Hello I'm on the same boat to install windows7 fresh on an unformatted SSD. I know to turn on AHCI in the bios before starting the installation. After installation of windows7 and all programs I want to make an iimage of this SSD using Clonezille or Ping. My question is, the pagefile of w7 will be roughly 1gb and sitting at the beginning of the SSD. Would it be wise to delete this pagefile just before making an image for backup. Or would clonezilla copy the cleared space where the pagefile used to sit as well and not make the result image smaller? Also I have 30some updates on my current 7 install which I'm totally happy with. If I were to download all these updates from repository. And then manually install on my fresh 7 on an SSD. Is the order in which the updates are installed important? Are the number increments of the updates a good indication what comes before the next update to be installed?
Clonezilla or PING will ignore the pagefile, dont worry. About the updates, dont download them manually, let windows do it via windows update.
Clonezilla is a pain to mount if anything goes wrong and you don't want to do full restore. Why not use built-in W7 "create system image"? Or Macrium.
I use Acronis free for WD and so far 100% reliable. On Macrium, I tried the free version. It makes an image fine but I am not able to restore. What do I need to do or what am I doing wrong. Do not want boot CD options but want it like it Acronis-it asks for reboot, and then restores on its own.
Yes, tested on gpt, faster and smaller images, the pe recovery is created without a single issue, and it also recovers on restart, thing macrium does not.
that's the only downside of Macrium Reflect, you NEED a boot CD to restore even on Windows 7 the stupid thing says the drive is in use and cannot be restored! duhhh, well freakin' reboot and do it! LOL not even on the Pro version which I have
The question is not of reboot. Acronis asks for a reboot and then recovers C: without a boot CD. Macrium asking for a reboot to recover is not the issue. However, the question I asked is that whether it also needs a boot CD to recover. I was evaluating Macrium and needing a boot CD to recover everytime is painful (change the order in UEFI). UEFI works best for me on keeping windows loader as first boot device and changing to DVD/CD only when required.