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Reference system on bootable USB

mmeulienmmeulien
in AOMEI Products Support
Hi, I just downloaded the trial version, nice product!

My use case: Provide our customer's with a bootable USB key they could use to restore the reference system that was written on the computer they received from us.

What is the right way to achieve this?

Should I first write WinPE to the USB key and then clone the computer disk to the remaining space on the USB key? Will the USB key then contain AOMEI Backupper to restore the disk from the USB?

Is it possible to automatically restore the disk when booting from the USB key (after user confirmation)?

Thanks for your help!


Comments

  • aiArtisanaiArtisan
    edited June 17
    "bootable USB key they could use to restore the reference system that was written on the computer"
    Could you please explain further what this means, and what type of PC you are using? What is a Reference System?
    You can use Backupper app to create an image.ADI of your PC. You can create a BU WinPE USB utility. Most users would put the BU image.ADI file onto a separate partition, or disk, and use the USB utility to restore the image.ADI file. You may instead put the image.ADI file onto the same partition as the BU WinPE utility, but to do this, you may have to use the BU Splitting setting, set for 4GB file size, because FAT32 has a 4GB file size limit.
    Backupper WinPE USB:
    https://www.ubackup.com/help/create-bootable-disk.html
    Add custom drivers, such as NVMe, if necessary. Does not work on some Monitors.

    Aomei (Win)PE Builder USB:
    https://www.ubackup.com/pe-builder.html
    Best for PCs before 2020, includes Backupper, Partition Assistant, Recuva, 7zip, OSF Mount, CPU-Z, Bootice, DiskMgmt.msc. Supports x64 portable apps. Does not support any additional drivers, such as some internal M.2 NVMe disks.
    Backupper Guide
    https://www.ubackup.com/help/

    Backupper Manual
    https://www.aomeitech.com/docs/AOMEI_Backupper_UserManual.pdf



  • adminadmin
    @Mmeulien, Based on your situation, you need to use backup feature. You can create system backup and save the backup to an external drive. After that, you can try to use the WinPE bootable media to restore the backup. But, because the WinPE USB will use fat32 format, it might be unable to save the big backup image.
    And, "Provide our customer's with a bootable USB key"---You might need to contact the sales team to confirm the proper version.
  • EdTEdT
    By "reference system"  do you mean a previous installed image of a bootable copy of an OS like Windows or Linux ?  If yes this is also what I have been searching for !  Why doesn't any cloning software company make a user friendly product like this as everyone is looking for this same bullet proof procedure ?
  • aiArtisanaiArtisan
    "Why doesn't any cloning software company make a user friendly product like this"
    Your welcome, edT. Please reply if you have more questions.

  • EdTEdT
    edited June 24
    At this point I would not choose AOMEI Backupper as the go to software for what the OP of this post is trying to do.
    Although the bootable USB drive created by Backupper > Create Bootable Media > USB works to some degree it does not allow the user to copy the System Backup files onto the same USB drive. Also the Backupper > Create Bootable Media > ISO is a little buggy as it takes forever to load up and there is no way to exit the ampe.iso app other than to physically press the power button to shut down the computer before you can restart it again.  I would only use AOMEI Backupper if I want to clone a HDD/SSD to another HDD/SSD where you would have to go into the computer case and physically swap out the drives.
    My preferred choice now would be to use Hasleo's WinToUSB where you would clone your current bootable HDD/SSD to a bootable USB drive and then once you boot into the USB drive you can use WinToHDD or even AOMEI's Backupper to clone the OS on the USB drive back onto the internal HDD/SSD.
    AOMEI should really have an option like this in their Backupper where you can clone your current bootable drive to an USB drive.
  • aiArtisanaiArtisan
    edited June 24
    "it does not allow the user to copy the System Backup files onto the same USB drive".
    Yes, you simply need to use the Splitting Feature on 4GB Predetermined setting, to make it compatible with your FAT32 partition. Please confirm you tried the Splitting Feature.
    "AOMEI should really have an option like this in their Backupper"
    BU Pro can clone from a live running Windows installation.
    You

  • EdTEdT
    edited June 24
    Yes I tried it, it splits up my 64GB system backup file into 18 separate files which is just bonkers ! ...LoL
    "BU Pro can clone from a live running Windows installation."
    Really ?  I have BU Pro 7.2.3
  • adminadmin
    @EdT， “it splits up my 64GB system backup file into 18 separate files”---When you do the restore, it will read the 18 files automatically. AOMEI Backupper will load them as one backup image file.
    AOMEI Backupper can clone the system to an external drive. But, you might need to contact the external drive to the internal slot, then boot from it. 
    when you connect the cloned disk as an external drive to boot, Windows might be unable to load successfully. 
    Standard Windows systems typically do not support booting from an external USB drive. This is due to driver and hardware compatibility issues. Some highly configurable computers might support this, but it's not common.
    And, when Windows tries to boot from a USB drive, it may not find the necessary drivers for the USB interface early in the boot process, leading to failure. Even if booting is successful, performance might be significantly lower due to the slower read/write speeds of USB interfaces compared to internal SATA or NVMe connections.
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