I have about 7 desktops (Dell Optiplex 755) and 8 laptops (Dell Lattitude 620) and would like to setup one machine and clone it to the others. I have one desktop setup the way I need it, and know how to use Sysprep to prepare it for cloning (I had to strip computer name most importantly as I'm going needing the ability to name each computer manually during setup). Some of the products I have to work with are Norton Ghost 10.0 (which I've heard could get the job done, but ran into further issues, read below), Acronis True Image Echo Enterprise Server (again, read below), and a trial version of Symantec Ghost Solution Suite (which I'm able to get a licensed version of if you think that's the best way to go). I was told by colleagues that they were able to use Norton Ghost 10.0 to clone a 40 GB (or so) partition to a 4 GB USB flash drive (and I assume only a maximum of 10 GB were used in the hard drive). When attempting to clone with Norton Ghost 10.0, it tells me that there isn't enough space on the USB drive to fit the (approximately) 11.2 GB partition, even with maximum compression. Symantec Ghost Solution Suite got me running into more problems, and I decided that wasn't the way to go for me, unless you think otherwise.. ? Last but not least, Acronis TrueImage seemed to do exactly what I want, but it won't backup the cloned image to a drive smaller than the original. I guess buying an external hard drive would fix this issue, but there has to be a way to get around it.
I'm sorry if I ranted too much, I tend to do that when I feel I'm not explicit enough. Let me know if it wasn't and you need more information. But anyway, that's my case. Do you know of any other way to clone a hard drive to deploy to many computers? And while I'm here, do I have to setup one of the laptops and make an image of that to deploy to the laptops, or could I just use the desktop's image?
Thanks a lot,
Arjun
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