Backup disks of Win 7 etc. on Aspire 5742 2

[walker2]

My mom just got an Acer Aspire 5742, which works fine!

However, as Microsoft wants to sell, not help, it did not come with any Win 7 DVD or other.
No CD with drivers from Acer either :-(

Acer has an application, which pops up from time to time about creating some backup DVD set. (four DVDs are required)

Unfortunately two out of the first three DVDs burned failed!
(1st attempt at disc 1 and first attempt at disc 2)
The time used for all three discs ended up nearly four times longer than first anticipated. (22 minutes instead of 6)
I suspect buffer overrun, using a burning speed faster than supported by drive or media or other nasties.

How do one overcome this?

Some virtual DVD burning device might be handy just to crate the four images in a subdirectory on the hard drive.
Then proper burning software could be used to make the actual discs later.

Unfortunately I have up until now only found a trial version from ZTekWare, that does create a virtual drive, but I have not been able to use it for writing. The trial version only allow CDs not larger formats, but the burning part keeps insisting that I insert a disc.

Other ideas?

Slowing down the burning speed, driver wise?
Besides selecting which drive you want to use, the Acer app. has absolutely ZERO adjustments/settings!

 

[BadBigBen]

1. General rule of thumb, burn OS's at the slowest speed possible...

2. you may wish to try TotalMounter by Kernsoft

TotalMounter

http://www.kernsafe.com/

though I have not tested this...

3. also changing media may be prudent, as the DVD drive installed may not like the DVD's you have...


Ben
"If it works don't fix it! If it doesn't use a sledgehammer..."
How to ask a question, when posting them to a professional forum.
Only ask questions with yes/no answers if you want "yes" or "no"

 

[linney]

If you check your machine out on the Acer web site you may find that it already includes a hidden recovery partition that allows for recovery of the whole system to the day one setup. Usually this type of recovery procedure is accessible via a combination of keyboard keys at boot time.

Disk Management in Windows 7 allows you to shrink a hard drive in size and then create a second partition on the same hard drive where you can save system images (backups) to.

Resize a Partition for Free in Windows Vista or Windows 7.

http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/windows-vista/resize-a-partition-for-free-in-windows-vista/

http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/wind...ows-vistas-shrink-volume-inadequacy-problems/

Saving an image on DVD is a good idea as it gets the data "off machine" but it is a slow method of doing things and the saved image or data can get out of date quickly. Use of an External Hard Drive might be a better option.

I make regular image backups of my machine but I don't use the Windows 7 software and prefer third party offerings such as what you find here.

Terabyte Unlimited

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

http://www.terabyteunlimited.com/image-for-windows.htm

 

[sggaunt]

linney is correct, my new acer tower was able to restore windows 7, without the use of the disks. (I had made them anyway)
It will be in there somewhere.
Look for a start menu Acer/Acer recovery managment, my Aspire 5740 laptop has it too.
You can opt to restore everthing, or just Windows, (it puts your data files in a backup folder)

Steve: N.M.N.F.
If something is popular, it must be wrong: Mark Twain

 

[rclarke250]

Linney,sggaunt, it's all well and good that there is a hidden partition on the hard drive to restore from, But what happens when the drive goes south, and takes that hidden partition with it? OP is right to make the backup disks, I suspect the media is to blame or a faulty dvd drive. Try different media first, if that doesn't work, exchange it under warranty, or call acer for repair.