what is the advantage of a bootable dvd ?

Having read so many posts over the last 10 days about the problems that can occur when backing up direct to DVD via USB and the complexities of creating bootable DVDs I asked myself the question, "Why take either of these routes ?".

At the moment I have my whole system backed up and verified on a partition of my hard drive split into two segments which will fit onto two dvds.

I realize (thanks to Menorcaman) that an alternative would be to use ISO and not UDF ..

My intention is to burn the two dvds via Nero, compare check sums on the back ups and dvds and that's it.

If I need to restore I'll use the recovery disc.

Maybe I'm missing something either fundamental or estoric here

What is the disadvantage of the above ?

Or vice versa the advantage of a bootable cd over the rescue disc and the advantage of burning direct to DVD (given the seeming problems) as against burning from a partition ?

thanks and sorry if I'm being very ignorant,

Mike

 

Hello Mike,

Thank you for choosing Acronis Disk Backup Software.

Both ways you described are possible and you shouldn't have any problems. You may choose the method that seems to be more convinient for you.

Thank you.
--
Ilya Toytman

 

Hi Mike,

The advantage of a <bootable rescue DVD> that also contains your image file over the standard TI boot rescue CD is that there is one less disk change required and all the recovery material is in one place (one less disk to get mislaid!!).

As for the pros and cons of TI creating an image direct to DVD via third party UDF packet writing software or using the indirect, two-stage method of burning a DVD-ROM (ISO or UDF) compilation? Well, it's commonly thought that UDF packet writing is more prone to data corruption than burning a normal DVD-ROM. I don't necessarily go along with that as UDF packet writing software, particularly the latest version of InCD (v4.3.11.1), has come a long way since the early days. However, given the inherent unreliability of recording to optical media, the one big advantage of the two-stage method as far as I'm concerned is that you can easily reduce the write speed of the DVD burner. Bitter experience leads me to recommend burning DVD-ROM compilations at around x2 or x2.4 speed in order to minimise the risk of data file corruption. These latest super fast DVD writers are all well and good for burning multimedia files but are a positive liability when it comes to large data files!!

Hope the above helps to clear some of the muddy water.

Regards