Copying Installation to CD

emzee · Post by **emzee** » Thu Oct 02, 2003 7:46 pm

I know Norton Ghost is the way to go, but for now I'd like to copy my next fresh, fully updated installation to CD. I haven't done this before, so I have a few questions.

Do I simply copy the tweaked XP folder to the disc, then the same for Acid, etc

When I want a fresh install, should I format my drives ....from DOS, I assume....or simply delete all folders and copy from the CD back to the hard drive?

That's all for now but I'm sure there'll be more....

Also there's a new ASPI driver available, 4.72......

bassdude · Post by **bassdude** » Fri Oct 03, 2003 3:48 am

Unfortunately if you are trying to do a full copy of your hardrive, while windows is running, it won't work because some files being used by the windows OS are locked i.e. you can't copy them. Why windows has to lock files is beyond me. But I digress.

So what you have to do is somehow copy your nice new OS and app installation without booting into it.
A program like ghost essentially boots up off a floppy into its own dos based OS with drivers that allow it to recognise various file system formats (fat, ntfs, ext2/3 etc etc) and drivers for a cdrom burner. It is then able to copy all the files off the hardrive and burn an image onto cdrom. This happens without booting into windows at all.

So essentially you would need to get yourself a dos boot disk with dos drivers for your cdrom burner and some sort of dos based app that would allow you to copy the files from your c: drive.

From memory there is some free software that works similiar to ghost but I can't remember what it's called or where you would find it.

[ This Message was edited by: bassdude on 2003-10-03 04:57 ]

emzee · Post by **emzee** » Fri Oct 03, 2003 4:41 am

Thanks Bassdude....much appreciated......

Edit: search on Dual Boot revealed lots....no need for me to rabbit on....for now.

[ This Message was edited by: Mikka on 2003-10-03 06:11 ]

Sunshine · Post by **Sunshine** » Sat Oct 04, 2003 1:36 pm

Well actually there`s an application which does this very reliably....it`s called Acronis True Image. I´ve done this many times whith that particular app. It`s very easy in use! Try it!

emzee · Post by **emzee** » Sat Oct 04, 2003 5:12 pm

Thanks Sunshine...........I'll do that!

emzee · Post by **emzee** » Sun Oct 05, 2003 2:10 am

Looks like a great tip....I'll post the site here for others if they need it.. It seems to avoid the problems with windows raised above. I wonder if this is the one you were thinking of, Bassdude

You can download a time limited demo from

http://www.acronis.com

Thanks again, sunshine.

[ This Message was edited by: Mikka on 2003-10-05 04:26 ]

bassdude · Post by **bassdude** » Sun Oct 05, 2003 8:29 am

Haven't seen this one before. Very handy if you can do a full image without having to boot into dos.

You can actually do it in windows with ghost as well but they just don't recommend it.