Network push ISO image?

[Denly]

I sometime pickup retire PC from work for friend's and family, meaning I may work on a few of the same model at a time. Doing it one by one is a huge waste of time.

Is there an easy way to create one image and push it to others(with freeware)? I did a lot of searching and still confuse.

I know I can clone but rather at collecting image for future use.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

You want to boot a computer from an ISO stored on a network volume? Or do you mean a hard drive image?

Maybe host a local PXE and Fog server.

http://fogproject.org/

 

[Denly]

You want to boot a computer from an ISO stored on a network volume? Or do you mean a hard drive image?

Maybe host a local PXE and Fog server.

http://fogproject.org/

Ideally I want to setup one PC, for example win 7 Pro with all the updates. Then create an image store it on a NAS or my PC, push that image whenever I working on that model.

Will check it out.

 

[Lorthreth]

Clonezilla takes a bit to learn but it's quite good.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

Ideally I want to setup one PC, for example win 7 Pro with all the updates. Then create an image store it on a NAS or my PC, push that image whenever I working on that model.

Will check it out.

That's what Fog can do.

Clonezilla can do it too (accessing disk images over a network), and is less difficult to use/set up imo, but you'd have to boot from CD/USB (Fog will netboot, which is nerd cred, even if it's not needed.)

 

[JackMDS]

First you should be aware of the Dis-similar Hardware issue when doing Cloning.

I.e., simple Cloning many time result with in capacity to Boot because of Hardware incompatibility.

Yeah, CloneZilla would work, provided that by the time it finished its work the people are still alive. :hmm: - :sneaky: -

These two free might be a better choice.

http://www.easeus.com/disk-copy/

http://www.macrium.com/reflectfree.aspx

The Best, because it can compensate for dissimilar Hardware (Universal Restore) and it is very fast.

It is Not free - http://www.acronis.com/en-us/personal/pc-backup/

 

[Denly]

First you should be aware of the Dis-similar Hardware issue when doing Cloning.

I.e., simple Cloning many time result with in capacity to Boot because of Hardware incompatibility.

Yeah, CloneZilla would work, provided that by the time it finished its work the people are still alive. :hmm: - :sneaky: -

These two free might be a better choice.

http://www.easeus.com/disk-copy/

http://www.macrium.com/reflectfree.aspx

The Best, because it can compensate for dissimilar Hardware (Universal Restore) and it is very fast.

It is Not free - http://www.acronis.com/en-us/personal/pc-backup/

I tried reflectfree before, after creating an image what's the next step?

 

[Denly]

fog looks interesting but I am allergic to Linux, maybe I can try setup a fog server using fog on my main PC?

As for clonezilla I see one problem "The destination partition must be equal or larger than the source one." In this case should I find a 80gb HD and start my image?

 

[JackMDS]

Save the Image to an External Drive.

Make a Bootable CD, or Flash Drive from the Imaging App.

Boot the new empty computer from the Bootable Media and copy the Image onto the HD of the new computer.

This might further help - http://www.howtogeek.com/199068/how-to-upgrade-your-existing-hard-drive-in-under-an-hour/

 

[Dahak]

First you should be aware of the Dis-similar Hardware issue when doing Cloning

If you generalize the image before hand with sysprep, he can get around that issue.
This is the supported way to clone win7 anyway

 

[Lorne]

If the hardware is always different you can make a bootable usb slipstream flashdrive.
Its a lot faster then DVD.