BIU vs TBWinRE

[Squirrel]

I would like help about IFU/BIU vs TBWinRE on a UFD (best resiliency) for doing monthly full backups and occasional restores. I purchased licenses for BootIt Collection and TeraByte Drive Image Backup and Restore Suite (the works), so I could use either one.

I have 2 laptops purchased in 2015 with Win8.1+Secure Boot and a desktop purchased in 2024 with Win10+Secure Boot+NVMe drive. All have wired mouse and keyboard, which are compatible with the UEFI BIOS. All are disconnected from the network during backups and restores. I am retiring one laptop and moving some data to the Win10 PC, and plan to use TB images for the transfer using TBIMount and TBIView (from installed IFW).

I am leaning toward using IFU/BIU because one UFD would work on all my PCs. Win10 updates to the WinRE (SafeOS coming frequently) won't create problems or necessitate updating IFU/BIU. See https://www.terabyteunlimited.com/kb/kb ... t-install/

Before I read 300 pages of manuals (BIU and IFD), I would like to know about advantages and disadvantages I am unaware of, in case I need to change course. For example, hardware compatibility, reliability and speed aspects.

[Brian K]

Squirrel,

A quick summary. IFU or IFW in TBWinRE would both be fine. The latter is faster. I do all backups live in Windows, IFW.

[TeraByte Support]

Linux and Windows version will usually be much faster because the support multi-threading and use drivers that operate at the drive at their highest speeds. With the raw environment, it's relying on the system BIOS and they don't always use the higher speed interface to the device.

[Squirrel]

Thanks for the helpful feedback.

All my PCs are x64 and use an AHCI interface to the SSD. My Win10 PC is using the Microsoft AHCI driver for the NVMe SSD. If I create a TBWinRE UFD on my Win10 PC, would you expect it to work on my Win8.1 PCs with SATA drives?

I need to re-install Win10. Let's say I install Win10 22H2 from DVD, load ASRock-supplied drivers, install IFW and create a TBWinRE UFD. After I connect to the internet and use Windows Update, do I need to create a new TBWinRE UFD because Microsoft has updated the WinRE? If so, any problem using the new UFD to restore images created by the old UFD?

[Bob Coleman]

Not exactly what was asked, but personally I'd probably use IFL for this. Will probably be faster than the alternatives.

[Brian K]

Yes, IFL is fastest in my computers too.

TBWinRE/PE

https://www.terabyteunlimited.com/howto ... _settings/

[Squirrel]

I can see that IFU/BIU could be at least 4 times slower than IFW for the reasons stated by TeraByte Support. Also my laptops have one open USB port (without disconnecting the Ethernet adapter) for the backup SSD, so installed IFW is better for backups. So I will switch my focus to installed IFW for regular backups and TBWinRE for occasional restores. My Win10 PC backs up in 3 minutes with installed IFW, so I am satisfied with its speed for now.

I could still use help with these questions:

All my PCs are x64 and use an AHCI interface to the SSD. My Win10 PC is using the Microsoft AHCI driver for the NVMe SSD. If I create a TBWinRE UFD on my Win10 PC, would you expect it to work on my Win8.1 PCs with SATA drives?

I need to re-install Win10. Let's say I install Win10 22H2 from DVD, load ASRock-supplied drivers, install IFW and create a TBWinRE UFD. After I connect to the internet and use Windows Update, do I need to create a new TBWinRE UFD because Microsoft has updated the WinRE? If so, any problem using the new UFD to restore images created by IFW using the old WinRE?

[TeraByte Support(PP)]

All my PCs are x64 and use an AHCI interface to the SSD. My Win10 PC is using the Microsoft AHCI driver for the NVMe SSD. If I create a TBWinRE UFD on my Win10 PC, would you expect it to work on my Win8.1 PCs with SATA drives?

It's likely that the Win10 TBWinRE UFD would work fine on the 8.1 systems. However, it's recommended to at least boot them with it and check everything looks good.

I need to re-install Win10. Let's say I install Win10 22H2 from DVD, load ASRock-supplied drivers, install IFW and create a TBWinRE UFD. After I connect to the internet and use Windows Update, do I need to create a new TBWinRE UFD because Microsoft has updated the WinRE? If so, any problem using the new UFD to restore images created by IFW using the old WinRE?

You would probably want to update it if WinRE was updated. However, due to some WinRE updates breaking things, I would recommend using a different UFD so you still have your older one in case there are any issues.