Creating Image to bootable CD

Discussion in 'backup, imaging & disk mgmt' started by advassy, Nov 14, 2011.

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  1. advassy

    advassy Registered Member

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    I need to find a product that will allow me to create a bootable cd image for various OS's ( WinXP, 7, Server 2008 R2, RHEL5). I have used Arconis and Ghost 2003 for imaging, but not to bootable CD. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

    Thanks
    MS
     
  2. napoleon1815

    napoleon1815 Registered Member

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  3. treehouse786

    treehouse786 Registered Member

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    napoleon, may i ask why it needs to be a linux bootable disk?
     
  4. napoleon1815

    napoleon1815 Registered Member

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    I said that because he wants one boot disk to run on Windows and Red Hat (Linux).
     
  5. Brian K

    Brian K Imaging Specialist

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    advassy,

    By "bootable cd image" do you mean the CD will contain the backup image? So you boot from the CD and the restore automatically happens?
     
  6. treehouse786

    treehouse786 Registered Member

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    but dont boot disks run independently of an installed OS? why cant a WinPE disk restore a linux OS?
     
  7. napoleon1815

    napoleon1815 Registered Member

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    I haven't tried it but I am guessing a WinPE disk won't recognize the file type of the Red Hat system (just FAT/FAT32/NTFS). If am wrong here, let me know.
     
  8. treehouse786

    treehouse786 Registered Member

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    most boot disks (if not all of them) have a 'raw data' option so that would overcome any file limitations.
     
  9. napoleon1815

    napoleon1815 Registered Member

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    It would also mean a bigger image file no? I assume raw would do a total disk capture and not just used sectors?
     
  10. treehouse786

    treehouse786 Registered Member

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    when i create a raw image with active@, its the same size as a normal backup. i think the reason is that because the unused sectors are compressed to virtually nothing.

    i assume other programs would work the same way :thumb:
     
  11. napoleon1815

    napoleon1815 Registered Member

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    Cool...good to know. Thanks.
     
  12. TheRollbackFrog

    TheRollbackFrog Imaging Specialist

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    For any RAW backup, that's only true only if the "unused" sectors have never been used (no previous data from a ZEROed disk). If those sectors have never been cleared in any way, and have been used for data previously (surface testing, old files, etc.), they need to be managed just like any other sector for backup purposes... compressed.

    The only way to eliminate them is knowing the file system and its allocation schemes/files.
     
  13. napoleon1815

    napoleon1815 Registered Member

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    Great information, thanks!
     
  14. Brian K

    Brian K Imaging Specialist

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    advassy,

    I hope you make a second post and explain what your first post means. We are confused.
     
  15. treehouse786

    treehouse786 Registered Member

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    thats not true for me.

    my c drive is currently at 28gb, it used to be at 32gb.

    the raw backup on 28gb is smaller than a normal backup for 32gb, same compression was used (standard) and all hard disk space has been used in the past.

    is it not possible that different programs work different ways? does your statement ring true for all backup programs? is it because i use an SSD? thanks in advance
     
  16. TheRollbackFrog

    TheRollbackFrog Imaging Specialist

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    That's the only way they can work... if they're backing up the entire storage element, the only thing they can do is compress what's left in the sectors. Each program uses slightly different compression algorithms but my experience shows them mostly with the same effectiveness.

    Absolutely! If your SSD is configured correctly with a TRIM-enabled operating system, all unused storage elements will be TRIMmed by the OS when they are no longer in use (deleted, re-written somewhere else... made available because they're no longer in use). TRIMming by the OS causes the SSD to reorganize its storage and unused blocks really get changed to ZERO which, as we know, is very compressible when they exist in a series.

    Rotating magnetic storage does not do this... the old data remains on the surface until it is overwritten by the OS.
     
  17. treehouse786

    treehouse786 Registered Member

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    many thanks for the info :thumb:
     
  18. advassy

    advassy Registered Member

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    Napolean,

    I tried the boot to linux that you suggested and it worked perfectly. I wanted a utility that would allow me to create an image of an existing OS and burn it to a DVD, saving me the hassel of having to configure a fresh install. This did exactly that.

    Thank you for the suggestion
    ms
     
  19. Brian K

    Brian K Imaging Specialist

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    advassy,

    I assume you are using the bought version of Image for Linux. The trial image will not restore after 30 days.
     
  20. napoleon1815

    napoleon1815 Registered Member

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    Cool...glad to hear. I just did a restore with it last night after a botched Roxio install (I should have known better!).
     
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