How to create bootable rescue DVD(s):

Discussion in 'Acronis True Image Product Line' started by wdormann, Sep 16, 2004.

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  1. wdormann

    wdormann Registered Member

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    You should be able to, but at least do a trial run and boot from the DVD to make sure that you can verify the image(s).
     
  2. Menorcaman

    Menorcaman Retired Moderator

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    Hello Christian,

    Hopefully the BIOS in all the PCs can be set to boot from USB-CDROM and the Linux device drivers on the Acronis rescue CD are compatible with the PCs USB sub-systems.

    Set the BIOS such that the USB-CDROM is the first boot device and try booting from the Acronis bootable rescue CD first. If that works then, provided you created the bootable rescue DVD correctly, there shouldn't be a problem.

    If by any chance you are not able to boot from the normal Acronis rescue CD then you will need to start a new Thread and sort out that problem first.

    Regards

    Edit: Oops! Sorry wdormann. We seem to have crossed in mid air.
     
  3. wdormann

    wdormann Registered Member

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    No problem. Yours is much more thorough! :)
     
  4. Christian

    Christian Guest

    Hi,

    I was able to boot with the original TI Boot-CD.
    With Nero I made an image of the original TI Boot-CD and burned this image to a DVD. I was able to boot from this dvd as well. In both cases I booted using the USB-DVD-Drive.

    The BIOS was set up to boot from USB-FDD / USB-CD / USB-HDD (don't know if I remember the sequence right). I don't know if the PC used USB-FDD or USB-CD for booting.

    Suppose the image would have been on the DVD too, how can I locate this for an restore operation, since the TI GUI doesn't show the DVD as possible source for an image.

    Thanks,
    Christian
     
  5. Menorcaman

    Menorcaman Retired Moderator

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    Well that's really outside the scope of this thread. Until your standard Acronis boot rescue CD correctly detects your specific hardware, you are never going to be able to create a working bootable rescue DVD as detailed here.

    As you are able to boot from the standard rescue CD into the Acronis GUI, check out Part II (b) of the Acronis Support Sticky titled <PLEASE READ BEFORE YOU POST> and forward the necessary info to support@acronis.com.

    Regards
     
  6. user345

    user345 Registered Member

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    Hello, I wanted to make a DVD of my own, and I have done the first step, created the images in 635MB splits. It equates to about 7.6 GB, and I was wondering how I would put it on 2 DVD's? Do I need to only put the bootable stuff on the first DVD, or do I need it on both? Will it still work when i take out the first DVD and replace it with the second, that has solely the image files?
     
  7. Menorcaman

    Menorcaman Retired Moderator

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    Hello user345,

    The "bootable stuff" only needs to be on the first DVD, along with the first seven 635MB .tib files. Only the remaining five .tib files are burnt to the second DVD. Please have a quick read of Post #144 on Page 6 for a bit more information.

    By the way, which procedure are you using, wdormann's original, my updated/modified version of it or the UltraISO one?

    Regards
     
  8. user345

    user345 Registered Member

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    Thanks for the Info, I was going to do what wdormann said on the first post, Is this a good way? Or does it not matter? Is one way easier than the others? I haven't started doing anything yet, so If another way is better, please tell. Thanks! :D
     
    Last edited: Sep 19, 2005
  9. Menorcaman

    Menorcaman Retired Moderator

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    Wdormann' original utilises WinISO plus his own combination of CD Shell and an obsolete version of Bootable CD Wizard (BCDW). My updated version utilises WinISO plus the latest version of BCDW only, although it does require a simple edit of the bootcat.ini and bcdw.ini text files. My latest procedure utilises UltraISO only and doesn't require editing of any ini files.

    All three procedures get the job done equally well although, personally, I find the UltraISO version the easiest to implement.

    Regards
     
  10. user345

    user345 Registered Member

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    Ah, I didn't see the UltraISO method earlier as it is bunched into the post, but found it here: https://www.wilderssecurity.com/showpost.php?p=439560&postcount=117

    It seems pretty straightforward, I will be giving this a go soon! Thanks for all your help! ;) :D

    edit: Since my tib files span 2 DVDs, I read earlier something about inserting the first DVD to boot, then putting the last disc in, and choosing the last image? Do I have to do this? If I forgot, will TI give me an error or something at least so it doesn't screw up the recovery? Thanks for your help! :cool:
     
    Last edited: Sep 20, 2005
  11. Menorcaman

    Menorcaman Retired Moderator

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    Hi again user345,

    That's correct, after booting from the first DVD, remove it and insert the last disk and then select the last created volume (i.e. the last .tib file).

    If you don't do that TI will advise that "This is not the last created volume. Please insert the last created volume to start working with this archive". In which case, click "Back", insert the DVD containing the last .tib file, wait for your DVD recorder activity light to go out and then click "Next". After that just follow TI's prompts for subsequent image volume insertions.

    In the event you ignored the "This is not the last created volume etc." message and clicked "Next" instead, TI will throw up up the error stating "Image archive [drive:\filename.tib] is corrupted. Please choose another file." In this case click "OK" followed by "Back", insert the correct DVD, wait for the disk activity light to go out and then click "Next" to continue.

    Remember that, before you ever carry out a Restore, you must verify the image using TI's Check Image Wizard, either under Windows or after booting from the bootable rescue CD/DVD. It's too late to find out that the image is corrupt after you commenced a restore because TI will have deleted your existing partition(s) by then.

    Trust the above info helps.

    Regards
     
  12. user345

    user345 Registered Member

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    Thanks for the answers, you have really helped me out!! I greatly appreciate your help! :D I think that is all I have to ask for now! Thanks again for your help! Much appreciated! :D
     
  13. iluvTI

    iluvTI Guest

    helo fellas, anyone knows yet if an official way to create a bootable rescue dvd has been incorporated into TI9?
    i've read the new features from TI9 site but isn't clear.

    thanks and cheers,
     
  14. Menorcaman

    Menorcaman Retired Moderator

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    Hi all,

    First the bad news :'(. The current version of UltraISO (7.6.2.1180) is unable to extract the boot file info from a TI 9.0 bootable rescue CD. Hopefully this will be fixed in a later release of UltraISO. Thanks to eJan for advising this via his recent Thread titled <TI 9 can't extract boot file with UltraISO>.

    Now the good news :). I can confirm that WinISO is compatible with the TI 9.0 bootable rescue CD. Therefore wdormann's original procedure and my updated/modified version of it are both still O.K.

    Regards
     
  15. vareniky

    vareniky Registered Member

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    Thanks
    I don't think will upgrade after reading too many complaints, looks like TI9 is very buggy
     
  16. Harry B.

    Harry B. Guest

    I haven't read thru the 150+ items in this thread.
    But why do we need bootable rescue DVD(s) containg the TI images?

    Instead, I have a bootable CD with TI8 and many other rescue tools.
    After booting up with this bootable CD, I can run TI8 and restore
    the TI images from other *non-bootable* DVDs.

    Here is an URL for such a bootable CD.
    http://www.ubcd4win.com/

    I add TI8 plugin (and some others like Ghost:cool: on top of UBC4Win.

    One big advantage is that there are lot of drivers (network drivers,
    storage device drivers) you can include. So that TI8 (on my rescue
    CD) can be run on HP Proliant server at my work place.

    The point is, separate the rescue tools (i.e. the bootable CD) with
    the data (i.e. the DVDs with TI8 images).
    This way I don't need to create bootable DVDs every time I have TI
    images created.
     
  17. wdormann

    wdormann Registered Member

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    Convenience, really.

    I can have my entire C: drive backed up on a single DVD, and that's the only disc needed to do a "bare metal" restore.

    The end result is not really any different than having a separate disc for booting and one (or more) for images.
     
  18. vareniky

    vareniky Registered Member

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    Ultraiso 7.6.5.1225 still not supporting bootable image extraction on TI9.x
     
  19. wdormann

    wdormann Registered Member

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    Sounds like an UltraISO problem, huh?

    I created a bootable DVD with TrueImage 9.0 and my original WinISO method without any problem.
     
  20. vareniky

    vareniky Registered Member

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    sorry to misledad you but in fact the new version does support TI9.xbut it is different way to extract the bootable image
    choose 'File'->'Open CD/DVD...', then save the boot file by 'Bootable'->'Save boot file'
    :rolleyes:
     
  21. Menorcaman

    Menorcaman Retired Moderator

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    O.K. guys, the latest good news is that version 7.6.5.1225 of UltraISO works with True Image 9 (:)).
    The latest bad news is that the procedure had to be amended (:().

    So if anyone is still interested, here goes:

    1. Create a folder on your backup drive or partition e.g. E:\TIbootDVD plus two sub-folders e.g. E:\TIbootDVD\Bif andE:\TIbootDVD\ISO

    2. Image your system to the E:\TIbootDVD folder, specifying a manual split image size of 1477 MB unless you also want to copy the .tib files to CD, in which case use a split size of 633 MB (note the slight reduction in file sizes due to the increased size of TI's boot data). Verify the image file using TI’s Check Image Wizard.

    3. Install and run the latest version of <UltraISO>.

    4. Insert the latest (working!!) version of your TI 9 bootable rescue CD into your CD/DVD burner.

    5. Click on UltraISO’s “File” menu item and select “Open CD/DVD”. In the “Open CD/DVD” dialogue window set the CD/DVD drive letter to that of the burner containing the boot rescue CD annd click "Open". Once opened, click on the "Bootable" menu item and select "Save Boot File...". In the "Extract Boot File" dialogue window, browse to destination directory e.g. E:\TIbootDVD\Bif\, enter a suitable file name e.g. TI9bldXXXX (where XXXX is your TI Build Number) and then click "Save". Note that if you subsequently create a newer TI boot rescue CD then you’ll need to create a corresponding new .bif file.

    6. Remove the TI boot rescue CD from your burner and insert a blank DVD R or RW.

    7. From UltraISO’s “File” menu item select “Properties” and set the “File System” tab options as per Screenshot 1 below. On the “Label” tab, rename the DVD volume to something meaningful e.g. BootDVD and then click “OK”. In UltraISO’s lower “Local:” window, browse to your E:\TIbootDVD folder and drag-and-drop up to a maximum of three (or seven if using a 633 MB file size) Acronis .tib files into the upper “Image:” window. Also drag-and-drop the TI9bldXXXX.bif file from the E:\TIbootDVD\Bif\ folder into the upper window.

    8. UltraISO’s upper “Image:” window should now contain the files and folder shown in Screenshot 2.

    9. In UltraISO’s upper window, right click on TI9bldXXXX.bif and select “Set Boot File”.

    10. From the “Tools” menu item select “Burn CD/DVD Image” and at the “File Changed, Save it” prompt click the “Yes” button. In the “ISO File Save As” dialogue window browse to the E:\TIbootDVD\ISO\ folder, enter a suitable file name e.g. BootDVD.iso and save it as a Standard ISO File.

    11. After the BootDVD.iso file has been saved, UltraISO should hook into your CD/DVD burning software’s ATAPI driver and open the “Burn Image” dialogue window. Set the options as per Screenshot 3 and then click the “Burn” button. I strongly recommend you set the write speed to somewhere around half the maximum of your recorder/DVD media in order to improve the reliability of the burn (if, after saving the BootDVD.iso file to the E:\TIbootDVD\ISO\ folder, UltraISO didn't manage to hook into your ATAPI driver then use your normal CD/DVD burning software to burn the BootDVD.iso image to DVD).

    12. Only the first DVD needs to be made bootable. Therefore, if your image spans two or more DVDs then burn the remaining .tib files (up to three or seven, depending on split file size, per DVD) as normal ISO compilations via your usual CD/DVD burning software.

    13. Boot from the BootDVD disk and use the Check Image Wizard to verify the integrity of the image on the DVD(s). Hopefully, it will check out O.K.

    The above procedure works equally well on TI 8.

    Enjoy!!

    Regards
     

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  22. dick471

    dick471 Registered Member

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    Menorcaman: Why must I split the .tib image files into 1477 MB sizes?? My whole .tib image files is only 3045 MB's and will fit onto a single DVD. I did this as one .tib file in TI-8 and it worked fine.o_O
     
  23. dick471

    dick471 Registered Member

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    Menorcaman: Another problem. The latest UltraISO 7.6.5.1225 will NOT complete making an .iso file....period. Either with the .tib image files split at 1477 MB of one large 2,900 .tib file. It just stops about 2/3rd the way thru with no explanation or error. Just says could not complete the .iso file, would I like to save the partitial file anyway.
     
  24. Menorcaman

    Menorcaman Retired Moderator

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    Hello dick471,

    When using TI to image direct to DVD (using 3rd party UDF packet writing software) TI will use all the available space on each UDF formatted DVD. However, if you intend to create a bootable DVD then UltraISO (and your normal DVD burning software) will expect to burn a DVD ROM (ISO) disk with individual files that do not exceed the ISO 9660 2GByte (or 2000MB in the case of Nero Burning ROM) max file size limitation. Hence the need to create the image to your HD first with a split size below 2000MB. Most user's images are greater than the available space on a single DVD. Therefore, 2 x 2000MB .tib files plus the 16MB or so of TI 9.0 boot rescue data would leave a fair bit of waste space on the DVD. Getting TI to split an image into 1477MB chunks will allow up to 3 x 1477MB .tib files plus the 16MB of TI boot rescue data, thereby maximising the use of the available space.

    All I can say is that I've just successfully tested the new procedure yet again, using a known working TI boot CD as the source for the .bif file and a TI image that had been created using a 1477MB split size. Please don't take this the wrong way but are you sure you followed my procedure to the letter?

    If you follow each step correctly and still have the same problem then, if you're using a TI 8.0 boot rescue CD as the .bif source, try using the previous procedure at Post #117 above and see whether that works. All things being equal, I don't see it making any difference as I had proofed the latest procedure using both TI 8.0 and TI 9.0 boot rescue CDs. Still you never know!!

    Regards
     
    Last edited: Oct 21, 2005
  25. dick471

    dick471 Registered Member

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    :) Menorcaman: THANK YOU VERY MUCH. While waiting for you answer I finally did get it to work with changes and lots of DVD coasters. Please understand I'm OLD retired/retarded and plowed thru it. I did try a large 3GB .tib image and when booting Acronis said this was NOT my last image file. Glass of "Beefeaters" and ice fits this coaster just fine. I then followed your advice and split the image into two 1477 MB image.tib files. Everything great sofar. My UltraISO 7.6.5 will NOT complete making an .iso file. So I shutdown, pulled my W2000 SCSI HD; which is the o/s I'm trying to make a restore DVD since it doesn't have SystemRestore (Removable Tray), and insterted my XP+SP2 SCSI HD and booted. It has UltraISO 7.6.2 installed but all of the "TIbootDVD" folders for XP & W2K are on a common hard drive. (Please don't ask why I have 10 scsi hd's and 7 ide hd's running, or why my wife has 40 pairs of shoes). I then was able to make an .iso with version 7.6.2 and burn with NERO at 2.4X on a DVD+R disc. PS:I did try and let UltraISO link to my ATAPI burn driver and selected my Pioneer DVR-108, but it said it can't burn to a DVD+R. Neither would my Sony 500A using this link. I then changed to a DVD-R but I can't lower the burn to anything other than "Max". Shutdown and put W2000 Tray back in and booted to the DVD. It worked perfectly; selecting image2.tib and then image1.tib. The procedure of your's is perfect. I just don't have any idea why my UltraISO 7.6.5 won't complete making the .iso file?
    Anyway I now have a great method to rescue W2000 and thank you. Any ideas why version 7.6.5 won't complete an .iso fileo_O?
     
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