Want to make a bootable self installing backup image of hard drive

[donfm]

I want to make a bootable self installing completely stand alone backup image of my HDD for my windows xp system on disk. I want it to image my entire C:/ drive and reinstall without the use of a windows environment. (bootable) This can be done on CD or DVD with DVD being the first choice.

It should be able to reformat the drive and recreate the hard drive, operating system and partitions identically to the previous one. An exact duplicate of the original.

I have seen some softwares that can restore from a bootable backup disk but need an image already installed on the hard drive as backup. They are not self contained. This worried me if for some reason the disks become corrupted or fail.

 

[Ken g6]

You're not the first to ask that question.

That might be what this thread is referring to, but I'm not sure.

 

[MTDEW]

I have not seen a program yet that can do this on a partitioned hard drive.

As far as i know with Acronis it is possible to make a bootable disc with the image on it that will restore a drive with no user input, but i believe it can only be made to restore the ENTIRE drive not just a partition.

So i just stick to saving my images to drive d: and doing the few mouse clicks to restore the image drive c: when needed as usual.

If there is a method to make a bootable/automatic restore disc for a partitioned hard drive, and only restore partition c: , i'd love to know, since i build a lot of pcs for people and have to teach them how to restore their images to drive c: and they still screw it up.

 

[donfm]

Originally posted by: MTDEW
I have not seen a program yet that can do this on a partitioned hard drive.

As far as i know with Acronis it is possible to make a bootable disc with the image on it that will restore a drive with no user input, but i believe it can only be made to restore the ENTIRE drive not just a partition.

So i just stick to saving my images to drive d: and doing the few mouse clicks to restore the image drive c: when needed as usual.

If there is a method to make a bootable/automatic restore disc for a partitioned hard drive, and only restore partition c: , i'd love to know, since i build a lot of pcs for people and have to teach them how to restore their images to drive c: and they still screw it up.

If I had to restore the entire drive that would be fine as well.

Years ago my company's IT department sent us self contained image disks that would reformat and image computers of "X" personnel with a new OS already setup with their required software etc. I think it was made with Norton Ghost. It took like 6 CD's to accomplish this but it could be used on a number of computers. The only thing I am really worried about is restoring the operating system as I have my data stored on other devices. Of course now I assume you can do it on DVD instead of CD.

My next best scenario is if there was a bootable install disk that would ask you for a computer image you have already burned on a DVD or multiple CD's.

My whole intent here is to be able to restore and exact image even if there is a disk failure where the backup image is lost and Windows environment is not available.

 

[donfm]

Originally posted by: Ken g6
You're not the first to ask that question.

That might be what this thread is referring to, but I'm not sure.

Yes that is exactly what I am referring to.

 

[MTDEW]

Originally posted by: donfm

Originally posted by: MTDEW
I have not seen a program yet that can do this on a partitioned hard drive.

As far as i know with Acronis it is possible to make a bootable disc with the image on it that will restore a drive with no user input, but i believe it can only be made to restore the ENTIRE drive not just a partition.

So i just stick to saving my images to drive d: and doing the few mouse clicks to restore the image drive c: when needed as usual.

If there is a method to make a bootable/automatic restore disc for a partitioned hard drive, and only restore partition c: , i'd love to know, since i build a lot of pcs for people and have to teach them how to restore their images to drive c: and they still screw it up.

If I had to restore the entire drive that would be fine as well.

Years ago my company's IT department sent us self contained image disks that would reformat and image computers of "X" personnel with a new OS already setup with their required software etc. I think it was made with Norton Ghost. It took like 6 CD's to accomplish this but it could be used on a number of computers. The only thing I am really worried about is restoring the operating system as I have my data stored on other devices. Of course now I assume you can do it on DVD instead of CD.

My next best scenario is if there was a bootable install disk that would ask you for a computer image you have already burned on a DVD or multiple CD's.

My whole intent here is to be able to restore and exact image even if there is a disk failure where the backup image is lost and Windows environment is not available.

Sorry for the late reply, working for a living gets in the way of my pc time sometimes.

Then Acronis True Image is what you want, it does it both ways you described.
http://www.acronis.com/

I believe Ghost may also, but it really is no loner host, its a hybrid of the old Norton Ghos and Power Quests old Drive Image Program. (i guess norton bought Powerquest)
But i had switched to drive image and i like it so much i never tried the newer versions of Ghost.


But with Acronis, you can make an image and burn it to dvd.
Then you can create a Acronis boot disc that contains the program , then choose to restore and select the image on the dvd you made.
http://www.whatsabyte.com/P1/create_cd.htm

 

[MTDEW]

And as you can read here, you can do the one click backup/restore disc if you dont have a partitioned hard drive. (it works on single partitioned drives only)

The Acronis One-Click Restore is a minimal addition to your rescue media, allowing one-click data recovery from an image archive, stored on this media. This means that at boot from the media and clicking ?restore? all data will be silently restored to the original place. No options or selections like resizing partitions will be possible.

In order to use this feature you should enable this component in Tools->Options->Default backup options->Media components only.
Please be aware that in case you restore image using this option onto another computer then some of your existing data on this computer may be lost since it restores to the original location (the same sectors may already contain some data on a new machine).
http://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=127835

Sorry, i couldnt find a tutorial on this also, but its easy to do.

 

[donfm]

The 120gb backup hard drive I have the Acronis Secure Zone on is just one large partition and NOT the same drive where the OS is located.

Now the drive with the operating system is 640gb and has 3 partitions (C,D,E). Once again I have 3 hard drives.

You say that Acronis will only work if there is a single partition on the hard drive. Are you referring to the main OS drive or the secondary drive that has the Secure Zone on it. I am a little confused if I have this configured properly now. I assume you are referring to the drive drive where the Secure Zone is located.

The tool that I can't get to work is the Acronis One-Click Protection feature not the One-Click Restore feature.

 

[MTDEW]

The drive with the operating system on can only have 1 partition if you want the easy/ one click restore disc.
That "one click" can only restore the entire hard drive as a single partition.
So NO, it will not work in your situation.

No big deal though, you can still make a Acronis bootable disc, then make an image of each of your 3 partitions seperately (each partition would have its own image file).
Then you'd be able to restore each partition individually.

 

[donfm]

Originally posted by: MTDEW



Then Acronis True Image is what you want, it does it both ways you described.
http://www.acronis.com/

I believe Ghost may also, but it really is no loner host, its a hybrid of the old Norton Ghos and Power Quests old Drive Image Program. (i guess norton bought Powerquest)
But i had switched to drive image and i like it so much i never tried the newer versions of Ghost.


But with Acronis, you can make an image and burn it to dvd.
Then you can create a Acronis boot disc that contains the program , then choose to restore and select the image on the dvd you made.
http://www.whatsabyte.com/P1/create_cd.htm

Well not exactly the way I wanted. Your first link goes to the Acronis website but doesn't show me how to do what I wanted. I have been there numerous times researching to no avail.

Your second link refers to making a seperate boot disk and a seperate image disk which is not what I was looking for either. I wanted everything on one disk or set of disks.

However this method will work just as well in the end so I will go with it. To date nobody has shown what I am trying to do is possible in Acronis. In fact the many threads I read stated it is NOT possible to make a single self contained restore disk.

Thanks for taking the time to try and help however....

 

[donfm]

Originally posted by: MTDEW
The drive with the operating system on can only have 1 partition if you want the easy/ one click restore disc.
That "one click" can only restore the entire hard drive as a single partition.
So NO, it will not work in your situation.

No big deal though, you can still make a Acronis bootable disc, then make an image of each of your 3 partitions seperately (each partition would have its own image file).
Then you'd be able to restore each partition individually.

Got it!!! No can do.....

 

[MTDEW]

I dont see why theres a difference of "everything on one set of discs as you put it" and one disc to start the program and then inserting the second that contains the image itself.
You still have to insert disc one, then disc 2 when prompted.
But yeah, as you asked in your original post and i answered in my original post...

Originally posted by: MTDEW
I have not seen a program yet that can do this on a partitioned hard drive.

As far as i know with Acronis it is possible to make a bootable disc with the image on it that will restore a drive with no user input, but i believe it can only be made to restore the ENTIRE drive not just a partition.

So i just stick to saving my images to drive d: and doing the few mouse clicks to restore the image drive c: when needed as usual.

If there is a method to make a bootable/automatic restore disc for a partitioned hard drive, and only restore partition c: , i'd love to know, since i build a lot of pcs for people and have to teach them how to restore their images to drive c: and they still screw it up.

Anyway, what you are asking "may" be possible, ive just never tried it, so i do not know., sorry.

Why not look into if you can clone the hardrive with the operating system on it and if the cloned image will restore all three partitions at the same time.

Like i said, ive never touched the clone options, so i have no idea if thats possible.

 

[MTDEW]

Can you even make a "clone image file" to save and use later?
I dont know.
Never touched the clone options of any program cuz i associate cloning with installing a new hard drive and i always preferred clean installs as opposed to just cloning my old drive to my new one.

 

[MTDEW]

Here, look at this. 9one of these programs may do it)
http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/5...-copy-your-hard-drive/

Ive never used any of these, but some of the descriptions sound like they may do what you need.

Thats it from me, i cant offer anything more since i always just image the the partition with the operating system on it and use the other partitons for storage that i dont need to have imaged. (or dont want to be restored cuz im always adding stuff)
Sorry.

I do see what you're thinking, it is kinda odd that what you want to do can't be done.
You just keep thinking "this must be possible!"

It certainly seems like it should easily be possible, as it isnt really any more complicated than restoring one partition.
You just wanna restore three at once.

 

[donfm]

Originally posted by: MTDEW
I dont see why theres a difference of "everything on one set of discs as you put it" and one disc to start the program and then inserting the second that contains the image itself.
You still have to insert disc one, then disc 2 when prompted.
But yeah, as you asked in your original post and i answered in my original post...

Originally posted by: MTDEW
I have not seen a program yet that can do this on a partitioned hard drive.

As far as i know with Acronis it is possible to make a bootable disc with the image on it that will restore a drive with no user input, but i believe it can only be made to restore the ENTIRE drive not just a partition.

So i just stick to saving my images to drive d: and doing the few mouse clicks to restore the image drive c: when needed as usual.

If there is a method to make a bootable/automatic restore disc for a partitioned hard drive, and only restore partition c: , i'd love to know, since i build a lot of pcs for people and have to teach them how to restore their images to drive c: and they still screw it up.

Anyway, what you are asking "may" be possible, ive just never tried it, so i do not know., sorry.

Why not look into if you can clone the hardrive with the operating system on it and if the cloned image will restore all three partitions at the same time.

Like i said, ive never touched the clone options, so i have no idea if thats possible.

Well when I started this "quest" my C: drive could fit on a single DVD so restoring my computer from a single disk was possible. But alas I now realize it would take several DVD's for a complete restore so the idea of a one disk solution is a mute point now.

And yes you are right if I have to put in several disks there is no point. I can accomplish the same thing with a bootable recovery disk and image file disks. End of story.

Thanks for the help MTDEW.

 

[Raincity]

Acronis True Image will let save a single partition or multiple partitions or clone the whole drive to removable media with the one click installer componet.

 

[donfm]

I started another thread with the problem I am having with Acronis one-step protection feature.

When I try to use it and backup my C: drive to the Acronis Secure Zone,..it first it asks me where to save the backup which is the asz:/ (Secure Zone Partition). It then asks for my user ID and password. I enter that and then an error message comes up constantly asking me to "insert the last media of the archive and click retry". This is puzzling since I am writing to my hard drive and not to burnable media. I am unable to use this feature to backup with the one-step wizard. Its as if it thinks I am trying to restore a backup archive on optical disk but I checked in options and it is not pointing to the optical drive.

I can however go through the manual "backup" feature and save a backup to the Secure Zone. I can't figure out why it won't let me do it automatically with the one-step protection feature. I get that constant request to insert the first media archive and there it stalls since I have no such archive and shouldn't have one either.