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Community Newsletter: Q&A: 10/27/06 Can I make a desktop restore CD/DVD like HP or Dell does?
- 10/26/06 4:23 PM
Restore DVD
by steve.coult - 11/2/06 3:14 AM In reply to: 10/27/06 Can I make a desktop restore CD/DVD like HP or Dell does? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Hi I have been watching this forum since it first ran on 27/10 and to day almost a week later the original question has not been answered as far as I can see.
I find this a little strange that all the technical people out there cannot suggest a way of making a complete image of a computer to CD or DVD.
Then if the computer develops a software fault simply place the CD or DVD into the computer and then have it auto boot, thus restoring the said computer to its former state.
This is possible as my Sony laptop has three Cd’s and if I run these Cd’s it not only restore the software but partitions my hard drive back to the factory settings as well.
So why can’t I do this with my desktop computer there must be a way,
I use Norton Ghost V10 and this does a good job of making the image file but it will not auto boot the image file, I have to boot from the Norton Ghost program CD, if I ever damage this CD I will be stuffed.
It would be a lot safer if the image file would self boot.
An Alternate to The Bootable CD/DVD
by spectrum9 - 11/2/06 7:27 AM In reply to: Restore DVD by steve.coultHow about a bootable USB key? See the article on how to make one, titled "Make a Bootable USB Key", in the Novenber 21, 2006 issue of PC Magazine.
USB Bootable
by cesareDH - 11/2/06 11:26 AM In reply to: An Alternate to The Bootable CD/DVD by spectrum9http://www.oreillynet.com/digitalmedia/blog/2004/10/utility_to_make_usb_flash_driv.html
USB Boot
by spectrum9 - 11/2/06 4:56 PM In reply to: USB Bootable by cesareDHThanks... just wonder where PC Magazine was when this info came out!?
Bootable USB
by steve.coult - 11/3/06 3:53 AM In reply to: An Alternate to The Bootable CD/DVD by spectrum9Nice idea thanks i will give it a try
Easy question but technical answer....
by mtvento - 11/3/06 11:30 AM In reply to: 10/27/06 Can I make a desktop restore CD/DVD like HP or Dell does? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Although the question seems very easy, the answer is quite technical, not impossible to understand but not even so esasy to grasp by novices.
The ''use an imagaging software'' is the simplest one, and it is simple to get the image selfboot and do all the stuff too, but it needs some old DOS knowledge.
Infact you have to build a boot-image for the CD/DVD, with a config.sys and an autoexec.bat forged to get the job done, using ghost (the bootable disk build with it should have the needed ghost.exe on it), wich can be used as a command line tool with lots of options and instruct it to read the image/s *.gho and put them on the disk x: or y: or whatever you want, you could even have the disk create multiple partitions etc.
But again, not impossible but still a little demanding.
The second solution besides using
http://www.nliteos.com/
(wich is part of the answer (already written by somebody else here on the forum)
there is a step by spep solution wich could make the job, and it is available in three flavours: beginning, intermediate and advanced!
http://unattended.msfn.org/unattended.xp
and in the forum there are tons of infos to build any type of setup disk you want with hudred of different options
But it still needs al little of studywork and a lot of time and tests to get it fully working as you would like to.
It is a really technical task, so it has to be done technically, if it could be a novice matter then the big computer companies would have no need to spend their efforts building those disks for their customers...
Ps. I apologise for any writing error, I'm a ''foreign'' poster, and in a hurry too...
Image software
by lucky76 - 11/3/06 9:37 PM In reply to: 10/27/06 Can I make a desktop restore CD/DVD like HP or Dell does? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Too much crap to read in your reply.
Tell him to just buy some image software,
create an image on a cd or dvd and
using that to restore. That simple.
I do it all the time, however the catch
is the drivers for different hardware.
MAking your own install - rebuild CD - THIS IS THE WAY
by bognor-bill - 11/5/06 6:58 AM In reply to: 10/27/06 Can I make a desktop restore CD/DVD like HP or Dell does? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Go to this link or type it into your browser
http://www.nliteos.com/nlite.html
This little proge does all you want and will even remove items and add all hotfixes.
Off you go and play.
hugh
Acronis True Image 9.0 Home
by paultarcha - 2/10/07 4:59 PM In reply to: 10/27/06 Can I make a desktop restore CD/DVD like HP or Dell does? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
I see several references to Acronis True Image. I am trying to use Acronis True Image 9.0 Home on a PC running Windows 2000 Professional and having problems with creation of bootable media. Is anyone using the same combination?
I have an option that can be done.
by Genolark - 11/30/07 8:56 AM In reply to: 10/27/06 Can I make a desktop restore CD/DVD like HP or Dell does? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
I was able to succeed in creating Automatic Restore CD/DVD(s) with Norton Ghost that made it possible to restore any computer back to the fresh install with drivers and updates to the point of creation. It works on Win95/98/ME/2000/2003 Server/XP, though I haven't figures out Vista yet because when I use them to make Vista restore sets they always fail. Follow these steps to create your own disks for automatic restores:
First you must create a ghost boot floppy from within Norton Ghost with preferably PC-Dos format after the disk is created you must now add some files to the floppy for it to work with properly the complete file list is going to be as follows:
autoexec.bat
command.com
config.sys
ibmbio.com
ibmdos.com
mouse.com
mouse.ini
oakcdrom.sys
mscdex.exe
Now that you have added the files missing from the floppy you are going to edit the config.sys file with notepad to be typed as follows:
device=oakcdrom.sys /d:mscd001
lastdrive=z
This is basicly stating that it is going to load a cdrom driver into memory for the autoexec.bat file to use to enable cd/dvd rom support for ghost. The second line stats that it will search for an available drive letter until it finds one and it will go all the way to drive z if there are that many drives installed on the system (god help us all if there are more that 24 drives installed into a system).
Now your going to edit the autoexec.bat file with noepad also and make sure it has the following commands inserted into it:
@echo off
LH a:\mscdex.exe /d:mscd001 /L:R
set tz=gho+06:00
mouse.com
echo Laoding your automated system restore session............
@cd ghost
@ghost.exe -clone,mode=load,src=r:cdr00001.gho,dst=1: sure
echo System restore has completed. Please remove any disc(s) from you drive(s) and press any key to restart your comuter.......
restart.com
Now that you have made your automated formated disk you need to create a ghost boot floppy to boot into ghost with. Now insert your normal ghost boot floppy into the drive and make sure you have a blank cd or dvd maybe more depending on if you have more data than what can be put onto a cd or dvd so make sure you have enough first. Also make sure the drive that is to be the source for the auto restore is installed into the system for the process.
Now go ahead and start the computer to boot into ghost and when you start make sure to select the cd/dvd rom drive as the destination for saving the image to. Now ghost will come up and ask if you want to make the cd/dvd bootable or copy a bootable floppy to the cd/dvd select yes and insert the automated ghost floppy you made earlier into the floppy drive and select yes again in the window to start copying the floppy to the image.
Now that the ghost is complete you now have an automated or automatic system restore cd/dvd(s) set.
If someone knows how to get something to work for Vista I would greatly be thankful. Come check out my companies website @ www.techgurus.com
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