Higher Performance & Lower Costs With Disk Images
March 8, 2007 | By Raymond T. Hightower
If your primary workstation died today, how long would it take to restore it completely, including Windows XP, Microsoft Office, and all of your critical business software? Eight hours? Ten hours? Here’s how to do it in fifteen minutes.
First, Preparation
Yes, it sounds like magic. Of course a good magician prepares his feats of amazement long before going on stage. Preparation takes time – it’s the most time-consuming part of the process. But once it’s done, the results are beautiful and the fifteen minute goal is achieved.
Two Partitions
First, create two partitions on the PC’s hard drive.
- One partition will contain the operating system and all of the application software.
- One partition will hold the recovery information in the event of failure.
The relative size of the partitions depends on how much software you intend to install, and whether or not you intend to keep data on your local hard drive or on a server. Take these factors into account as you consider the size of your partitions.
Install Software
The next step is to build the PC exactly as you want it to appear in its finished state. You will install the software on the first partition. - Install Windows XP.
- Install the Microsoft Office suite.
- Install “helper” applications, such as the latest versions of Flash and Acrobat.
- Run Windows Update to install all security patches.
- Install business application software (accounting, project management, etc.)
- Install antivirus and anti-malware software.
- Update antivirus & anti-malware signatures.
- Run Windows Update again to install additional security patches, if any.
Test the machine to confirm that you’re satisfied with the results, and then move on to the next step.
Create the Image
Create the disk image while the machine is in its pristine state – before viruses or malware have had any chance to attack the machine. Depending on the size of the image, you can store it on a CD, DVD, or network share.Recovery is a Snap
Recovery is fast if proper preparations have been made. To recover the image created above: - Boot the machine using your favorite method (CD, NIC, or even floppy).
- Start the image recovery software.
- Navigate to the directory containing the disk image.
- Click restore and wait…
And you’ll be looking at a newly restored machine in about 15 minutes.
ROI Time & Money
- Save time. Every minute you have to do without your primary machine is a minute of lost productivity.
- Save money. IT people are expensive! Avoid paying a tech to sit and watch the screen while software installs.