imaging a hdd for a lab

[ionbasa]

Okay so at my workplace my computer lab got 50 new Dells with I7 CPUs and 7 Professional 64 BIT and I need to install all our Cad software and everything else. When I contacted the Sytem admin he said he he couldn't do it with 7, and wanted xp to be installed. SO I told him I will figure it out myself. Since they are not directly the schools pc he cant touch them, I got it through a grant not under the school, but under engineering.

So the current version of 7 is OEMed by Dell, SO I should be able to install all of the software on one of the new PCs( they are all the same) and run a flavor of linux on boot up by cd on that PC. THen I could burn 49 other Cds(not a problem) and set it up to image to the hdds through the network?
(MY lab is the only lab that has Gigabit)
right?

 

[Johnathan Lyman]

I got lost. Maybe you have the right idea, maybe not. I don't know.

This is what I'd do (IF the machines are identical, and I had the ability).

1. Install all software, tweaks, settings, drivers, graphics, user accounts, blah blah blah on machine #1. Once that is all nice and pretty, make an image of that machine using a tool like Norton Ghost or TrueImage by Symantec or Acronis, respectively.

2. Both suites have a boot disc you can make that when booted to, can extract an image from an external source (say a portable hard drive) and smack it onto the hard drive inside the computer. Given the image will most likely be over 8.5gb, a dual layer DVD won't work to hold the image on.

3. Rinse and repeat.

Either that, or use Dell's remote deployment software combined with Intel vPro (if these are true business/enterprise machines, they'll have it) and deploy the images that way (probably costs more to do if you don't have it already)

That's my 2 cents.

 

[cluberti]

You could also use MDT 2010 from MS - it's free (unlike the other tools) and has the ability to sysprep and capture an install, and then redeploy it over the network or on bootable media (DVD or USB).

 

[ionbasa]

okay, thank you for all the replies, I actualy decided to go another route:
DRBL (Diskless Remote Boot in Linux)
This would alow me to PXE boot all the computers in the lab and clone from the image I save on my server.

 

[Johnathan Lyman]

okay, thank you for all the replies, I actualy decided to go another route:
DRBL (Diskless Remote Boot in Linux)
This would alow me to PXE boot all the computers in the lab and clone from the image I save on my server.

Multiple ways to do a certain task. Definitely helpful for future browsers that may stumble upon this.

Thanks for letting us know!