How to make a Restore DVD?

[AnitaPeterson]

Well, I know this topic's been discussed before, but to my knowledge the idea of using a DVD-R instead of CDs was not used.

After having to re-install everything on my machine - and what a PITA this is!!! - I came to the conclusion that the best thing I can do would be to make a bootable Restore DVD, wich I could use for the future in case anything gets screwed.

So, how do I get to do this? I'm running W2k Pro SP4, by the way, not XP.

Some may suggest Norton Ghost, or something similar, but I don't know if these programs will be able to make a bootable DVD which would not require any assistance besides physical insertion in the DVD drive...

Any help would be appreciated. If you've done this in the past, or know how to do it now, please give me advice - I'm not too knowledgeable about the innards of the operating system, so be as detailed as possible.

Thanks much!

This is just an idea, but perhaps, if a good recipe comes out, we can post it in the main AT site afterwards...

 

[gsellis]

Neither Ghost nor PowerQuest (now both owned by Symantec) actually make DVDs or CDs. They make an image of the OS and all the other bits on the drive. So, your restore would have an executable on it to restore the image, but the CD or DVD would boot into some operating system. You can make a DOS disk and use the image on that diskette with Nero or some other advanced CD/DVD writer software to make a bootable disc. In that case, you would use the DOS version. Consider using a ME DOS or similar as on DVD, you have 4.7GB. (Edit- as I think about it, I don't have a DVD fs driver and not sure if mscdex can handle DVD - might want to see Bart's Way to do DVD - below)

As for everything you want to know about bootable CDs, try here: Bart's Way

Bart also has a Windows PE style CD/DVD OS and instructions, but that will require a Win32 non-shell UI version of the restore app. PowerQuest makes such a tool available for corp. accts.

 

[Boonesmi]

i use ghost to create a restore disc using dvd's all the time

just create a floppy boot disk that boots into ghost
then choose which partition/disc to create a imagie of
then choose destination (ie select your dvd burner with a blank dvd inserted)
then choose to also copy the bootable floppy to the dvd (that question pops up right before the image creation starts, just hit "yes"

the end product is a bootable dvd disc that can be used to restore your system

**edited to add**
make sure you are using a new version of ghost... i know it works with ghost 2003 (i cant remember if it also works with ghost2002 since back when i used that version of ghost i never tried using dvd's)

 

[AnitaPeterson]

So, can I physically copy all the data on the OS HD, but I also need to make the image bootable AND add another utility that would erase everything on the HD and place there a functioning operating system and all the programs?...

The thing is, the tutorial you posted (thanks much!) does not indicate whether one can add things like Microsoft Office, PowerDVD, Nero 6, Photoshop and Ulead VideoStudio, to name but a few of the programs I have. Most of these require registrations and stuff - this is so damned complicated...

 

[Boonesmi]

you are over complicating it

ghost makes an image of your harddrive. that means everything... that means you can restore from that image onto a brand new harddrive (removing the original harddrive) and you would never even know it. it would be just like the original (all your apps like officeXP, etc, etc will work no problem. they will NOT need to be re-installed, or re-registered, or re-activated, etc)

you dont run ghost from inside of windows. you need to create a ghost bootable floppy disk (this boots the pc up into the ghost program where you can create image files, or restore from image files) if durring the dvd creation you tell it to copy the bootable floppy to dvd then you will no longer even need the bootable floppy disc. you will be able to boot right from the dvd (assuming your computer bios is setup to boot from cd/dvd)


then all you need to do is follow the step from my earlier post ^^^

also you dont need any utility to erase or format or anything like that. if you create a ghost image of a harddrive that is fat32, then when you restore that image file it will still be fat32. (no matter if the drive was previously unformatted, or if it was formated in NTSF, the restore will turn it into a FAT32) also remember if you restore an image file onto a drive it will delete everything on that drive

 

[gsellis]

I think you are misreading or I did not explain clearly enough. You cannot just copy the files to an alternate media. Ghost and Powerquest make a sector by sector copy of the hard drive, leaving out most of the blank stuff and compressing it. It is not copying, it is a copy of the hard drive, including the file system tables, etc. It is then saved in a very large file or files. The application from Ghost or Powerquest is required to write that data back to the hard drive, wiping everything that was there off. Anything you capture in an image is stale. After an image is restored, you would then use backups of databases and incremental backups to restore any data present. Restoring an image assumes that you cannot or do not want to keep what is currently on the server/workstation and you expect to start building that machine back from scratch with some shortcuts. So, if it is a workstation, you get it the way you want with apps and make a "ghost" copy of it. If it needs to be rebuilt because it is unrecoverable, you would restore the copy, but you would lose anything you did not back up.

The tutorial is how to create bootable CDs in a small shell of an OS. There is no environment available to run any of the applications listed. You need an OS running to run the Ghost or Powerquest restore.

 

[AnitaPeterson]

Excellent, thanks much! I'm printing this for reference. Now all I need is Norton 2003 or 2004...

 

[tiap]

Use Trueimage 7 by acronis. It is far better than the bloated Ghost and all the others. I've tried them all and it is fast and easy. It does a 10 gig xpp image restore in 15 min from a dvd boot. You can downloaad a trial copy. Good luck

 

[Sid59]

im hosting a ghost guide at my website. written by this guy i know, it's pretty easy and breaks it down to what you need to know.

Ghost Guide

 

[Perplx]

I have to second Truimage 7. It lets you make backups IN WINDOWS, its way faster then Drive Image 7. It lets you make bootable cds/floppies etc. And a has alot of features the others dont.

 

[AIWGuru]

My DVD burner came with Sonic Simple backup. The name says it all.

 

[Mday]

there are stand alone solutions to make bootable restoration dvds. i like to mess around with mine, so i do things differently...

what i do is create a ghost image and then burn a bootable dvd with it using nero. the bootable part is floppy drive emulation. i have a bootable floppy image (win98se) which i can edit with winimage. this allows me to do most of what i want. I also include diagnostics software with the dvds.