System Images in Windows 8

[poco23]

I have a few questions about creating system images... I am fairly new to diving into the messing around with PCs, but I would like to understand more about how a system image works. I have a SSD with Windows 8 Pro on it, and I have created a Image of it on a 2TB WD Passport.

First of all, If my SSD were to fail, and I get a new one, then would I be able to just install that system image onto the new SSD without first installing windows 8? My main concern is that it wont be able to read the image off of the WD HDD because of a driver issue, since one wont be installed?

Second, after the creation of the image it asked if wanted to create a system restore disc. Is this necessary if I already have the installation discs for Windows 8?

Lastly, If I were to build a home server of some sort, in the future, then will I also be able to restore Windows 8, without prior installation of Windows 8, onto the new SSD from the image (such as in the first question, but from the network location instead)? I haven't tried anything like creating a home server before, but I'm interested in giving it a go.

Thanks for any responses and Insight.

 

[VXBlade]

I would use something like acaronis or BE with dissimilar hardware support to make a restore image. That being said, if you used Microsofts, yes you should make the restore disc to save you headaches.

 

[VXBlade]

You could also install Windows AIK and make a sysprep image now and then and copy to a bootable USB. (Someone would have to tell me if that still works with Windows 8)

 

[DarkDubzs]

I have a few questions about creating system images... I am fairly new to diving into the messing around with PCs, but I would like to understand more about how a system image works. I have a SSD with Windows 8 Pro on it, and I have created a Image of it on a 2TB WD Passport.

First of all, If my SSD were to fail, and I get a new one, then would I be able to just install that system image onto the new SSD without first installing windows 8? My main concern is that it wont be able to read the image off of the WD HDD because of a driver issue, since one wont be installed?

Second, after the creation of the image it asked if wanted to create a system restore disc. Is this necessary if I already have the installation discs for Windows 8?

Lastly, If I were to build a home server of some sort, in the future, then will I also be able to restore Windows 8, without prior installation of Windows 8, onto the new SSD from the image (such as in the first question, but from the network location instead)? I haven't tried anything like creating a home server before, but I'm interested in giving it a go.

Thanks for any responses and Insight.

Ive recently also introduced myself with system images and i use Windows 8 too. Not sure about the rest of your questions, but I DO know that you dont need to make a system restore disk if you already have the Windows 8 installation disk you bought. The system restore disk will basically just be a system image on a physical disk, which can be useful. If you ever lose all your data or your HDD dies, you can do a fresh install of windows and lose all your other data, or you can restore from a system image which will get you back to the exact state your computer was at at the time the image was made; the image can be saved onto an external HDD or a disk(if all the data fits on one disk) or with the program Acronis you can save the image onto the same HDD that windows is installed on. The built in system image feature in Windows wont let you save the image to the same HDD that has Windows installed on it, but with acronis you can.

Hope i helped at all