So i build PC's for people but i've never taken the time to make installing software easy for me.
What software is a good and simple way to clone a drive.
My plan:
Make one complete installation with up to date windows, some software and office.
Copy the above to the Brand new hard drives i put into the computers.
Any tips?
if i remember correctly i have used Acronis True Image WD Edition one time and i liked it.
Yeah that is what i would recommend. Just be sure to not plug in any license keys, because you'll need to input those later.
Alright thank you.
You mean windows activation and such right?
You're going to probably want to do a fresh install on each PC due to instability from moving motherboards and having driver conflicts and such.
Also legally you like need to buy a windows key for like each PC man, like ya totally have to do that wink wink
Yeah thats why i install the original on the most basic hardware with almost no extra options ;)
Oh yes i know. I-am totally doing that! Wink wink
Still probably best to do a fresh install with each PC
clonezilla, plug both drives in use the drive to drive option.. profit
Alway's but unless i run into problems, this is a good way to save a lot of time.
I have indeed chosen to use Clonezilla because i could not get acronis to work on usb at all for some weird reason. and i-am quite used to Linux and freebsd environments. also clonezilla is sooo easy to use :D
And i can just put it on my NAS and not F around with the source hard drive.
Also you could probably just use Gparted to clone partitions, and you can run it from a USB
it's free, not sure if both in price and in freedom
**It is indeed GNU
Doing a straight-up copy will lead to a lot of pain unless if the hardware you're copying to is identical, and even then you can run into issues. At a minimum, I would recommend learning how to use Windows Audit mode and Sysprep so the image that you capture is generalized.
I would also recommend building the image in a virtual machine and then using DISM commands to capture the OS. That way you can create your own customized Windows ISO that does not have any key or drivers that will conflict with the tiniest of hardware changes. It is a fair amount of work to do but you end up with a rock solid OS installation.
If your very industrious I can recommend Microsofts Deployment Toolkit, though I have to say the learning curve is fairly steep if you don't already have a solid understanding about DISM and Sysprep.
I actually don't really worry about driver issues as the original install is on a bare minimum oem 775 motherboard with no bells and whistles and bare metal bios.
And the drivers that are used are in windows 10 itself already and nothing that windows downloaded from anywhere.
So i have the new drive in the new pc with a copy and everything is just perfect. also i checked for old un used drivers. NONE :D
It saw the new hardware, windows starts installing drivers, after letting it sit and rest and after restarting everything was good.
So i-am very happy, also no registry problems.
Also this is a great tool.
http://www.uwe-sieber.de/misc_tools_e.html
(now i know it is not THE BEST way to do it and not the most professional but when i see problems arise (wich i don't see happening) i'll reconsider.)