Boot Drive Disk Image

[dgeezer]

I finally got around to doing a clean install of windows on my GBpvr PC. This was prompted by extremely slow response and a few failed/poor recordings. The results have been almost phenominal. (well to me anyway) However this took me almost 5 hours of installing software, finding old install disks, cursing, looking for other disks, dowloading drivers (fortunately there is another PC sitting on my desk), etc.

I was wondering if there is a way to make a current image of my C drive which now only contains about 5GB's of files so that I could repeat this process by simply stickig a DVD disc in the PC and rebooting. Or even better by simply copying off of one of the other hard drives.

I know there used to be a program called ghost from Norton that does this but it always seems to get terrible reviews. I know that it didn't work for me back when I still had other norton programs on my PC.

I wish I had partitioned my C; drive before I reinstalled windows since it appears that I won't ever need more than about 10gb for the operating system and program files. That is if I can quit messing about with the software.......

[psycik]

Have a look at acronis trueimage http://www.acronis.com or Power quest Drive image.

Drive image I knew used to be able to do what you want from CD, not sure about dvd. True Image have just added support for DVDs but I haven't upgraded to that yet - I tend to run a dual boot windows xp system, so I don't find that i need the DVD image file, just boot into the second copy of XP then restore the image of the first copy.

But I imagine that if trueimage has direct burn to dvd then it would probably be bootable.

[pBS]

yea,it always breaks when you need it most...
but i know of a cute little program that does the same thing, images a drive to cd/dvd and it even can burn a dvd under DOS! makes a bootable restore disk with the program included and actually doesn't require installation...[tho i would recommand it]
it also works on usb/firewire external drives and rw media and spanning disks..
also there's some utils on their site that allow you to restore individual files,
a locking program that will allow backing up drives that are in use..[and a free .iso burner that's tiny too]

it was only 28$ when i bought mine, way less than Ghost...
[which is now in it's like 5th re-incarnation/rewrite]
it's called Image for Windows...by Terabyte...works excellently and is unbeleivably lightning fast!
the dos version is one file and can burn cd/dvd and restore as well..
try it, there's a 30 day trial.. you won't believe the speed and simplicity...

makes Ghost look like a joke...

http://www.terabyteunlimited.com/imagew.html

[dgeezer]

Thanks, I'll give it a try.

I was hoping to find a simple solution that would actually work.

BTW, I struggled for an hour this morning getting my MVP to work. I tried different dongles, installed the Hophog software, got my daily exercise running up & down the basement stairs and finally realized that I had forgotten about windows firewall.

Maybe I need to write a wiki article on stupid mistakes to avoid.....

[stu8080]

Acronis True Image has a 'secure zone' which creates a partition for your backups, after having a few cd images that failed, i tried it and have restored succesfully about half a dozen images. Its certainly a much more reliable way of doing backups, but it can eat up 20-30GB space on your drive.

[pBS]

did i mention that Image for Windows can also backup to anything that has a drive letter?
you can even backup to the drive you're backing up! lol
try that, acronis or ghost..lol
ghost actually now IS drive image pro from old days, acronis is actually linux..
i've used them all and they are all HUGE and bloated! why install 150+megs of caca when you can use 2meg software to do same thing without annoying windows dependancies? [and virtually identical features, IFW even does things no others can do for any price!
also scriptable with command line ability...
can backup to a hidden partition..can even backup while watching tv!
try them all, you'll see what i mean...
takes me 5 mins to backup 8 gigs to HD...

[ricklous]

Ive been looking at a similar thing in order to provide a WAF-saving quick restore facility if we've 5 minutes before Eastenders is on and the thing goes tits up...

The route im looking down at the moment is using Drive Snapshot with the BartPE program to create a DVD based windows boot DVD which automatically restores an image from the DVD.

The problem ive found is that most backup programs dont provide a command line interface for restore functions, in order to have a batch file auto run and trigger the restore without needing a keyboard/mouse/remote when the DVD boots. they do with backups but not restore... anyway, Drive Snapshot is one of the few that does so thats been the one im furrowing my brow over recently. Not knuckled it down yet but hopefully...

the only other side to this equation is how big to make the sticker on the DVD that says 'ONLY PUT THIS IN THE GIZMO IN AN EMERGENCY - YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED'

[dgeezer]

That's my idea exactly. I spent what seemed like forever getting this system back up and running. I would love to have a quick return to a clean system.

Of course, i like psycik's idea of having a dual boot system. If I had another setup from today all it would take would be a quick change in the bios to the second drive and up would come todays install with none of the screwing around with the system I know I'll do eventually.

I actually bought a $350.00 "open box" mini HP cpu to move my business and accounting work off of my GBpvr pc. I was afraid that it might take more than a day or two to complete this re-install.

[psycik]

That's my idea exactly. I spent what seemed like forever getting this system back up and running. I would love to have a quick return to a clean system.

Of course, i like psycik's idea of having a dual boot system. If I had another setup from today all it would take would be a quick change in the bios to the second drive and up would come todays install with none of the screwing around with the system I know I'll do eventually.

I actually bought a $350.00 "open box" mini HP cpu to move my business and accounting work off of my GBpvr pc. I was afraid that it might take more than a day or two to complete this re-install.

Remember my idea is based on having multiple partitions since the main downfall of imaging is that it does a whole drive (read partition), so it helps to have stuff set up on seperate drives.

[pBS]

i did something similar on mine...but i installed bartpe on the hard-drive..
so it can still back up itself and the regular xp and is read-only..
and it does run from the xp boot menu..

yea, ImageForWin works alot like Drive Snapshot but even nicer..
[and they also have a BartPE plugin for free]
and it does automate the restore process, and has full command line mode..

i'm tellin ya,you're wasting time with anything else..
5 min backups to either dvd/cd or hd...can't be beat for twice the price and half the speed..and 5 mins to restore
has all the features you need...
i hate to sound like a commercial,but it really is that good..