Clone only recovery paritition to new hard drive

[goombawaho]

I've got a customer that has a dead hard drive in an HP All-in-one. HP is sending me a replacement hard drive but it has nothing on it. Customer has another identical machine. Wondering if it's quicker for me, given all the Windows 7 updates, to clone the recovery partition on a working machine to the new hard drive and the run the recovery OR just reload windows 7 from scratch and update.

If I did the cloning, I'd have to change the Windows 7 key code, I suppose. Any thoughts on which is the better road to travel or if most cloning programs could transfer the recovery partition and make it functional?

"Living tomorrow is everyone's sorrow.
Modern man's daydreams have turned into nightmares.

 

[edfair]

Clone the whole drive, then wipe stuff off the windows partition before doing a recovery. It is nice to have the recovery available.

Ed Fair
Give the wrong symptoms, get the wrong solutions.

 

[goombawaho]

I guess I screwed up when I posted BECAUSE..... If I clone the recovery partition or even the whole drive and then kick off the recovery process, it WILL load Windows. But, you still need a ton of updates if the machine is two years old. So, my idea of time saving is probably not valid.

The other aspect is that you get the manufacturer's bundled software (junk?!) if you do a factory restore. I suppose any way you do it there will be a lot of waiting around.

A time saver would be cloning the drive outright but NOT running the recovery. Change windows key/office key as needed and be done with it.

"Living tomorrow is everyone's sorrow.
Modern man's daydreams have turned into nightmares.

 

[edfair]

Using the full clone may put stuff the current user doesn't want. The benefit is that the user of the source drive may have already cleaned up some of the crud and the updates are current.

So far as the time issue for updates, yes it takes time, but it isn't time intensive for you. You leave it powered up ard reboot a couple of times over a couple of hours.



Ed Fair
Give the wrong symptoms, get the wrong solutions.

 

[technome]

I gave up on the recovery partitions. As you state, there are too many updates, driver updates, software installs, changes, junk etc if you use it. As a general practice, when a machine comes in I wipe and reinstall from an OS disk, had too many provider installs affect Active Directory wks, this being another reason for not using recovery . With the price of a 2nd hard drive so cheap, I just clone most of my finished builds to a secondary drive(or use raid 1), no issues with key codes.



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[goombawaho]

Using the full clone may put stuff the current user doesn't want. The benefit is that the user of the source drive may have already cleaned up some of the crud and the updates are current.

This was a lab computer with software to lock down changes, but normally that would be a huge issue + cloning email from one person to another if they had Outlook, for example.

Actually, in this case, I was saved by the computer actually shipping with recovery discs to put everything back as it was. And the customer actually had the discs at hand. But that means all the extra junk has to be removed and then the updates need to be installed.

It's tough to explain to someone why it takes about 3 hours to put a machine back the way it was and why they shouldn't smash it with a hammer and buy a new computer. Fortunately, this was a more expensive all-in-one, so not a disposable. It took forever for the recovery discs to copy and then they initiated an installer routine.


"Living tomorrow is everyone's sorrow.
Modern man's daydreams have turned into nightmares.

 

[edfair]

It's tough to explain to someone why it takes about 3 hours to put a machine back the way it was"

I generally plan for a day, primarily because I'm not into sitting in front of one in the recovery process.
On most of mine I have a cloned drive in storage like what technome mentions. Helps that mine are multiples and one drive can cover the recovery of several.

Ed Fair
Give the wrong symptoms, get the wrong solutions.

 

[cdogg]

To me, the advantage of using the recovery method is that it includes drivers and usually some Windows updates. Obviously, you still have to download a crapload of Windows updates, but at least you don't have to fuss around with drivers. Technome mentions that there are still usually driver updates available from the manufacturer, and that's true, but normally they're not mission critical to getting the system back up and running. Chances are, the old Windows install that failed was using older drivers anyway.

The recovery method is a bit faster even when you count the time to remove bloatware, but of course a clean install is the preferred route when time is not so much an issue. In my environment, I have an image that works for the custom-built workstations I support. I update the image every 6 months or so to keep the Windows updates current. But my hardware isn't changing often, so I can imagine when you're supporting random makes and models, trying to maintain multiple images would be a daunting task. So that recommendation is probably not for you.



-Carl
"The glass is neither half-full nor half-empty: it's twice as big as it needs to be."

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[goombawaho]

Actually in this case, I HAD to use the recovery disc set and would have been hosed without them. Why? Because it was a Windows 8 PC shipped with Windows 7 installed as a downgrade. Thus NO Windows 7 COA on the computer. So, I could not have installed Windows 7 from a DVD.

"Living tomorrow is everyone's sorrow.
Modern man's daydreams have turned into nightmares.

 

[cdogg]

Gotcha, yeah that makes the choice easy then!

 

[goombawaho]

Yes, customer actually came through for me and HAD the recovery DVDs. Amazing. Otherwise, I was pretty out of luck.

"Living tomorrow is everyone's sorrow.
Modern man's daydreams have turned into nightmares.

 

[edfair]

But you do have an option when things look bleakest. You can spring for a 7 retail DVD at the customer's expense. I've had to do it a couple of times with XP where my backup stuff didn't match what the customer had.

Ed Fair
Give the wrong symptoms, get the wrong solutions.

 

[goombawaho]

You can spring for a 7 retail DVD at the customer's expense.

I don't think that animal is still roaming about for sale, unless you buy it used on Ebay.

"Living tomorrow is everyone's sorrow.
Modern man's daydreams have turned into nightmares.

 

[rclarke250]

Newegg still has the OEM versions for sale. Link

 

[goombawaho]

Yeah, but - he said RETAIL. And you can't put an OEM copy of Windows on a HP, Dell - correct? Or so I was told.

"Living tomorrow is everyone's sorrow.
Modern man's daydreams have turned into nightmares.

 

[rclarke250]

I wouldn't buy a new windows 7 version anyways, Just download the retail version from digital river,but you have to modify the .iso. You have to remove the ei.cfg from the sources folder using something like 7 zip and then burn the .iso This should make it so the key you enter from the sticker determines the version of windows installed. Still need to have the correct 64 or 32 bit version though. Should then install and allow it to activate when online, or through the robo call. Or clone over the recovery partition from the other unit and see if you can get it to recover. I have actually had HP send me a preloaded hdd for a laptop before, even came mounted in the bay adapter.

 

[goombawaho]

I knew all that (digital river download, ei.cfg), but you can't legally use a new/different OEM key code on an OEM computer - or can you?

"Living tomorrow is everyone's sorrow.
Modern man's daydreams have turned into nightmares.

 

[rclarke250]

You probably can if you had to replace the mother board for a different model or manufacturer,on the off chance that there is some code in the UEFI/BIOS to prevent it, but you have a valid oem code for the hardware that is there, it's just getting a version of windows that will play nice with it. Also, instead of deleting the EI.CFG file, you could edit it, and change retail to OEM under channel heading. Legally I have no idea, but probably not. But I have always thought you should get install media with the computer you purchase, not create your own, not beg for reimage disks, and sure as hell not a hidden partition that uses up part of the advertised space on the hard drive. That was what I liked about Dell and a few others in the old days, they would put a cd binder with the disks, and licenses in the box. But they all want to save a buck.

 

[goombawaho]

But I have always thought you should get install media with the computer you purchase, not create your own, not beg for reimage disks, and sure as hell not a hidden partition that uses up part of the advertised space on the hard drive.

Amen to that brother. It's a total ripoff and puts you in a bind when the hard drive goes boom. Especially as a tech. You go to fix the computer. New hard drive - NO PROBLEM. Matching install/recovery media - not always simple especially with the no windows 7 COA sticker on PCs that ship downgraded from Windows 8.

"Living tomorrow is everyone's sorrow.
Modern man's daydreams have turned into nightmares.

 

[edfair]

but you can't legally use a new/different OEM key code on an OEM computer - or can you?"

In an earlier life MS allowed sales of OEM to people who purchased memory, hard drives, and M/Bs to upgrade. So yes, if you have a legally acquired key code, you can use it.

Ed Fair
Give the wrong symptoms, get the wrong solutions.