Image for Dos/Windows 2.00 Final Release

Discussion in 'backup, imaging & disk mgmt' started by markymoo, Dec 21, 2007.

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  1. Brian K

    Brian K Imaging Specialist

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    Defenestration,

    I already had a second WinXP which I use for testing but a cut down version would be ideal if you didn't want to use a full second OS. Here is my second batch file for the console version of IFW.

    I've also tested this with Win98 as the second OS. It works but you have to have your images in a FAT32 partition and use IFW GUI instead of IFWC. I did this out of interest.

    PS My OS are in partitions 2 and 3. My second WinXP partition is 2.9 GB with 58% free space.

    As you can see I use differential images. When I want to restore to say diff4.tbi I change its name to brian.tbi and run the first batch file.
     
    Last edited: Feb 19, 2008
  2. SYS 64738

    SYS 64738 Registered Member

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    IFD 2.05a:

    Does anyone know, if there is a possibility to change the keyboard layout? Do you have to set a certain environmental variable when creating the IFD floppy?

    With the new encryption feature it would be more convenient to have the option to define the keyboard layout, especially when using special characters in passwords.
     
  3. Brian K

    Brian K Imaging Specialist

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    If you are short of HD space and don't want a second WinXP partition you can use a 15 MB MS-DOS partition as the second OS. IFD can be run from this partition and the whole restore can be made completely unattended as well.
     
  4. markymoo

    markymoo Registered Member

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    what special characters do you want? ascii? you can hold down ALT and type 3 numbers using the numpad to produce an ascii character. if you use Ansi.sys you can make the foreground same as the background so nobody can see your input.

    to set for a certain country you will need keyb.com which is on a good dos disk.

    for uk
    [CONFIG.SYS]
    Device=c:\dos\display.sys con=(ega,,1)
    Country=044,850,c:\dos\country.sys

    [AUTOEXEC.BAT]
    mode con codepage prepare=((850) c:\dos\ega.cpi)
    mode con codepage select=850
    keyb uk,,c:\dos\keyboard.sys
     
    Last edited: Feb 25, 2008
  5. SYS 64738

    SYS 64738 Registered Member

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    Actually, i would like to have german layout: http://www.uni-regensburg.de/EDV/Misc/KeyBoards/keys11l.jpg

    In IFD 1.99 you only have to know, that z means y (yes) on german keyboard, even to find out *,\ or . is painful.

    Ok, i must admit i don't have all the ascii codes in mind, so for me it's very inconvenient to type passwords in this manner, i can passwords more easily remember by typing on a keyboard that i'm used to.

    I just thought, that there maybe an easy solution to this by setting an environmental variable during the IFD setup, like for the timezone settings.
     
  6. markymoo

    markymoo Registered Member

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    no but if you remap keyboard to german using the way i described it will work. replace the 44 to 49 and replace uk to gr in the post above. the set command is a dos command not just for IFD 1.99. A remap keys for BootIt http://www.terabyteunlimited.com/kb/article.php?id=269 but should work for any. I think they removed it.
     
    Last edited: Feb 25, 2008
  7. markymoo

    markymoo Registered Member

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    Brian, you wouldn't even need a 2nd partition as for example Grub4Dos can boot a dos disk image of substantial size from a file with all your utils you need something that Gag can't do but you can use them together. In fact having the first partition as dos is a excellent setup choice as you can run dos utils, flash your bios, boot other partitions without boot menus and access all the drives easier and also if this partition goes down you haven't lost windows. Having BootIt it is very easy to setup a dos partition There's freeware Parted Magic to resize a partition. i come up with an alternative for restoring an image :thumb:
     
    Last edited: Feb 25, 2008
  8. mantra

    mantra Registered Member

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    should i download the dos & windows version?
    i mean to restore ? i need the dos version?
    is trusty like acronis?
     
  9. markymoo

    markymoo Registered Member

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    @mantra
    that depends. a few possibles. if you like to backup while still using your windows with no downtime then use IFW. if you have a big partition to backup use IFW. you can backup with IFW / IFD and use IFW or either IFD to restore. the choice is yours. If you not familar with using Recovery cd's like WinPe, BartPE which is used with IFW to restore then i suggest you backup with IFW and use IFD to restore - so download both. Install IFW in windows and burn IFD to cd. It far more trusty than Acronis! ;)
     
  10. Cloudcroft

    Cloudcroft Registered Member

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    markymoo, the above is how I use IFW/IFD. What is the difference between restoring with a IFD CD vs. a recovery CD like BartPE or WinPE? I'm wondering if I should learn how to use a recovery CD instead of the IFD CD.
     
  11. markymoo

    markymoo Registered Member

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    @Cloudcroft
    sorry for the late reply

    Restoring from a WinPe or BartPe or any other windows based recovery cd means you can restore alot faster whatever the size of the image as you using Win32 mode which is alot faster than Dos16. When using Dos no more than 640K memory is available. A good rule of thumb is if you backed up a big partition let's say 50gig + then restoring from a recovery cd like BartPe is alot quicker as it would take quite awhile in dos which isn't a problem if you in no rush to restore it as you can just walkaway and come back. If the image is smaller 10-50gig then IFD is fine as it doesn't take too long to restore. If you use verify this would add on restore time.
     
  12. Cloudcroft

    Cloudcroft Registered Member

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    markymoo, thanks for the reply...I found instructions for making a BartPE cd with the IFW plugin, but on the BartPE website, it looks like Vista is not supported. Since I know very little about making a BartPE cd, do you know if this is correct?
     
  13. markymoo

    markymoo Registered Member

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  14. Cloudcroft

    Cloudcroft Registered Member

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  15. Defenestration

    Defenestration Registered Member

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    Thanks for the batch file Brian. I finally got around to setting it up and I'm loving it! :) This setup can be used to duplicate the functionality of FD-ISR. For example, you can setup a batch file to "Re-Freeze", which could either call IFW/IFWC with command-line parameters to backup within Windows using PhyLock. Alternatively, it could boot into the Recovery Windows partition and again use IFW/IFWC to automatically create a new backup before re-booting into Normal Windows partition. The Freeze feature would be achieved by automatically restoring a backup image.

    It wouldn't be too hard to create a simple menu system with various imaging options. This could dynamically generate a batch file with a specific filename (the filename always stays the same as this will be added to the StartUp folder of the Recovery Windows partition), which would contain the relevant commands to achieve the selected imaging option, and then reboot into the Recovery Windows (thereby carrying out the commands in the batch-file).

    Another feature would be to read all the filenames of backup images, and generate a menu offering the ability to restore to any of them.

    The list of possibilities is almost endless.

    Many thanks again for sharing this method of recovery! :thumb:
     
  16. Defenestration

    Defenestration Registered Member

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    Being new to BING, I just wanted to clarify how to go about multi-booting with it. When installing a new OS, I create a new partition using BING, and then set-up a new boot menu entry pointing to this new partition. I also move this new partition to the top of the MBR list for the menu entry, so that it would appear as drive C: to the Windows installation media. I then boot to this partition with the Windows CD in the drive and finish the installation. This way every Windows installation will always be installed to drive C:

    Once the installation has finished, I change the drive letters of my data drives to be the same in each Windows installation, which makes it less confusing and allows generic app settings/batch files.

    Is this the best way to do it ?
     
  17. Brian K

    Brian K Imaging Specialist

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    Defenestration,

    Exactly. Also, from the Boot Edit menu I hide the other OS. So if you were editing XP1 I'd click Hide for XP2 and vice versa. So when you are in Windows you only see one OS. Sometimes this won't work if Windows has already seen the partition. Then you simply remove the drive letter (From Disk Management) of the partition you don't want to see.

    I wrote this guide on multi-booting and the only change I'd make is to install BING automatically instead of manually. See Reply #11

    http://radified.com/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?;num=1158854592;start=

    In the guide I didn't put WinXP as first in the partition table as you have done. I edited boot.ini instead. Your way is what I now prefer.
     
  18. Defenestration

    Defenestration Registered Member

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    Instead of clicking Hide, just remove it from the list for that menu item, and then BING will remove that partition entry from the MBR completely when you boot into that OS (and so it shouldn't even show up in Disk Management).
     
  19. Brian K

    Brian K Imaging Specialist

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    Ah, I see you have removed the tick from Limit Primaries. That's OK. I've done that too but most folks do have Primaries Limited and can't remove items from the MBR.
     
  20. Defenestration

    Defenestration Registered Member

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    I have to confess I hadn't actually tried what I was suggesting as, like you, I prefer to keep Limit Primaries enabled. I can see why it won't let you remove items though, since by allowing that it would nullify the whole point of using that option in the first place - ie. removing the dependence on BING and allowing the use of other partitioning tools :)
     
  21. Brian K

    Brian K Imaging Specialist

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    Defenestration,

    I now have Limit Primaries unticked. I resisted for a long time but I realized life would be easier if I had 5 primary partitions on my first HD.

    The fifth primary partition had been on the second HD. It is a DOS partition and although I could boot it using the BING swap option, I couldn't return to WinXP automatically using "bootndos". That partition is now on the first HD and I can run an unattended IFD restore as you have been doing with IFW. I prefer the IFW technique as the restore runs twice as fast as IFD. But it's an alternative and the DOS partition can be as small as 15 MB. You can also run your DOS tools from this partition without needing boot discs.
     
  22. Brian K

    Brian K Imaging Specialist

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    Here is another way of doing an unattended IFW restore using two WinXP "installations" without dual booting. It's pretty easy too. Easier than setting up a dual boot.

    TeraByte have an OS Deployment Tool Suite.

    http://www.terabyteunlimited.com/tbosdt.htm

    You can "copy" your only WinXP partition and make a bootable file. When you boot this file you experience an exact copy of your WinXP and you can run your programs, surf the net and do everything that your real WinXP does. It can see networked computers as well as partitions on your other HDs. I like it better than the standard virtual environments. When you reboot, you revert to your real WinXP or return to the "copied" WinXP. Your choice.

    Using some batch files you can get it to run an automated IFW or a Snapshot restore.
     
  23. Beer Dog

    Beer Dog Registered Member

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    I finally got around to upgrading to IFW V2 after using V1 for three years. I'm still learning my way around the latest 2.06 version, but I'm generally pleased with the improvements. IFD's interface is much better now, with many more options and liberation from DOS file-naming conventions.

    Couple of questions:
    1) Has the speed improved much? V1 took about 6 minutes to image and validate (byte for byte) my 8GB C drive. V2 took about 5 minutes, 20 seconds for the same operation. The V2 elapsed time is for the imaging and validation, right? V1 used to separate the running times for the two operations. Restoration time seems to be about the same as V1.
    2) Has compression increased at all? I don't see much of a difference between V1 and V2. I'm glad that they finally increased the file size of a stored image.
     
  24. Brian K

    Brian K Imaging Specialist

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    Beer Dog, to answer your questions, no and no. That's my experience.

    But ver 2 has a lot of improvements over ver 1. These are the changes for IFW. I really like differential backups.

    IFW/IFD are among the easiest backup apps to use. You don't have to get yourself involved in batch files unless you want to push the limits.
     
  25. Brian K

    Brian K Imaging Specialist

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    More information on Terabyte's OS Deployment Tool Suite. You can create a bootable file only 3 MB in size, containing image.exe and the IFD command line. This only takes a few minutes. When you run this file, Windows shuts down, the IFD restore runs and when completed it boots into your restored Windows.

    It's probably the easiest way to run an unattended restore. It may not be the fastest because an IFW restore runs twice as fast as an IFD (or Drive SnapShot) restore on my computer but at least you don't have to have two Windows installations or know anything about batch files.
     
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