Create an image of an SSD?
I have Dell Optiplex 3050 with a 256GB SSD.
I want to create an image of this PC so I can the restore that image onto a few more PCs of the same make & model.
This is the first SSD i've needed to create an image of. I booted up off my Macrium boot USB, opened up Reflect but it doesn't see the SSD.
I'm guessing the SSD won't be seen as it needs a running OS to recognise & read it, is that correct? If it is, how can I create an image of an SSD? Is it possible?
From what I understand, I can create a clone of the disk, but to apply the clone, I have to remove the SSDs from the other PCs, put them in USB caddies and apply the clone image that way.
Does that sound right?
I want to create an image of this PC so I can the restore that image onto a few more PCs of the same make & model.
This is the first SSD i've needed to create an image of. I booted up off my Macrium boot USB, opened up Reflect but it doesn't see the SSD.
I'm guessing the SSD won't be seen as it needs a running OS to recognise & read it, is that correct? If it is, how can I create an image of an SSD? Is it possible?
From what I understand, I can create a clone of the disk, but to apply the clone, I have to remove the SSDs from the other PCs, put them in USB caddies and apply the clone image that way.
Does that sound right?
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ASKER
Thanks for the help guys.
I just downloaded the EaseUS free backup app, created a WinPE USB, booted up off that and it's showing me just what the Macrium program did. All I see is the USB boot stick and the external USB I want to copy the image onto, I don't see the SSD.
The SSD is setup and working, I just created my rollout image on the PC, that's why I want to image it.
I got my model wrong, it's an Optiplex 7450 AIO.
I just downloaded the EaseUS free backup app, created a WinPE USB, booted up off that and it's showing me just what the Macrium program did. All I see is the USB boot stick and the external USB I want to copy the image onto, I don't see the SSD.
The SSD is setup and working, I just created my rollout image on the PC, that's why I want to image it.
I got my model wrong, it's an Optiplex 7450 AIO.
ASKER
I switched to legacy boot and it seems to have solved that issue.
Another model machine with mechanical drives worked fine when booting under UEFI, but these SSD machines wouldn't see the SSDs.
I am using Pro and deploying to similar systems.
Another model machine with mechanical drives worked fine when booting under UEFI, but these SSD machines wouldn't see the SSDs.
I am using Pro and deploying to similar systems.
did you check the bios settings?
ASKER
Yep, in a way. I had to choose 'Legacy Boot' after pressing F12 on reboot & and turn off UEFI secure boot.
Logon to the BIOS and then see if your system is seeing the disk. If it is, macrum should have no trouble looking at it.
If you are cloning more than 5 PC's you could buy a hardware based disk clone They are about 50 dollars, and worth the time. If you want to do manual you could use ACRONIS disk imaging tool,which works pretty reliably.
Try this if you could,
Install Acronis TrueImage any of their 30 day trails.
Create a Acronis Rescue CD using the software which creates a bootable disk,
Create a OS disk image (call it base-gold-image), Image Copy of that OS onto the same drive or external disk. If the base-gold-image system is within the network then you could just create a Windows share to the folder that has the acronis image, and leave it as-is, if not you would have to attach to the new system that you are planning to build.
Put the CD in your new system, and you could select the network drive or USB drive to load OS.
Works pretty well