Image size

[3to4]

Hello,
When I first installed Windows XP (clean install). I configured everything and I made an disk image by booting with a boot CD I created. The image size was about 650MB. Then, I formated the hard drive (the same PC) and reinstalled Windows XP (clean install ) with exactly the same configuration. The image size was about 900MB. In both cases, I choose the option "smaller size" to have the smallest image size. Can someone shed a light on this? Obviously, I am seaching a way to have the smallest image size. Since, I did some test by setting "no pagefile".
With "no pagefile", the image obtained is smaller (about 650MB). As my pagefile is 500MB, is it possible to think that the treatment of the pagefile is somehow different? What should I do to have the smallest image size, apart from choosing the option "smaller size"?

[3to4]

Well, starting from the installation of which the image size was about 900MB, I set "no page file, and made an disk image. The image size was about 650MB. Then, I created a pagefile of 500MB. I made an image. The image size was about 780MB. So, just by removing the pagefile, and remaking a page file (500MB), the image size changed from 900MB to 780MB. It is strange, but it is what happened. I don't understand why...

[Alt]

That's easy. Your image size is large when it includes the pagefile.sys file.
BTW, toying with the swap file is quite dangerous. You may lock your system up and make it unbootable.

[3to4]

Thanks. However, what I was trying to say is, the first image was 900MB with the pagefile of 500MB,and the second image was 780MB also with the pagefile of 500MB. The image size decreased from 900MB to 780MB with exactly the same configuration. Anyway, how can I exclude the pagefile when I make an image?

[Alt]

1. R-Drive Image compresses images to make them smaller. Without going into too much technical details, the actual compression level (and therefore file size) strongly depends on how much data are actually in the files, the less, the smaller. Maybe this is the answer about the file size.
2. R-Drive Image makes the image of an entire logical disk/partition/hard drive. You cannot exclude/include a file from/to the image. And again I strongly recommend not to tamper with the page file, or you may make your system unbootable.