How to restore from ISO image onto a blank drive?

[WildHorse]

Sorry for the long help request.

I have Nero Burning ROM 6, and made ISO image files of my hard drives before reformatting them. The ISO creation automatically split itself into 16 separate image files, which are on 2 DVDs, and include everything I originally had: OS with SP2 and many updates, all my application programs, and all my data files.

(a) How do you get ISO images from DVD disks to install back onto a freshly reformatted hard drive?

(b) Can I use the ISO image files to restore WindowsXP, with SP2 and all the Windows updates, and have it work properly??

(c) If unavoidable, I can reluctantly reinstall Windows XP OS from my original disk, & do all the updating downloads all over again (ugh!).

If that's necessary, can the ISO image files still be used to get all my application programs to work, & my data files restored? How do you get the application programs to go back into the WIndowsXP registry, so Windows will "see" them?

Any help appreciated!

 

[birdpup]

My question for you is, what utility did you use to create your ISO image files? This same utility is what can be used to restore the images to the hard drive. There should be a liveCD or environment that will copy the image files from the DVD onto the hard drive.

 

[bucwylde23]

Originally posted by: scott
Sorry for the long help request.

I have Nero Burning ROM 6, and made ISO image files of my hard drives before reformatting them. The ISO creation automatically split itself into 16 separate image files, which are on 2 DVDs, and include everything I originally had: OS with SP2 and many updates, all my application programs, and all my data files.

(a) How do you get ISO images from DVD disks to install back onto a freshly reformatted hard drive?

Exactly what birdpup said.

We need to know what you used to create the ISO files.

For example, I create ISO backups of my hard drives using Acronis True Image.

IN order to restore the backups to a blank drive, you have to boot from the Acronis boot disc that it let's you create. From that point you can load the image to your hard drive from your discs.

(b) Can I use the ISO image files to restore WindowsXP, with SP2 and all the Windows updates, and have it work properly??

Yes. It will be the exactly the same at the time when you created the image. You don't actually go through a new windows setup.

(c) If unavoidable, I can reluctantly reinstall Windows XP OS from my original disk, & do all the updating downloads all over again (ugh!).

If that's necessary, can the ISO image files still be used to get all my application programs to work, & my data files restored? How do you get the application programs to go back into the WIndowsXP registry, so Windows will "see" them?

Any help appreciated!

It depends on what utility that you used again. Again, with Acronis you can explore an image and retrieve data files. You will not be able to recover installed programs unless you have the original install program. That is the only way for them to be properly reinstalled onto the machine as far as I know.

 

[nealh]

Acronis is one awesome program...much better than ghost ever could be....

 

[WildHorse]

The ISO image was made with Nero Burning ROM 6, which I bought by download.

It sure is difficult to use!

 

[bucwylde23]

Originally posted by: nealh
Acronis is one awesome program...much better than ghost ever could be....

amen, I agree 100%. We use ghost at work and I absolutely hate it. Those guys think that it is great but they have never used acronis. I am going to take it in one day just to show them just how much better it really is.

Originally posted by: scott
The ISO image was made with Nero Burning ROM 6, which I bought by download.

It sure is difficult to use!

Hmm, I"m not exactly sure how Nero Burning ROM 6 works...... i would assume one of the discs is bootable? Or the program at least can burn a bootable disc so that you can load the image.

From Nero.com Website:
BackUp options:

ISO Level 1 + 2
Joliet with 2-byte characters
ISO Mode 1 and XA Mode 2
ISO, ASCII and DOS character sets
User-selectable ISO/Joliet-requirement relaxation
Dynamic ISO filename conversion
Single-track "on-the-fly" recording (up to 12X)
Small-file caching from disk and network
User-selectable file filters
Multimounter
Complex read-error handling
Editable file structure and filenames
Multisession with track-linking
Full OFAS support (optimal file-access speed)
Bootable CD creation (from floppy disk or hard drive partition)

Link

So it looks like you are going to have to create a bootable cd with that program. I doubt that the discs that you burned are bootable but I guess it's worth a shot???

Let me know if you need anymore help.

 

[bucwylde23]

Download PDF User Guide Here

Here is a link to the User Guide for Nero Burning ROM 6.

Go to page 68 and that is where it tells you about creating a bootable CD.

Follow that and you should be able to make a bootable CD so that you can image your drive.

Seriously though, that program is more of just a burning program rather than a backup program. In the future I would buy Acronis True image or even ghost if need be in order to do your backups. Either would be a lot better for backups than nero.
Acronis can be found pretty cheap... such as $25-35 and it's worth every penny. You can buy it through a download too....

 

[WildHorse]

chrisg22

thank you very much for your help!

 

[bucwylde23]

no problem, let me know how it turns out, you have me curious now

 

[daniel49]

yes nero 6 can burn a bootable disc from an iso ,but have never used it in the way he wants to use it so am not sure how well that specific application of it would work.