Backup/Restore User Data when imaging
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The biggest hassle I find in the whole process of imaging machines is backing up the user’s local data beforehand, and restoring it afterwards . The actual imaging process with Fog is a relative breeze.
Of course I have ways of doing it - manual backups, Windows Easy Transfer, USMT, but these are all time consuming and labour intensive: almost enough to put you off re-imaging a PC till you absolutely have to. I keep thinking it would be nice to have some automated backup & restore process that could be performed remotely on a PC.
What are other people doing in this area? Has anyone tried USMT scripts executed remotely? Wouldn’t it be great if there was some way to do this via Fog, like some kind of script packaged as a snapin?
Ideas welcome!
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You can use a hybrid approach. Before imaging, store the user info on a network file server, and use a custom built snap-in to restore the user data after the imaging is done. You just have to find a way to associate the data on the network with a host in FOG.
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cool - ok - i think it will have to bve a bit of a hybrid approach. i’ve written a ‘backup’ batch file that uses USMT to backup all users profiles to a network share that is named after the PC. Then I’ve got a restore batch file that will restore back to the PC based on the hostname.
I’ve just got to get these batch files successfully turned-into snapins, and hope that the ‘restore’ snapin doesnt run until the PC has re-joined the domain…
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