OE, you around?

[cee-dee]

This morning I had a strange happening.

I'd fire up this computer and it booted up but because I was doing other things, I didn't log on to anything, it was just on the desktop. A while later, I looked over at it and there was a Black screen with an arrow in the middle, then, it started to boot up again.

When it had done so there was a box in the middle of the desktop "Windows has recovered from an unexpected shutdown" and "click here to check for solutions online". I did, nothing happened!

Any thoughts?

[cee-dee]

If the snip below is what you mean, it's already off:-

[otherego]

Hi, cee-dee (vaguely hopes cee-dee's still keeping half an eye on the thread.)


Sorry that didn't help, but it seemed worth a try.


As far as imaging your drive to avert future disasters is concerned - I've been doing a little experimenting, and it really seems pretty simple using either W7's own imaging facility or Macrium Reflect (the only third-party "solution" I tried with the W7 computer.)


Briefly - I installed W7 Home, then Service Pack 1, on a slightly grouchy old single-core laptop with 2GB of RAM.


The only programs I bothered installing were Macrium and AVG free. I left AVG running throughout, but wasn't connected to the internet.


I created images on an external hard drive using first the W7 imaging software, then the Macrium offering. I also burned repair discs (resulting in two "coasters" before I realised the old computer's DVD drive wasn't in great shape.)


Next step was to boot the computer from a live Linux DVD, in order to use a useful little program called GParted to simply delete the Windows partitions (ie everything) from the computer's hard drive. I shut it down, bunged the W& repair disc in, and rebooted it. After some time, the recovery options appeared and I simply followed what was available, ignoring any advanced cleverness.


It took about five minutes from clicking on the appropriate start button to reimaging the drive. Out with the DVD, and the computer booted normally into Windows - all there except for one folder of screenshots. A little worrying, that, although I suppose I might have deleted it previously without noticing. (Hmmmm.) Otherewise, everything was fine.


Back to the Linux DVD, wipe Windows of existence and boot from the Macrium repair disc. Unlike the Windows disc, this actually allowed me to explore the (Macrium) image - I could have read and (I think) copied individual files, had I so wished.


Never mind that - I told it to restore the hard drive to its former glory. Five minutes later, and I was booting normally into W7. This time, everything was there.


My own opinion is that the major problem with both systems (W7 imaging software and Macrium Reflect) is that their options could be more clearly laid out. One shouldn't go at it like a bull at a gate - stop at each stage and double-check what one is doing.


Other than that, it was easy. I thought the Windows restore progress marginally simpler to follow, but thought that Macrium was still slightly better. It didn't misplace any of my stuff (I might be doing W7 a disservice, but I still think it threw a folder away), and it allows one to browse the image - useful should you just want to retrieve individual files deleted inadvertently since making the image.


(Just for fun, I imaged the drive with its original Linux installation using Clonezilla and, on finishing the W7 imaging experiments, I was able to restore the Linux installation perfectly - but have to say that I found Clonezilla, although very powerful, slightly scary and seriously hard work! Luckily, it would have done no harm at all to  lose that particular installation.

[otherego]

Sorry, just to avoid confusion - the external hard drive housing the W7 images (Windows and Macrium versions) had, of course, to be plugged in while the computer was booting from the repair discs. The software on the discs allowed the images to be expanded back onto the computer's hard drive.

[cee-dee]

Yes, I keep looking back to see if you've replied and thank you for persisting.

OK, so you created an image (& repair disc) using the WIndows imaging facility but how long did it take?

I see you disconected from the net and allowed AVG to keep running but what about your firewall?

[otherego]

The image took about fifteen minutes to create. Bear in mind I had added no data, other than a few screenshots, to the installation, and not bothered with any updates.

Creating the discs took longer than I expected - I didn't time them, but I'd guess about ten minutes (both W7 and Macrium).

Reimaging the drive, once the recovery disc had booted the machine and loaded its software into memory, took about five minutes with both applications. Again, bear in mind that it was just a very basic installation - I doubt whether it was much over thirteen GB, from what I recall.

I just left the standard W7 firewall to do its thing. (AVG free doesn't include a firewall. Not that I noticed...)

All lots of fun, and I wish I had more energy for this sort of thing - you never know when it might be useful to someone. I managed to get a few screenshots of the imaging processes, but not the recovery - just in case of future need. TBH, I didn't check to see whether the recovery discs included a screenshot facility, but just assumed that they didn't.

On the subject of energy - bed is calling,  I think. I was thinking of trying to upgrade the version of Mint on the test "victim" (an elderly Toshiba A100). Tomorrow, perhaps.

[cee-dee]

Hmmm, well, if there was nothing much of note on the drive apart from the OS and no updates, I suppose it's to be expected that it was quick?

Reading about imaging I saw that it would take several hours..... which certainly puts me off as I don't want the M/C tied up for hours on end and I don't feel inclined to leave it running overnight either. The back-up process was long enough and I don't fancy another dose.........

I see no other brave soul has nipped in to report on their imaging/cloning experience so I wonder if anyone "does it"?