System Image Recovery - Restore Image on Computer in Windows 8

How to Do a System Image Recovery in Windows 8 and 8.1



information   Information
This tutorial will show you how to restore the contents of your Windows 8 or 8.1 PC back to how it was at the time a system image was created if your hard disk or entire computer ever stops working.

warning   Warning

  • You can only do a system image recovery to a HDD or SSD that is the same size or larger than the one(s) included in the system image when it was created. You will not be able to do a system image recovery to a smaller HDD/SSD. If the HDDs/SSDs are larger, then you will have "unallocated" space afterwards that is left over from the difference that you can extend into.
  • When you restore your computer from a system image, it is a complete restoration. You can't choose individual items to restore, and all of your current programs, system settings, and files are replaced with those on the system image.
  • If your system image is on an external or removable device (ex: USB drive), then make sure it is connected before starting. If it's a USB device, then make sure that you also have your BIOS settings (ex: Legacy USB) set to allow USB devices to be recognized at boot.




Here's How:


1. Boot to the System Recovery Options screen, and click/tap on the System Image Recovery option. (see screenshot below)
Restore_Image-1.jpg

2. If prompted, choose the OS (ex: Windows 8) that you want to do a System Image Recovery with. (see screenshot below)
NOTE: You will usually only see this if you booted from a Windows 8 installation DVD or USB thumb drive, or ISO file if in a virtual machine.
System_Image_Recovery_OS.jpg

3. If prompted, select and click/tap on an administrator account on the computer that you are doing a system image recovery on. (see screenshot below)
Restore_Image-2.jpg

4. Type in the password for the selected administrator account, and click/tap on Continue. (see screenshot below)
Restore_Image-3.jpg

5. Do step 6 or 7 below for which system image you wanted to use.
Note   Note
If you get a Windows cannot find a system image on this computer message, then see:


6. To Use the Latest Available System Image
A) Select (dot) Use the latest available system image, click/tap on Next, and go to step 8 below. (see screenshot below)​
latest.jpg

7. To Select to Use Another System Image
A) Select (dot) Select a system image, and click/tap on Next. (see screenshot above)​
NOTE: This is if the system image that you want to use is not listed here, and/or is saved at another location that you wish to choose from instead. If you saved your system image to a set of DVDs instead of a HDD/SSD, then insert the last DVD from the image set first.​
select-1.jpg
B) Select the location of the system image for the computer that you want to restore, and click/tap on Next. (see screenshots below)​
Note   Note
To add a image from a network location, click on the Advanced button, and on the Search for a system image on the network option.

Note   Note

If the drive cannot be seen to select a system image from, then you may need to use the tutorial below to load your SATA or RAID drivers before it will be seen. You would click on the Advanced button, and on the Install a driver option.​
select-2B.jpg

select-2A.jpg
C) Select a system image with the date and time that you want to restore, click/tap on Next, and go to step 8 below. (see screenshot below)​
select-3.jpg

8. Do step 9, 10, or 11 below depending on what options you have and would like to do. (see screenshots below)
Note   Note
Format and repartition disks box:

Note   Note

NOTE: Special thanks to MJF for this addition.​
1) Grayed out and selected
You are forced to have the whole disk formatted and repartitioned to match the partition structure of the disk the image was made from. This can occur when restoring an image to a new disk or the original disk with a modified partition structure. Data on other partitions on the disk you are restoring to will be lost.​
2) Grayed out and unselected
You are not given the option to format and repartition the disk. This will occur if you are restoring Windows from a partition on the same disk.​
3) Not grayed out and unselected
Here you have the option to select format the whole disk and repartition or not. In this case the disk the image was taken from has a matching partition structure to the disk you are restoring the image to. By not selecting the format and repartition option your image will be restored and other partitions untouched such as valuable data partitions.​

Restore_Image-4A.jpg
Restore_Image-4B.jpg
Restore_Image-4C.jpg

9. To Do a Full System Image Recovery
NOTE:
Use this option if you want to delete any existing partitions and format all disks on this computer to match the layout of what was included in the system image when it was created.
A) Check the Format and repartition disks box (if not grayed out) and uncheck the Only restore system drives box (if available), and click/tap on Next. (see screenshots below step 8)​
B) Go to step 11 or 12 below.​

10. To Only Restore System Drives from System Image
NOTE: Use this option if you want to format and restore only the drives from your system image that are required to run Windows. If the system image included that you moved anything like your page file, user folders, or user profile to another drive location than the default C, then that drive location(s) will also be formated and restored to how it was in the system image. If you have separate data drives, they will not be restored.
A) If an available option, check the Only restore system drives box, click/tap on Next, and go to step 12 below. (see bottom screenshot below 8)​

11. To Exclude Restoring Specific Drives when Doing a System Image Recovery
NOTE:
This option will allow you to exclude specific disks from the restore process to make sure that these disks will not be formated or repartitioned.
A) Check the Format and repartition disks box (if not grayed out), and click/tap on the Exclude disks button (if not grayed out). (see screenshots below step 8)​
NOTE: If the Exclude disks button is grayed out, then the HDD that you are restoring to is empty, or you do not have any disks in the system image that are able to be excluded from being restored.
B) Check the disks that you want to exclude from being restored from the system image, and click/tap on OK. (see screenshot below)​
Restore_Image-4D.jpg
C) Click/tap on Next, and go to step 12 below. (see screenshots below step 8)​

12. When finished selecting what you want to restore from the system image, click/tap on Finish. (see screenshot below)
Restore_Image-5.jpg

13. Click/tap on Yes. (see screenshot below)
Restore_Image-6.jpg

14. You will now see this screenshot below.
NOTE: If you have the system image on DVDs (step 7A), then have them ready to insert them as prompted.
Restore_Image-7.jpg

15. When it is finished, click/tap on the Restart now button. (see screenshot below)
NOTE: You will have 60 seconds before the computer restarts automatically.
Restore_Image-8.jpg



That's it,
Shawn


 

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Hello Shawn,

Another great tutorial (as always)! I just wanted to emphasize that your method (IMHO) is the best way to recover Windows 8 from a failed hard drive situation that forces you to install a new replacement drive. The only limitation (that I can see) is that the new hard drive must be equal to or greater (in size) than the original and, if greater, the unallocated leftover space can be dealt with after the initial recovery installation. Anyway, I just had to try it so I created a system image of my 40GB drive and restored it to a newly formatted 80GB drive using your procedures as described above. It worked perfectly. Thanks a bunch!

norepli
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
You're welcome norepli. I'm glad you like it and found it helpful. :)
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    64-bit Windows 10
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Custom self built
    CPU
    Intel i7-8700K OC'd to 5 GHz
    Motherboard
    ASUS ROG Maximus XI Formula Z390
    Memory
    64 GB (4x16GB) G.SKILL TridentZ RGB DDR4 3600 MHz (F4-3600C18D-32GTZR)
    Graphics Card(s)
    ASUS ROG-STRIX-GTX1080TI-O11G-GAMING
    Sound Card
    Integrated Digital Audio (S/PDIF)
    Monitor(s) Displays
    2 x Samsung Odyssey G7 27"
    Screen Resolution
    2560x1440
    Hard Drives
    1TB Samsung 990 PRO M.2,
    4TB Samsung 990 PRO PRO M.2,
    8TB WD MyCloudEX2Ultra NAS
    PSU
    OCZ Series Gold OCZZ1000M 1000W
    Case
    Thermaltake Core P3
    Cooling
    Corsair Hydro H115i
    Keyboard
    Logitech wireless K800
    Mouse
    Logitech MX Master 3
    Internet Speed
    1 Gb/s Download and 35 Mb/s Upload
    Browser
    Internet Explorer 11
    Antivirus
    Malwarebyte Anti-Malware Premium
    Other Info
    Logitech Z625 speaker system,
    Logitech BRIO 4K Pro webcam,
    HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP M477fdn,
    APC SMART-UPS RT 1000 XL - SURT1000XLI,
    Galaxy S23 Plus phone
Hi Shawn,

My Acer PC came pre-installed with OEM Win 8 OS Home Edition in dynamic disk. If I convert it to basic disk, will it delete my OS? If so, can I use this tutorial to recover the image I made (from your tutorial also) and reinstall the OS in basic disk? or should I should use the manufacturer's recovery media? Thanks in advance.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Win 8 (64) : Win 7 (64) : Vista (64) : Android JB 4.2 : iOS 6
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Acer AX Series & HP i-5 2400s
    Screen Resolution
    Main PC - 2x Sony PS3 3D LED Displays + 1x 22" Philips; HTPC - 47" HDTV w/ 17" LCD secondary display
    Hard Drives
    Internal- 1TB on each system; 1x120GB SSD on main PC
    External (network attached)- 1x2TB Seagate backup; 1x1TB ext. storage; 1x500GB,
    Other Info
    http://tinyurl.com/br4uxrk

    http://tinyurl.com/cwj93pj
Hello Ganie,

You might see if you may be able to use OPTION ONE or OPTION TWO in the tutorial below to convert the disk back to basic without losing anything. I would still recommend to back up anything you do not want to lose just to be safe.

Convert a Dynamic Disk to a Basic Disk - Windows 7 Help Forums

Hope this helps. :)
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    64-bit Windows 10
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Custom self built
    CPU
    Intel i7-8700K OC'd to 5 GHz
    Motherboard
    ASUS ROG Maximus XI Formula Z390
    Memory
    64 GB (4x16GB) G.SKILL TridentZ RGB DDR4 3600 MHz (F4-3600C18D-32GTZR)
    Graphics Card(s)
    ASUS ROG-STRIX-GTX1080TI-O11G-GAMING
    Sound Card
    Integrated Digital Audio (S/PDIF)
    Monitor(s) Displays
    2 x Samsung Odyssey G7 27"
    Screen Resolution
    2560x1440
    Hard Drives
    1TB Samsung 990 PRO M.2,
    4TB Samsung 990 PRO PRO M.2,
    8TB WD MyCloudEX2Ultra NAS
    PSU
    OCZ Series Gold OCZZ1000M 1000W
    Case
    Thermaltake Core P3
    Cooling
    Corsair Hydro H115i
    Keyboard
    Logitech wireless K800
    Mouse
    Logitech MX Master 3
    Internet Speed
    1 Gb/s Download and 35 Mb/s Upload
    Browser
    Internet Explorer 11
    Antivirus
    Malwarebyte Anti-Malware Premium
    Other Info
    Logitech Z625 speaker system,
    Logitech BRIO 4K Pro webcam,
    HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP M477fdn,
    APC SMART-UPS RT 1000 XL - SURT1000XLI,
    Galaxy S23 Plus phone
Hello Ganie,

You might see if you may be able to use OPTION ONE or OPTION TWO in the tutorial below to convert the disk back to basic without losing anything. I would still recommend to back up anything you do not want to lose just to be safe.

Convert a Dynamic Disk to a Basic Disk - Windows 7 Help Forums

Hope this helps. :)

Hi Shawn,
I took a shot with Easeus as PW doesn't have the option to convert dynamic disk using the very same version you specified in the tutorial and I declined to the update. Even Easeus have the latest version (I think it's version 12.x) which didn't have the dynamic conversion option. So I made a wild guess and downloaded an old version (9.x) which had the conversion option. I followed the tutorial and the disk was succesfully converted to "basic" then this:

IMAG1677.jpg

I was able to boot up to recovery screen using the rescue cd and tried to perform recovery by image. But then I realized, my image file is from dynamic disk so it won't work anymore. So, I had no choice but to pull out the USB recovery media I created before and perform a complete PC reset. It took about 25mins to reset including re-partition tasks (the disk remained basic after the reset which is what I want). But to install my programs and to setup the PC the way I want it (uninstalled crapwares, etc) took about 3 hrs. Now I have a fresh setup to make a backup image of. But it was painful... urgghh... About my data, I normally save them on a separate harddrive so they are all intact.

Just, a heads up. You may want to revisit the tutorial and check for 3rd party software versions. But I am okay. No worries. At least I got what I want. :)

Cheers!
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Win 8 (64) : Win 7 (64) : Vista (64) : Android JB 4.2 : iOS 6
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Acer AX Series & HP i-5 2400s
    Screen Resolution
    Main PC - 2x Sony PS3 3D LED Displays + 1x 22" Philips; HTPC - 47" HDTV w/ 17" LCD secondary display
    Hard Drives
    Internal- 1TB on each system; 1x120GB SSD on main PC
    External (network attached)- 1x2TB Seagate backup; 1x1TB ext. storage; 1x500GB,
    Other Info
    http://tinyurl.com/br4uxrk

    http://tinyurl.com/cwj93pj
Ganie,

I'm sorry to hear that you it didn't work out well for you, and that you had to do a fresh install.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    64-bit Windows 10
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Custom self built
    CPU
    Intel i7-8700K OC'd to 5 GHz
    Motherboard
    ASUS ROG Maximus XI Formula Z390
    Memory
    64 GB (4x16GB) G.SKILL TridentZ RGB DDR4 3600 MHz (F4-3600C18D-32GTZR)
    Graphics Card(s)
    ASUS ROG-STRIX-GTX1080TI-O11G-GAMING
    Sound Card
    Integrated Digital Audio (S/PDIF)
    Monitor(s) Displays
    2 x Samsung Odyssey G7 27"
    Screen Resolution
    2560x1440
    Hard Drives
    1TB Samsung 990 PRO M.2,
    4TB Samsung 990 PRO PRO M.2,
    8TB WD MyCloudEX2Ultra NAS
    PSU
    OCZ Series Gold OCZZ1000M 1000W
    Case
    Thermaltake Core P3
    Cooling
    Corsair Hydro H115i
    Keyboard
    Logitech wireless K800
    Mouse
    Logitech MX Master 3
    Internet Speed
    1 Gb/s Download and 35 Mb/s Upload
    Browser
    Internet Explorer 11
    Antivirus
    Malwarebyte Anti-Malware Premium
    Other Info
    Logitech Z625 speaker system,
    Logitech BRIO 4K Pro webcam,
    HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP M477fdn,
    APC SMART-UPS RT 1000 XL - SURT1000XLI,
    Galaxy S23 Plus phone
Ganie,

I'm sorry to hear that you it didn't work out well for you, and that you had to do a fresh install.

No worries. It was me. Nothing wrong with my PC except I wanted the flexibility of basic disk for my purpose. Thanks.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Win 8 (64) : Win 7 (64) : Vista (64) : Android JB 4.2 : iOS 6
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Acer AX Series & HP i-5 2400s
    Screen Resolution
    Main PC - 2x Sony PS3 3D LED Displays + 1x 22" Philips; HTPC - 47" HDTV w/ 17" LCD secondary display
    Hard Drives
    Internal- 1TB on each system; 1x120GB SSD on main PC
    External (network attached)- 1x2TB Seagate backup; 1x1TB ext. storage; 1x500GB,
    Other Info
    http://tinyurl.com/br4uxrk

    http://tinyurl.com/cwj93pj
Actually I just have one question Shawn.
After completing the PC reset, I noticed that there is a new partition in the hard drive named "DATA". And when I check the properties, it is 73GB in size but nothing is written on it. Can I just delete that partition?
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Win 8 (64) : Win 7 (64) : Vista (64) : Android JB 4.2 : iOS 6
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Acer AX Series & HP i-5 2400s
    Screen Resolution
    Main PC - 2x Sony PS3 3D LED Displays + 1x 22" Philips; HTPC - 47" HDTV w/ 17" LCD secondary display
    Hard Drives
    Internal- 1TB on each system; 1x120GB SSD on main PC
    External (network attached)- 1x2TB Seagate backup; 1x1TB ext. storage; 1x500GB,
    Other Info
    http://tinyurl.com/br4uxrk

    http://tinyurl.com/cwj93pj
Go ahead and post a screenshot showing the full layout of your Disk Management window to see what it says first.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    64-bit Windows 10
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Custom self built
    CPU
    Intel i7-8700K OC'd to 5 GHz
    Motherboard
    ASUS ROG Maximus XI Formula Z390
    Memory
    64 GB (4x16GB) G.SKILL TridentZ RGB DDR4 3600 MHz (F4-3600C18D-32GTZR)
    Graphics Card(s)
    ASUS ROG-STRIX-GTX1080TI-O11G-GAMING
    Sound Card
    Integrated Digital Audio (S/PDIF)
    Monitor(s) Displays
    2 x Samsung Odyssey G7 27"
    Screen Resolution
    2560x1440
    Hard Drives
    1TB Samsung 990 PRO M.2,
    4TB Samsung 990 PRO PRO M.2,
    8TB WD MyCloudEX2Ultra NAS
    PSU
    OCZ Series Gold OCZZ1000M 1000W
    Case
    Thermaltake Core P3
    Cooling
    Corsair Hydro H115i
    Keyboard
    Logitech wireless K800
    Mouse
    Logitech MX Master 3
    Internet Speed
    1 Gb/s Download and 35 Mb/s Upload
    Browser
    Internet Explorer 11
    Antivirus
    Malwarebyte Anti-Malware Premium
    Other Info
    Logitech Z625 speaker system,
    Logitech BRIO 4K Pro webcam,
    HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP M477fdn,
    APC SMART-UPS RT 1000 XL - SURT1000XLI,
    Galaxy S23 Plus phone
Go ahead and post a screenshot showing the full layout of your Disk Management window to see what it says first.

Here it is Shawn:

Image0022.jpg
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Win 8 (64) : Win 7 (64) : Vista (64) : Android JB 4.2 : iOS 6
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Acer AX Series & HP i-5 2400s
    Screen Resolution
    Main PC - 2x Sony PS3 3D LED Displays + 1x 22" Philips; HTPC - 47" HDTV w/ 17" LCD secondary display
    Hard Drives
    Internal- 1TB on each system; 1x120GB SSD on main PC
    External (network attached)- 1x2TB Seagate backup; 1x1TB ext. storage; 1x500GB,
    Other Info
    http://tinyurl.com/br4uxrk

    http://tinyurl.com/cwj93pj
Since this was a factory recovery, the Data drive is most likely something Acer uses. Possibly for backups.

Before just deleting the partition, test by removing only the drive letter to make sure that you have no ill effects from it for a few days.
If you do, then you could just add the same drive letter back.

If not, then you should be fine to delete it and extend say F: into it.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    64-bit Windows 10
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Custom self built
    CPU
    Intel i7-8700K OC'd to 5 GHz
    Motherboard
    ASUS ROG Maximus XI Formula Z390
    Memory
    64 GB (4x16GB) G.SKILL TridentZ RGB DDR4 3600 MHz (F4-3600C18D-32GTZR)
    Graphics Card(s)
    ASUS ROG-STRIX-GTX1080TI-O11G-GAMING
    Sound Card
    Integrated Digital Audio (S/PDIF)
    Monitor(s) Displays
    2 x Samsung Odyssey G7 27"
    Screen Resolution
    2560x1440
    Hard Drives
    1TB Samsung 990 PRO M.2,
    4TB Samsung 990 PRO PRO M.2,
    8TB WD MyCloudEX2Ultra NAS
    PSU
    OCZ Series Gold OCZZ1000M 1000W
    Case
    Thermaltake Core P3
    Cooling
    Corsair Hydro H115i
    Keyboard
    Logitech wireless K800
    Mouse
    Logitech MX Master 3
    Internet Speed
    1 Gb/s Download and 35 Mb/s Upload
    Browser
    Internet Explorer 11
    Antivirus
    Malwarebyte Anti-Malware Premium
    Other Info
    Logitech Z625 speaker system,
    Logitech BRIO 4K Pro webcam,
    HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP M477fdn,
    APC SMART-UPS RT 1000 XL - SURT1000XLI,
    Galaxy S23 Plus phone
question:

I see no option in the 8.1 system image recovery to make a recovery DVD. Win 8 using the W7 recovery had this option.

I still have the W8 recovery DVD but don't know if this would work on 8.1 I ask because maybe the drive doesn't boot at all and doesn't get to any windows recovery. In that case you would need a recovery (boot) dvd with the ability to find and restore the image backed up on anexternal drive.

This is how Acronis works, it has a small boot system you can add to the computer booting that says to press F11, and brings up the recovery program, But also has a recovery DVD in case, I had to use the DVD before when my system wouldn't even boot.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    W8.1up1 Pro x64 w/media center
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    dv7t-6c00 HP
    CPU
    2670QM
    Motherboard
    HP
    Memory
    8g
    Graphics Card(s)
    Radeon 7690M XT (6770m) /Intel 3000
    Sound Card
    IDT HD Intel
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Laptop 17.3"/Samsung 26"
    Screen Resolution
    1920x1080 HD
    Hard Drives
    Hitichi 750g 5400 rpm Laptop
    Case
    Brushed Aluminum (steel)
    Keyboard
    external USB
    Mouse
    external USB
    Internet Speed
    DSL
    Browser
    FF, IE, Chrome
    Antivirus
    COMODO Security Suite

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    64-bit Windows 10
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Custom self built
    CPU
    Intel i7-8700K OC'd to 5 GHz
    Motherboard
    ASUS ROG Maximus XI Formula Z390
    Memory
    64 GB (4x16GB) G.SKILL TridentZ RGB DDR4 3600 MHz (F4-3600C18D-32GTZR)
    Graphics Card(s)
    ASUS ROG-STRIX-GTX1080TI-O11G-GAMING
    Sound Card
    Integrated Digital Audio (S/PDIF)
    Monitor(s) Displays
    2 x Samsung Odyssey G7 27"
    Screen Resolution
    2560x1440
    Hard Drives
    1TB Samsung 990 PRO M.2,
    4TB Samsung 990 PRO PRO M.2,
    8TB WD MyCloudEX2Ultra NAS
    PSU
    OCZ Series Gold OCZZ1000M 1000W
    Case
    Thermaltake Core P3
    Cooling
    Corsair Hydro H115i
    Keyboard
    Logitech wireless K800
    Mouse
    Logitech MX Master 3
    Internet Speed
    1 Gb/s Download and 35 Mb/s Upload
    Browser
    Internet Explorer 11
    Antivirus
    Malwarebyte Anti-Malware Premium
    Other Info
    Logitech Z625 speaker system,
    Logitech BRIO 4K Pro webcam,
    HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP M477fdn,
    APC SMART-UPS RT 1000 XL - SURT1000XLI,
    Galaxy S23 Plus phone
I have a system image of a running drive C: and I would like to restore it to larger D: drive that has the same NTFS format but is larger and has some data files. It would be convenient to not have to reformat D: (but I could of course offload the files and reformat, and reload). My goal is to have an immediately available emergency backup bootable D: drive should C: fail. But the system restore must not make D the boot drive. I'd like to continue to have C as the bootable drive. Dual boot off C would be nice but not essential. If C fails or otherwise should not be bootable, I would change the boot order in the bios to point to the drive that was D.
What is the behaviour of system restore to D when there is a C present and is currently the bootable drive ?
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Win 8.1
Partition - Mark as Inactive - Windows 7 Help Forums

One method I can think of is to mark the newly created partition on your D drive as inactive. That way only the C drive will remain bootable. Should the time come where you want to use the partition on the D drive, you can simply use the same procedure to mark it as active. The above tutorial is for Windows 7, but it should work on Windows 8 as well.

Another way is to use an imaging software, like Macrium Reflect to create and store an image of your C drive. You can restore that image later to the same drive your OS is currently located, or restore it to a different drive if the old one goes bad. I personally use Macrium and have had great success with it.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 Pro x64 bit
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    CyberPower
    CPU
    i5 2500K
    Motherboard
    Asus P8P67 Deluxe
    Memory
    8 gigabytes Corsair PC3-12800 DDR3
    Graphics Card(s)
    EVGA GeForce GTX 460 superclocked
    Sound Card
    Integrated
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Viewsonic 23" LCD
    Screen Resolution
    1920 x 1080
    Hard Drives
    128 Gb Samsung 840 Pro SSD
    128 Gb Kingston Hyper X SSD
    1 Tb Western Digital Caviar Black HDD
    PSU
    1000 watt Coolermaster modular
    Case
    Coolermaster Haf X full tower
    Cooling
    Coolermaster Hyper 212 plus
    Keyboard
    Logitech
    Mouse
    Logitec M310 USB cordless
    Internet Speed
    1.5 mb/s download 300 kb/s upload
Thanks for the info. I will give Macrium a try. I have this nagging concern that system image restores to drive D makes changes so that D becomes the default bootable drive and the D drive OS expects the system to be on D and should it become C (as the C drive has been removed), it has trouble with that. But this might be from my Norton backup or XP experiences. Had 2 SSD based systems go down this week to corruption. Unfortunately one did not have a backup it was so new.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Win 8.1
Thanks for the info. I will give Macrium a try. I have this nagging concern that system image restores to drive D makes changes so that D becomes the default bootable drive and the D drive OS expects the system to be on D and should it become C (as the C drive has been removed), it has trouble with that. But this might be from my Norton backup or XP experiences. Had 2 SSD based systems go down this week to corruption. Unfortunately one did not have a backup it was so new.

With a system image, you don't need to restore it to your D drive. Just keep making and saving updated images, until something happens to your C drive, which requires a complete restoration, like disk failure, or a corrupted operating system. That is the beauty of having a system image saved. It allows you to restore your system to the way it was at the time you created the image, if and when you encounter problems.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 Pro x64 bit
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    CyberPower
    CPU
    i5 2500K
    Motherboard
    Asus P8P67 Deluxe
    Memory
    8 gigabytes Corsair PC3-12800 DDR3
    Graphics Card(s)
    EVGA GeForce GTX 460 superclocked
    Sound Card
    Integrated
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Viewsonic 23" LCD
    Screen Resolution
    1920 x 1080
    Hard Drives
    128 Gb Samsung 840 Pro SSD
    128 Gb Kingston Hyper X SSD
    1 Tb Western Digital Caviar Black HDD
    PSU
    1000 watt Coolermaster modular
    Case
    Coolermaster Haf X full tower
    Cooling
    Coolermaster Hyper 212 plus
    Keyboard
    Logitech
    Mouse
    Logitec M310 USB cordless
    Internet Speed
    1.5 mb/s download 300 kb/s upload
Using Powershell scripts, I create system images nightly of our Thinkpad Carbon X1 Touch SSD PCs running Win 8.1 Pro x64, to external passport drives. This works fine and I can mount the backups to restore a file or two, etc.
Now, I have an extra SSD which I can mount as another external drive. I'd like to "restore" one of my nightly system images to create a new "computer" on this extra SSD -- mostly just to practice in case one of our PCs is really hosed. How do I do this?
Thanks.
Lester

 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 Pro x64
Hello Lester, and welcome to Eight Forums.

I suppose that you could remove the current SSD from one of the PCs, install the extra SSD so it's the only one in the PC, then do a system image recovery as in the tutorial. When finished, swap the drives again.

Hope this helps, :)
Shawn
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    64-bit Windows 10
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Custom self built
    CPU
    Intel i7-8700K OC'd to 5 GHz
    Motherboard
    ASUS ROG Maximus XI Formula Z390
    Memory
    64 GB (4x16GB) G.SKILL TridentZ RGB DDR4 3600 MHz (F4-3600C18D-32GTZR)
    Graphics Card(s)
    ASUS ROG-STRIX-GTX1080TI-O11G-GAMING
    Sound Card
    Integrated Digital Audio (S/PDIF)
    Monitor(s) Displays
    2 x Samsung Odyssey G7 27"
    Screen Resolution
    2560x1440
    Hard Drives
    1TB Samsung 990 PRO M.2,
    4TB Samsung 990 PRO PRO M.2,
    8TB WD MyCloudEX2Ultra NAS
    PSU
    OCZ Series Gold OCZZ1000M 1000W
    Case
    Thermaltake Core P3
    Cooling
    Corsair Hydro H115i
    Keyboard
    Logitech wireless K800
    Mouse
    Logitech MX Master 3
    Internet Speed
    1 Gb/s Download and 35 Mb/s Upload
    Browser
    Internet Explorer 11
    Antivirus
    Malwarebyte Anti-Malware Premium
    Other Info
    Logitech Z625 speaker system,
    Logitech BRIO 4K Pro webcam,
    HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP M477fdn,
    APC SMART-UPS RT 1000 XL - SURT1000XLI,
    Galaxy S23 Plus phone
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