How long does it take you to re-install Windows?

[Bearcat]

Hi everyone. When I got home from work today, I decided it was time to "bite the bullet" and create a fresh copy of Windows 7 64bit, with all the drivers and software, so I could have a fresh copy to install should something happen to my cuurent copy. I find this method much less frustrating, than trying to fix problems when they happen. Anyway, it took me two hours from start to finish, that includes all the Windows Updates and it got me to wondering how long it took on average, those of you who have done the same thing.

Please forgive the typo in the poll. Line three should read 2 - 3 hours, not hpours.

[BigGuy]

Hey Uncle Bear, I remember when dad and I did it on our old home PC and it took ages. Now with the new PC and an SSD, it should be much faster!

[Bearcat]

Hey Uncle Bear, I remember when dad and I did it on our old home PC and it took ages. Now with the new PC and an SSD, it should be much faster!

I know what you mean Buddy. It use to take hours for me also. The SSD really helps to speed up the process. It also helped to have a copy of Windows 7 with SP 1. What took the longest was running Windows Updates. People with a fast broadband internet service will definitely have a head start.

[Raymond]

With SSD drive, it takes less than 30 minutes to install Windows 7.

[A Guy]

I voted 0-1 since I don't reinstall, I just reimage

A Guy

[Christy]

Same here, created an fresh win7 image with software,drivers and updates preinstalled with Macrium Reflect free edition. Non SSD HD,it still finishes under 10 min(max). On CNET Easeus ranks1, Macrium Reflect ranks 2nd. But i dont remember what Ray currently recommends.

[Bearcat]

With SSD drive, it takes less than 30 minutes to install Windows 7.

Yeah, re-installing Windows and drivers was the easy part. It was all the updates which took the longest. My ISP is the greatest, but I don't have a lot of choice very I live.

@ A Guy & Christy Yes, I create images as well. In fact I create a fresh one, before I install all my software. Most of the time those images work just fine, but when I've had them for a while, I sometimes get an error message that says my hardware configuration has changed and the image won't restore, so I like to keep a number of different images on hand from different installations, as a precaution.

[Nick Vini]

Installing Windows (Vista and 7) with standard mechanic HDD (and with 3 Gb RAM / Intel Pentium Dual Core, as an example) it takes somewhere about 20~25 minutes.

Restoring image from Complete PC archive with same config - 15~20 minutes (exactly depends on average size of an additional software installed).

Restoring image from invisible sector on HDD using D2D Recovery function it takes also about 15 minutes (same as with Complete PC image: depends on average size of an additional software installed).

So, something like that...

P.S.:
Not sure how long with SSD under all configs, because I have never installed OS using that. Actually, no one has the same experience of period of time because of a huge amount of the different configurations.

[hal9000]

Obviously, there are a lot of variables here, such as hardware spec and whether you have things like drivers and Windows updates stored locally or you need to d/l them.

Installing Windows 7 itself can easily be done in < 30mins as others have said, but it's all the other stuff which takes the time these days. The .NET updates get on my nerves because you update > check > more updates > check > more updates, and so it goes on.....

If you count drivers and related software for things like printers, keyboards, mice, other peripherals, optical drives etc, 1hr just isn't enough time.

My vote goes to 1-2 hrs.

[Nick Vini]

Wow, someone has said on the poll, that it does take 3 - 4 hours

Interesting statement... would be cool to see it myself! Horrible, it is very long