Clean install vs disk image

windows usb performance formatting disk-image

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Solution 1

A clean install will install Windows from setup. You will need to install any updates that have come out since the the disc's manufacture. Also, you will need to install any programs that you want to run. It may, or may not, detect and install hardware drivers. This is the "cleanest" a machine can be.

An image captures a computer at a specific point in time. This includes all installed updates, drivers, and applications that were present at the time the image was taken. It also will include any viruses, corruption, and miscellaneous unwanted files.

On my computers, I always perform a clean install and install updates to the OS. Then I take an image of the PC in that state. That way, if I want to quickly get back to a "clean" state, I can restore that image. This is much faster than an install from setup.

Then I install the applications I normally use, such as Chrome, Notepad++, etc. Then I take another image. This way, I can roll back to a clean machine that is more usable.

Then every once in a blue moon, I will take an image of the machine in its current state. This allows me to roll back to a more "current" and usable state.

Solution 2

QUESTION: What is the difference in making a disk image and performing a clean install on windows?

ANSWER: A manual installation of the operating system would involve running a 'high touch' of the OS, updates, drivers, and applications. Once this is performed, any WinPE USB that is configured properly would allow you to capture an 'image' of this configuration. That would be an snapshot so to speak of the current state of that OS.

QUESTION: Value for time and transferring between different computers?

ANSWER: The 'Value' of this methodology depends directly on how many systems you will need to copy this configuration to.

As you can see, the value of imaging is directly proportional to the n (number of) systems you will need to deploy. SOURCE:http://xkcd.com/1205/

FIG1 As you can see, the value of imaging is directly proportional to the n (number of) systems you will need to deploy.

NOTE: As long as you use MDT 2013 and a VM, you can build these images virtually and then inject drivers dynamically. Look into MDT.

5,787

Thanos

Updated on September 18, 2022

Comments

Thanos almost 2 years

Once a year I am making a clean install on windows, in order to keep my system fast. After posting a question on making a bootable windows usb with exe programs where I was adviced to make a disk image, a new question rose.

What is the difference in making a disk image and performing a clean install on windows? Which is better in terms of speed, general performance, value for time and transfering between different computers?
- Ramhound over 10 years
  
  There isn't a difference. Both result in the system being in the same state ( minus perhaps security updates ) which is of course resolved by simply installing them.
- Thanos over 10 years
  
  @Ramhound: So since there is no way to make a bootable usb with all .exe files, disk image is an one-way trip...
- Ramhound over 10 years
  
  Please explain how an archived system image is a one-way trip? There is virtually no difference in choosing to install Windows over ane existing instance of Windows.
- Thanos over 10 years
  
  I mean all .exe that have to do with additional programs, such as Notepad++, Chrome, WinRar, Matlab, etc...
- Ramhound over 10 years
  
  You would install those programs before creating the image, so once you restore from said image, those programs would be there.
- Jason C almost 10 years
  
  There is one slight difference. If you are restoring your disk image to an SSD, you will generally want to TRIM the unused filesystem space after writing the sector-by-sector image for general increased reliability and performance. The poor man's way is, if using NTFS, to create a large file that takes up all remaining space on the drive and then delete it. Samsung Magician works with most drives and has the ability to do something like this, disguised as "Optimize Performance". You only need to do it once, just after writing the image.
Thanos over 10 years

Thank you very much for your answer. So between the two, you suggest creating a disk image?
user341814 almost 10 years

@Thanos This is likely the best idea. For now, you should start with a clean install. Install all programs, updates, and do any configuration. Then make an image of that fresh install for you to revert back to it. If for some reason you have got multiple reasonably-sized drives laying around, cycle through them making more recent images to restore from.