately I never got it to work on several Windows 7 machines as it refuses to recognise some video drivers.

I use this on my 7 machines, and am extremely pleased with it:

Free Download EASEUS Todo Backup Freeware and Trial version. Complete Backup and Restore Software for Windows & Linux.

Regards....Mike Connor

 

[6BlackRavens]

I had some questions similar to the OP floating around in my head about a new W7 installation on a new HDD, Partitioning and Gaming performance and now you guys have really screwed my head thx

 

[mickey megabyte]

that's what we're here for

seriously though, what are you confused about?

 

[JeremyAlexander]

System Image with macrium free

Instead of initializing my new disk in acronis I just ran windows setup from the partition made with this ( just to see if it works.) It was Flawless and way faster than the MS DVD !!!http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/58455-recovery-partition-create.html
VERY VERY AWESOME YOU GUYS!!
Could somebody Please provide me a link to a system image maker I just realized that this free version of Macrium Reflect doesn't do differential backups and has the schedule function gimped out.

Anyway the partion with the setup cd and the bcd edit thing is Awesome you guys.

Edit: The system image wasn't too long and really more compressed than I figured it would be, but is there something that I can use that will schedule itself (or has command line switches I can put into a task in task scheduler) and is differential.

 

[mjf]

Ok, got my new 1TB HD
One more stupid question regarding seek speed. As you move in the access time slows down, but my question is wouldn't that be platter specific or not? I read that my Seagate Barracuda drive has two 500G platters. So would it still fall off if I made 2 500G partitions or does it always start at the begining of the drive regardless of platter?

My post #26 was for a Seagate Barracuda (see model stated). CrystalDiskMark show similar speed differences. The main speed advantages are for sequential transfers. Of course for small random file I/O where seek times start to dominate, SSDs shine.

I don't know what an earlier reference to "milliseconds of difference" was about. The test results speak for themselves.

 

[mjf]

whoever said this takes like 30 minutes must have the fastest PC in the world!

I have an Intel Core 2 Quad Q8300 @ 2.5GHz; 4GB Ram imaging to/from USB2 external HDDs.
Imaging Performance for 55GB:
Windows imaging - 35 minutes (I do this often). Reimage ~ same time.
Macrium Imaging ~ 25 minutes (I do this occassionally). Reimage is slower.

True cloning is a bit for bit copy and 1TB would take quite some time and it requires the same size disk to clone to. Not a regular mainentance strategy in my book.

 

[Mike Connor]

whoever said this takes like 30 minutes must have the fastest PC in the world!

I have an Intel Core 2 Quad Q8300 @ 2.5GHz; 4GB Ram imaging to/from USB2 external HDDs.
Imaging Performance for 55GB:
Windows imaging - 35 minutes (I do this often). Reimage ~ same time.
Macrium Imaging ~ 25 minutes (I do this occassionally). Reimage is slower.

True cloning is a bit for bit copy and 1TB would take quite some time and it requires the same size disk to clone to. Not a regular mainentance strategy in my book.

Agreed +1

 

[whs]

just realized that this free version of Macrium Reflect doesn't do differential backups and has the schedule function gimped out.

True, free Macrium cannot do differentials (which I hate anyhow) - you loose one in the chain and you lost it all.
But scheduling is easy, just right click on the XML file to see the option.

whoever said this takes like 30 minutes must have the fastest PC in the world!

This is the imaging time for my system - 32GB real, 17.5GB compressed:

 

[JeremyAlexander]

well my C is 176 Gigs used now so that's quite a bit larger.
And if I could schedule it I guess it really doesn't matter how long it takes, so would someone be kind enough to either give me a link to something that can be scheduled or tell me how to get one please.

 

[pparks1]

just realized that this free version of Macrium Reflect doesn't do differential backups and has the schedule function gimped out.

True, free Macrium cannot do differentials (which I hate anyhow) - you loose one in the chain and you lost it all.

Actually that is an incremental backup. A differential backup is a full backup the first time and everything that has changed since the last full backup. As long as you have the full backup and the latest differential, you are right back in business.

i think it takes me between 4-8 minutes to image my computer. It's about 40GB on the SSD drive and I image to an internal 1TB WD Caviar Black drive.

 

[whs]

Actually that is an incremental backup. A differential backup is a full backup the first time and everything that has changed since the last full backup. As long as you have the full backup and the latest differential, you are right back in business.

I know, I know. I always mix up the wording. Sorry.

 

[JeremyAlexander]

Ok forget about all that incremental stuff, I can delete the old ones. I guess I just need something that I can schedule to run either by itself or with command line switches I can put into a task. In order that it could be left to run when I am asleep or away. There's seems to be alot of really smart ppl here so I know the answer will come. Thank you all for your time.

 

[theog]

Ok forget about all that incremental stuff, I can delete the old ones. I guess I just need something that I can schedule to run either by itself or with command line switches I can put into a task. In order that it could be left to run when I am asleep or away. There's seems to be alot of really smart ppl here so I know the answer will come. Thank you all for your time.

One install = one Licence.
Two installs = two licences

Disk0 Partition 1 should no less tham 100gb.
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/91339-ssd-hdd-optimize-windows-reinstallation.html

Disk1 partition 1 you could uses for a first install backup image.
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/675-system-image-recovery.html?ltr=S
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/663-backup-complete-computer-create-image-backup.html
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/648-restore-backup-user-system-files.html

Here you go.

 

[GeneO]

Ok forget about all that incremental stuff, I can delete the old ones. I guess I just need something that I can schedule to run either by itself or with command line switches I can put into a task. In order that it could be left to run when I am asleep or away. There's seems to be alot of really smart ppl here so I know the answer will come. Thank you all for your time.

Windows 7 Image Backup. It has a scheduling feature.

You may run into the problem with any backup application, including the built in, that if you schedule it to wake your computer from sleep, it will wake up, start the backup, and go back to sleep after the timeout. There are ways around this - like setting the sleep timeout before and after in a script.

Here is the command line reference:

Wbadmin

 

[JeremyAlexander]

Windows Backup Image - No Dice

Well Thanks for all that but it doesn't appear to work.
I tried this for my sons computer and then mine neither of them work.

He has plenty of room and yet.

Trying to resolve found this here:
Backup Problem - Not enough disc space?!!
So I guess still looking for a way to restore that can be scheduled.
And Yes the partition I am trying to backup is on a seperate drive from the one I am trying to back it up on. Thinking maybe it's a write priviledge of some kind but unable to resolve.

 

[whs]

Try with Wbadmin from an elevated Command prompt. It may work. The command is:

wbadmin start backup -backuptarget:X: -include:Y:

Wher X is the volume to which you want to backup and Y is the volume that you want to backup.

 

[mjf]

Well Thanks for all that but it doesn't appear to work.
I tried this for my sons computer and then mine neither of them work.
View attachment 151586
He has plenty of room and yet.
View attachment 151587
Trying to resolve found this here:
Backup Problem - Not enough disc space?!!
So I guess still looking for a way to restore that can be scheduled.
And Yes the partition I am trying to backup is on a seperate drive from the one I am trying to back it up on. Thinking maybe it's a write priviledge of some kind but unable to resolve.

In the thread you refer to the 100MB system reserved partition is mentioned. If you have one and it does not have 50MB free you will get the error reported.

Windows Disk Management will show you the free space in the system reserved partition.

 

[JeremyAlexander]

Yeah, I read it before I put a link to it. That's not the problem.

 

[gregrocker]

My understanding is reader always parks at ouside of disk, so partitioning cannot gain seek speed. This is why we suggest placing OS in first partition.

With separate HD's, yes, you get the benefit of two working readers (e.g. OS and data).