Deploying Image without Data Loss
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Hello Everyone,
I have windows 10 Pro with C and D drive but technically it have following;
I just want to clone the partitions in the red rectangle and don’t want my data drive (partition 5) to be cloned.
I want to use this image for all the deployments with different sizes of disks but same number of partitions.
Can anyone of you please guide me.
Thanks in advance. -
@abuadal So is the data drive unique to your computer so no other deployed computer will have that partition. Or do you want all deployed computers to have all 5 partitions, with just the 5th partition being blank?
If you want to exclude just that 5th partition from deploying to other computers, I think maybe the easiest solution is to capture your source computer with single disk resizable (yes that will capture that 5th partition too), then we can go into the raw data files and remove any reference to that 5th partition. So you will initially capture it but then remove it from the FOG server so all deployments will only have 4 partitions.
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@george1421 said in Deploying Image without Data Loss:
If you want to exclude just that 5th partition from deploying to other computers, I think maybe the easiest solution is to capture your source computer with single disk resizable (yes that will capture that 5th partition too), then we can go into the raw data files and remove any reference to that 5th partition. So you will initially capture it but then remove it from the FOG server so all deployments will only have 4 partitions.
Thank you @george1421 for your guidance and quick response.
Actually the 5th drive is data drive which definitely contain different data for each computer.
So I intend to clone and deploy only the core OS related drives that are common in all scenarios.
Can you please guide me further about the 2nd part of your reply as i am quite new to FOG and this forum and i have absolutely no idea how to do this. I came to know about FOG last week and since then I am doing experiments to achieve my goal and I am just able to deploy on a blank hard disk. Your help will really help me achieve my goal.
I want it in a way that if OS of any of my computer got corrupt, I don’t have to format or disturb my D drive (Data Drive) and just get my OS and programs deployed within shortest time. In this way I can get my computer ready within shortest possible time without disturbing the existing data n my computer.
Once again thank you so much… -
@abuadal while it’s likely unable to change process now, the best scenario using any imaging platform would have been 2 separate disks. 1 for the OS, one for the data drive. But now you’re looking for a way to clone a hard drive, in resizable mode mind you, with a fixed 5th partition? I don’t know if any imaging system that can do this for you. It would be good to know if the drives you’re imaging to are all the same size? This would make things a little easier. Especially if the 5th partition is starting and ending at the same points on all machines.
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@Tom-Elliott Thanks for the response.
My OS drive (C drive) is 100GB in all computers so you can say that it is same for all computers. However the size of Data drive (D Drive) may vary depending on the size of disk. In some computers it is 500GB and in other it is 1TB. -
@george1421 said in Deploying Image without Data Loss:
I think maybe the easiest solution is to capture your source computer with single disk resizable (yes that will capture that 5th partition too), then we can go into the raw data files and remove any reference to that 5th partition. So you will initially capture it but then remove it from the FOG server so all deployments will only have 4 partitions.
While it sounds interesting I am not sure this will work in this scenario. Though it’s worth a try. The partition layout cannot be stripped as FOS will always wipe and deploy the partition layout as a whole. The only chance I see is remove
d1p5.imgfile and try a deployment.@abuadal
Be aware that this is not how FOG is intended to be used and there might be drawbacks from this and loss of data is possible if something goes wrong. So make sure you don’t try this with systems where important data could be lost!! -
@sebastian-roth said in Deploying Image without Data Loss:
While it sounds interesting I am not sure this will work in this scenario. Though it’s worth a try. The partition layout cannot be stripped as FOS will always wipe and deploy the partition layout as a whole. The only chance I see is remove d1p5.img file and try a deployment.
I tired that but it didn’t worked. It simple increased the size of OS drive (C Drive) and consumed the whole space.
I believe there must be some way out to deal with this scenario. -
@abuadal said in Deploying Image without Data Loss:
I tired that but it didn’t worked.
Please provide more details on why it did not work. Maybe it’s just a minor thing we can tweak to get this to work but need more information! Provide a picture of the error on screen when you deploy with a missing
d1p5.imgfile in the images directory. -
@sebastian-roth said in Deploying Image without Data Loss:
@abuadal said in Deploying Image without Data Loss:
I tired that but it didn’t worked.
Please provide more details on why it did not work. Maybe it’s just a minor thing we can tweak to get this to work but need more information! Provide a picture of the error on screen when you deploy with a missing
d1p5.imgfile in the images directory.I captured an image from a computer with 500GB HDD and deployed on a 1TB HDD with some raw/ dummy data on D Drive. It rewrite the partition table and removed the D drive. However it did worked for the C drive (OS drive).
Now my next workaround is to find the way out to deploy the OS without loosing partition table or without loosing data on D drive. -
@abuadal said in Deploying Image without Data Loss:
I captured an image from a computer with 500GB HDD and deployed on a 1TB HDD with some raw/ dummy data on D Drive.
What you are trying to do is kind of a tricky endeavour. FOG wasn’t made to allow for excluding a partition. While you might be able to get around this by deleting one of the image files as suggested FOG will still overwrite the partition layout on every deployment. Now when deploying to the same size disk over and over I would think it should still work because the start and end sector stay the same. I am not too sure this will work when deploying to a larger disk.
Your description on why you think this doesn’t work are missing details and so I don’t know for sure if this is something we can help with or not.
@testers Maybe someone can setup a similar layout, test things and report back?
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@abuadal Re-reading your last post I had the idea that you might want to use the setting Partition within the image settings to only deploy a single partition (C drive). Be aware that this will not touch the partition layout. But problem you might face is, that size doesn’t match and partclone will fail.
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@sebastian-roth No problem i can create separate images for same sized disk but first milestone is to make sure it is possible. I will give it a try and share here.
