Best drive imaging program???

[XMan]

I'm about to build a new computer . . . only I like the way my software is set up . . . is there any way I can image everything but device drivers so that when I image a new hard drive, the computer will prompt for new drivers and not have old remnants laying around in the registry?

 

[Spook]

I've done this a couple of times... Using an old ghost image, I would go into safe mode and delete all of the device drivers... All of them... and let it reboot and refind everything...

It worked great the 2 or 3 times I've done it so far, Typically I don't like to do that, but when all of the drivers aren't available for download it works good...

 

[dcdomain]

Posted the same info in this thread: http://forums2.anandtech.com/messageview.cfm?catid=27&threadid=295975

For a nice free drive imaging program: http://www.maxtor.com/Maxtorhome.htm

Grab the MaxBlast and do what Spook told you I guess.

 

[Floyd]

Hmm...interesting idea. It had occurred to me before, but I always dismissed it for the hardware issues you mention. But now that I think about it a bit more, it seems like it can be done cleanly. Make a backup of the registry, then open the registry and whack the HKLM\ENUM key, boot into DOS and make your drive image. Then before you reboot your original machine, restore the backup registry (which has the original ENUM key) and you're set. The original machine is undisturbed, and the drive image has only the parts of the registry pertaining to the software config.

Any comments/caveats?

Best regards,
Floyd

 

[XMan]

That definitely sounds like an idea . . . anybody else think it would work? I can't think of any reasonw why it wouldn't . . .

 

[AC]

i've had some problems with this method:

• windows sometimes doesn't like new system devices (eg. the detection of new hardware in setup detects hardware differently than the autodetection one on startup)
• make sure you uninstall software such as creative blaster control, live!ware, or scanning software and other programs that run as a service that look for specific hardware else you'll get a load of BSODs

because of these, and the benefit of a clean system, I rather install from scratch.

 

[Modus]

Take it from me, what you're planning is extremely problematic. There's no guarantee it'll work. Sometimes the smallest change in core hardware (chipset, IDE controller, etc.) and Windows will go nuts.

Only do it as a last resort. Formatting and installing fresh is the way to go. You'll have a nice, clean, virgin Windows registry with no legacy crap from your old machine (orphaned programs, missing files, etc.) Some people complain that they loose all those little tweaks they've made, but this just motivates them to make less tweaks, install less programs, do less customization -- in other words, be a minimalist. And really, there are no easy tweaks left that will significantly improve the performance of MS operating systems.

If you are forced into a situation where you don't have time for a fresh install, this procedure might help you:

1) Boot into Safe Mode.

2) Delete the WINDOWS/INF/OTHER folder.

3) Go to Control Panel > Add/Remove Programs and remove anything to do with the hardware in the current system -- video drivers, modem drivers, digital camera stuff, scanner TWAIN stuff, etc.

4) Run REGEDIT.

5) Delete the entire Enum branch of HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE.

6) Under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run and RunServices, look for anything hardware-related and remove it.

7) Shut down and install the new motherboard.

That's my procedure when I've had to do it in the past, but the success rate is still not terrific

Modus

 

[Supradude]

i've used Norton ghost many many times and it works great everytime... just make an image of the OS and ibnstalled proggies without specific device drivers,... and upon imaging to a new HD, just let the OS autodetect...

 

[Floyd]

After Xerox Man jolted my synapses with this idea, I tried it on a few laptops today at work. I installed Win98 onto one of the machines along with a few apps, then deleted the ENUM key and created a HD image. Loaded it onto some other laptops (different mfg, hardware) and they each detected the hardware properly upon first boot. This will really speed up the tests I'm doing since it involves replacing the hard drive very frequently...don't have to babysit the Win98 installation each time.

But as others have pointed out, it's probably not the most desirable scenario for a machine that you use day in, day out. But if you think ahead and remove any extraneous hardware-specific programs and services, it will probably get the job done with minimal effort. It definitely can't hurt to try...if Windows wigs out, you can always do what you otherwise would've.

Best regards,
Floyd