Bootable DVD Under XP Home With NTFS 1

[SorryDog777]

HI, I have searched the forums and found some good information about bootable DVDs. I'm not sure which program to purchase for creating a bootable DVD that supports ntfs.

I have a pc here (1 yr old) that's been formatted, XP Home installed, favorite software installed.

What I want to do is make a bootable DVD to burn an image of this current configuration. Similar to days of yore when pc manufacture’s supplied a bootable cd with an image of the os and installed software. Boot on cd and restore your system back to factory-supplied level.

I have a copy of Ghost 2002, but it doesn't see the ntfs formatted hard drives.


Anyone have a suggestion for a program to create this bootable system DVD?

Thanks for your help.

SD

 

[linney]

Norton Ghost 9.0 or Norton Ghost 2003

File systems supported for backup and restore tasks:

All FAT/32
ALL NTFS
Linux EXT2/3

http://www.symantec.com/sabu/ghost/ghost_personal/sys_req.html

http://www.symantec.com/sabu/ghost/ghost_personal/features.html

 

[bcastner]

I like linney's software suggestions, but the key issue: will your BIOS support a DVD boot, or, will it only support booting from a CD ROM?

Both the products above will support a "rescue boot" image to CD, and work perfectly in that role.

 

[SorryDog777]

Thanks linney for your suggestion. I purchased Norton Ghost 9 today.


Good question bcastner, in the BIOS it says IDE CD-ROM DEVICE

I Have the latest BIOS flash already. The computer is only 1 year old. Are you implying that BIOS should read something like IDE DVD-ROM DEVICE?

Thanks for your help

SD

 

[bcastner]

I am suggesting that there is no BIOS support to boot from DVD, only CD Rom.

 

[SorryDog777]

Interesting...

So, I'm guessing that newer pc's have a boot from DVD setting in the BIOS?

I'll look at a new pc at work to see if it has DVD boot support.

BTW, I got Ghost for $19.95 after rebates come in. I can't resist a bargain!!

Thanks for your help.

SD

 

[bcastner]

I have never seen a BIOS option to boot from DVD, perhaps it does exist.

But the requirements to make a bootable optical disk are quite stringent.

In my opinion you would:

. use Ghost to create an image, then store the image on a DVD if like;

. use Ghost to create a bootable emergency CD so that you can then access an image on your system.

 

[gpalmer711]

I can only talk for my PC here. In the Bios my boot options are Floppy, IDE0-0, IDE0-1, IDE1-0, IDE1-1. If I select one of my DVD drives it will boot from a DVD. In my case I have used MSDN disks in this situation.

Greg Palmer
Free Software for Adminstrators

http://www.palmersoft.co.uk

 

[bcastner]

I don't doubt that a Juliet format DVD can be written so as to make it bootable.

My concerns were:

. BIOS support for a DVD drive at boot
. and the format of the DVD itself

The question by the orginal poster was whether a backup scheme would write a bootable restore DVD. I honestly do not know the answer.

 

[SorryDog777]

Thanks for your replies.
My DVD burner is one of the combo units as most are. It's a NEC ND-1100A with the following specs:

Data Transfer Rate: DVD:8….12x (max. 16200 kByte/s) - read +R: 4x CLV (5520 kByte/s) - write +RW: 2.4x CLV (3300) kByte/s - write
CD:7…40x (2550-6000 kByte/s) - read -R: 16x CLV (2400 kByte/s) - write -RW: 10x CLV (1500) kByte/s - write

Modes Supported: DVD-ROM, DVD-R, DVD-RW, DVD+R, DVD+RW, DVD-Video, CD-ROM, CD-ROM XA, CD-Audio, CD Extra, CD Text, CD-I Ready, CD-Bridge, Photo-CD, Video CD, Hybrid CD

I'll experiment some more to see if I find a solution.

Thanks again for all of your help!

SD

 

[bcastner]

Note to Microsoft and possible Third-Party vendors:

We appreciate offering NTBACKUP.EXE under XP Professional. What would be desired is a Scheduled Task capable, command line capable, compression using, backup scheme that writes a bootable image restore to CD, multiple CDs if needed, or DVDs:

. If the image to be backed up exceeds the capacity of a single blank CD, it should allow you to span to a second, third, etc. CD;

. If the image to be backed up fits within a CD, or DVD, then great.

The backup CD, or DVD should provide:

. It should be self-booting
. It should offer the equivalent of System Restore under its own boot as a menu choice; or,
. The equivalent of System Recovery as a menu choice; or,
. the choice to replace the existing hard drive with the saved image without intervention

In addition, it should allow you to mount the image as if it was a new drive, and selectively copy, paste and replace files on the hard drive from the image using Explorer.

Sincerely yours,
Bill Castner