[Moderator note: This thread replies to a related but separate topic about registry defrag.]


Wouldn't it be easier to take a snapshot (PartClone, Partimage) after a clean install.

I can restore an image of a fresh clean system in ~3 min.

Yes I have a system using VMware under Mac. I haven't worked out a system snapshot system like Returnil, DeepFreeze, or one of the ones you suggested simply because I don't have multiple Windows systems running anymore. However, if you'd like to list your setup, I'd be curious to hear it.

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Neither Returnil nor DeepFreeze actually create snapshots. They just block or redirect write operations so that they're never committed. The result is that it's impossible to make any pernament changes to the system.

Partclone, FSArchiver, partimage etc. have a different approach. They do create a snapshot. They don't attempt to keep the data from being changed, but if you want to revert the changes later, you can restore the disk image. After restoring, the content of the hard drive will be mostly equal* to the original state.

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Ruby described the following setup:

1. Install Windows.
2. (optional) Install essential things such as drivers.
3. Create a disk image.**
4. Want to go back to the end of step 2? Just restore the image.

*Almost everything, including physical locations of the files, will be restored. However, unused areas of the disk are not usually cloned. Most importantly, if you create a new file and restore a disk image after that, a tool such as Recuva or PhotoRec might be able to recover the file.

**Our instructions for Clonezilla Live. Ruby himself has recommended RIPLinuX instead.

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A disk image basically is just a backup of the whole harddisk (or partition). Difference to backup via files is that it doesn't copy files - it doesn't even understand much about what a filesystem is - it just makes a raw data copy of a partition, so that you can later restore it.

If the current opensource solutions for disk imaging are too complicated for your taste (they are for me), then you could consider one of the commercial vendors, like Paragon or Acronis.

My take on this approach? Well, let me put it this way: It confuses me that people exist who do not do this. This should be standard practice on any PC in the world: You invest hours to install an OS and create the initial base environment - why not invest 10 minutes, perhaps 30 EUR and a few gigabytes, so that for this PC, you never have to do it again, and can instead whenver you want put the system back into this initial state with a 10 minutes restore-job?

I don't want anybody to be mislead by that statement.

When I restore an image/snapshot of my system my system is returned to the exact state it was in at the time it was copied/cloned; block for block, byte for byte.



This is exactly what I just recently have done (01-01-11).

Clean install of Vista, reboot, install SP1, reboot, run Vista SP1 clean up tool, reboot, install SP2, reboot,
run SP2 clean up tool, reboot, install a few Windows security updates, reboot, run CCleaner, stop and start Explorer,
reboot. Let system settle in for ~10 min. run defrag and shutdown.

I now boot into a Linux rescue disk and run any one of the cloning/imaging programs and I now have a 'Stock' clean
image of my system.

I then boot back into Windows, install Antivirus/Security programs, disable some services, some registry tweaks, some
right-click entries, and anything else I want to be in my restore image. Run CCleaner and restart. Let system settle in,
run defrag and shutdown.

Now back into a Linux rescue disk and again run the cloning/imaging program and I now have a second image to be used
as my system backup.

Having that 'Stock' image/snapshot is good if you ever feel like you want a Fresh, Clean Install.

I can now restore to my 'Stock' or system backup image in under 3 minutes!

Anyway apologies to the OP as it seems I may have Hijacked this thread.

Not at all -- it was easy to split the two threads and its a topic I'm interested in.

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Basically, once I have my system setup the way I want it, I shutdown and boot into a Linux distro.

For me, RipLinuX is my favorite but there are plenty others that have the tools to image/clone your system partition.

Once Rip is loaded (mere seconds) I mount my Windows partition (sda1 in my case) and delete 'hiberfile.sys' and 'pagefile.sys'
(they'll be recreated on Windows start) to save ~2GB on my restore image. YMMV

I then unmount Windows partition (sda1), open a console window, and type the following code:

That's it! Simple as can be. If you like, you can append an ext to the file, i.e. image.gz but it's really not necessary, I don't.

To restore the image you can mount any other partitions on the hard drive (a little safer) except the one you're restoring.
The restore code:


To copy out is ~20 min for my 8.5 GB (after delete 2 files) > 3.5 GB image.
To restore is ~3 min!

PartClone:
-c - Clone command
-d - Debug - Shows debug info; outputs to the console, i.e. time, time left, copied etc.
-s - Source FILE can be a partition or image file.
-o - Output FILE can be a partition.
-r - Restore from the image file.