Making your own Restoration CD

When I had my present system made, I paid them an extra $30 to make me
a Bootable Restoration CD. The one they made works sort of like the
ones I use to get with my Gateway Computers back when I use to buy
Gateway computers, i.e. it restored my computer back to the way it was
the day I got it after formatting and fdisking. One difference in
this Bootable Restoration CD is that it does not need you to insert
the OS CD during the restoration process. It all seems to be on the
Restoration CD and the good part is, when doing a restoration with it,
I don’t have to jump through M$’s stupid hurdles to activate the
stupid OS AGAIN and AGAIN and AGAIN. The reason I am told is that
they made the Bootable Restoration CD for my system after the OS was
activated with M$.

I asked what software they used to make the Bootable Restoration CD so
I might get a copy so I could make my own. It would be nice to keep
Restoration CD’s current as the system evolves with added software,
drivers and toys. They said the software cost thousands so if I
wanted to keep up-to-date Restoration CD’s as my system grew and
evolved, I would have to pay them $30 per pop each time.

Are they telling me the truth or can I make my own Bootable
Restoration CD’s with something like Ghost? I know that Ghost makes
an image of what you got but can that image be put on a Bootable CD
that will take care of everything needed to do a clean format, Fdisk
and installation of all that was there before and whatever else is
needed to do a complete restoration on a NTFS system.

If not, who makes such software…

Regards,
T

On Tue, 25 Jan 2005 01:59:58 GMT, ".@." [email protected] wrote:

When I had my present system made, I paid them an extra $30 to make me
a Bootable Restoration CD. The one they made works sort of like the
ones I use to get with my Gateway Computers back when I use to buy
Gateway computers, i.e. it restored my computer back to the way it was
the day I got it after formatting and fdisking. One difference in
this Bootable Restoration CD is that it does not need you to insert
the OS CD during the restoration process. It all seems to be on the
Restoration CD and the good part is, when doing a restoration with it,
I don’t have to jump through M$’s stupid hurdles to activate the
stupid OS AGAIN and AGAIN and AGAIN. The reason I am told is that
they made the Bootable Restoration CD for my system after the OS was
activated with M$.

I asked what software they used to make the Bootable Restoration CD so
I might get a copy so I could make my own. It would be nice to keep
Restoration CD’s current as the system evolves with added software,
drivers and toys. They said the software cost thousands so if I
wanted to keep up-to-date Restoration CD’s as my system grew and
evolved, I would have to pay them $30 per pop each time.

Are they telling me the truth or can I make my own Bootable
Restoration CD’s with something like Ghost? I know that Ghost makes
an image of what you got but can that image be put on a Bootable CD
that will take care of everything needed to do a clean format, Fdisk
and installation of all that was there before and whatever else is
needed to do a complete restoration on a NTFS system.

If not, who makes such software…

Regards,
T
Norton Ghost 9.0 will do it. It is also the same software that is used
on my Gateway restore disk that came with the computer. They were
lying to you.

This is great if you don't mind GW determining what you need on your
computer. I purchased a media center computer and it came with instructions
to create the recovery cds (or dvd). To use this you have a choice of a
non-destructive restore or a destructive restore. If you just want a fresh
install, you do a destructive which is ALL automatic and will restore the
computer to the factory shipped software. While this is great for some
people, I prefer to only install the programs I want. I don't need the
recovery partition on the drive (it is all on the dvd I created), yet if you
fdisk and create only one partition, and format the drive then run the
recovery, it will recreate the recovery partition. It doesn't make sense to
me in a couple of years for example, to do a recovery, then uninstall Norton
2004 trial edition, or GW's advertising directory. Then clean the
registry.

A problem I have already encountered is not having the OS cd. A virus was
detected on the weekly scan and could not be removed by the program. A
message box stated that some system files had been changed and needed to be
reinstalled, and to put the Windows XP cd in the drive. Since all I had was
the recovery dvd, I put it in but the files weren't found. The options were
to cancel, ok. Or retry. None worked. I called GW and was told that I
would have to do a recovery. All this after an hour and a half and a tech
and a supervisor. I ended up doing a non destructive recovery, which
basically just reinstalled the os. Then I had to go back in and make all
the changes that I had previously made. All this when all I needed to do
was replace the modified files. I questioned the tech what to do if I am
installing hardware or windows components or whatever and the computer
prompts for the Windows cd and basically got no answer other that recover.
(Which makes no sense as if it was installed originally I wouldn't need the
cd. And what you get on a recovery is the original install)

Another problem was the printer that I installed using the printer driver
included with the printer. Ever since it was installed something
conflicted, but I don't know what. If the printer went into an idle state
or power saving, it would not print. The only solution was to uninstall
and reinstall the printer, and it would work until the next time.

My solution was to purchase the media center program and install the way I
want. Since I have done that the printer works, and I don't have the junk
that GW put on my computer. I shouldn't have had to pay for another copy,
but could NOT get it from GW.

According to GW tech support no one else has any issues with this method of
restoration, and that 95% of people prefer that the system be restored to
the way it was purchased.

I dispute that number but apparently it still isn't very low.

Pam

".@." [email protected] wrote in message
...
When I had my present system made, I paid them an extra $30 to make me
a Bootable Restoration CD. The one they made works sort of like the
ones I use to get with my Gateway Computers back when I use to buy
Gateway computers, i.e. it restored my computer back to the way it was
the day I got it after formatting and fdisking. One difference in
this Bootable Restoration CD is that it does not need you to insert
the OS CD during the restoration process. It all seems to be on the
Restoration CD and the good part is, when doing a restoration with it,
I don't have to jump through M$'s stupid hurdles to activate the
stupid OS AGAIN and AGAIN and AGAIN. The reason I am told is that
they made the Bootable Restoration CD for my system after the OS was
activated with M$.

I asked what software they used to make the Bootable Restoration CD so
I might get a copy so I could make my own. It would be nice to keep
Restoration CD's current as the system evolves with added software,
drivers and toys. They said the software cost thousands so if I
wanted to keep up-to-date Restoration CD's as my system grew and
evolved, I would have to pay them $30 per pop each time.

Are they telling me the truth or can I make my own Bootable
Restoration CD's with something like Ghost? I know that Ghost makes
an image of what you got but can that image be put on a Bootable CD
that will take care of everything needed to do a clean format, Fdisk
and installation of all that was there before and whatever else is
needed to do a complete restoration on a NTFS system.

If not, who makes such software.

Regards,
T

Hey,

I called and bitched about this CD Restore bull**** when I got my system
right before Christmas. They refused to send out the OS disc I had upgraded
to XP Pro, told them I wanted to send the system back. They told me that
there would be a 15% restocking fee. I told them I would not pay it as it
was not advertised anywhere on their site and was not mentioned by any sales
person. They always play stupid... "I was not aware we were doing that. I
will make sure something is added to the webpage stating that you do not get
any media". Still hasd not happened. I ended up getting $120 returned to
me.

Why would someone who has had system for several years and has applications
loaded on it want it restored to the way it was originally?




"Pam" wrote in message
...
This is great if you don't mind GW determining what you need on your
computer. I purchased a media center computer and it came with
instructions to create the recovery cds (or dvd). To use this you have a
choice of a non-destructive restore or a destructive restore. If you just
want a fresh install, you do a destructive which is ALL automatic and will
restore the computer to the factory shipped software. While this is great
for some people, I prefer to only install the programs I want. I don't
need the recovery partition on the drive (it is all on the dvd I created),
yet if you fdisk and create only one partition, and format the drive then
run the recovery, it will recreate the recovery partition. It doesn't
make sense to me in a couple of years for example, to do a recovery, then
uninstall Norton 2004 trial edition, or GW's advertising directory. Then
clean the registry.

A problem I have already encountered is not having the OS cd. A virus
was detected on the weekly scan and could not be removed by the program.
A message box stated that some system files had been changed and needed to
be reinstalled, and to put the Windows XP cd in the drive. Since all I
had was the recovery dvd, I put it in but the files weren't found. The
options were to cancel, ok. Or retry. None worked. I called GW and was
told that I would have to do a recovery. All this after an hour and a half
and a tech and a supervisor. I ended up doing a non destructive recovery,
which basically just reinstalled the os. Then I had to go back in and
make all the changes that I had previously made. All this when all I
needed to do was replace the modified files. I questioned the tech what
to do if I am installing hardware or windows components or whatever and
the computer prompts for the Windows cd and basically got no answer other
that recover. (Which makes no sense as if it was installed originally I
wouldn't need the cd. And what you get on a recovery is the original
install)

Another problem was the printer that I installed using the printer driver
included with the printer. Ever since it was installed something
conflicted, but I don't know what. If the printer went into an idle state
or power saving, it would not print. The only solution was to uninstall
and reinstall the printer, and it would work until the next time.

My solution was to purchase the media center program and install the way I
want. Since I have done that the printer works, and I don't have the junk
that GW put on my computer. I shouldn't have had to pay for another copy,
but could NOT get it from GW.

According to GW tech support no one else has any issues with this method
of restoration, and that 95% of people prefer that the system be restored
to the way it was purchased.

I dispute that number but apparently it still isn't very low.

Pam

".@." [email protected] wrote in message
...
When I had my present system made, I paid them an extra $30 to make me
a Bootable Restoration CD. The one they made works sort of like the
ones I use to get with my Gateway Computers back when I use to buy
Gateway computers, i.e. it restored my computer back to the way it was
the day I got it after formatting and fdisking. One difference in
this Bootable Restoration CD is that it does not need you to insert
the OS CD during the restoration process. It all seems to be on the
Restoration CD and the good part is, when doing a restoration with it,
I don't have to jump through M$'s stupid hurdles to activate the
stupid OS AGAIN and AGAIN and AGAIN. The reason I am told is that
they made the Bootable Restoration CD for my system after the OS was
activated with M$.

I asked what software they used to make the Bootable Restoration CD so
I might get a copy so I could make my own. It would be nice to keep
Restoration CD's current as the system evolves with added software,
drivers and toys. They said the software cost thousands so if I
wanted to keep up-to-date Restoration CD's as my system grew and
evolved, I would have to pay them $30 per pop each time.

Are they telling me the truth or can I make my own Bootable
Restoration CD's with something like Ghost? I know that Ghost makes
an image of what you got but can that image be put on a Bootable CD
that will take care of everything needed to do a clean format, Fdisk
and installation of all that was there before and whatever else is
needed to do a complete restoration on a NTFS system.

If not, who makes such software.

Regards,
T

I made a hard drive image which used 13 DVD's. I would have taken 90 CD's
to do the same. I did completely move my operating system, all programs and
all data to a new hard drive. I took about 15 hours. For some reason it is
very slow writing the image from the DVD's to the new hard drive. So,
those 13 DVD's are a bookmark of my computer on that particular date. My
Hard Drive is 60Gigs.

Ed


".@." [email protected] wrote in message
...
When I had my present system made, I paid them an extra $30 to make me
a Bootable Restoration CD. The one they made works sort of like the
ones I use to get with my Gateway Computers back when I use to buy
Gateway computers, i.e. it restored my computer back to the way it was
the day I got it after formatting and fdisking. One difference in
this Bootable Restoration CD is that it does not need you to insert
the OS CD during the restoration process. It all seems to be on the
Restoration CD and the good part is, when doing a restoration with it,
I don't have to jump through M$'s stupid hurdles to activate the
stupid OS AGAIN and AGAIN and AGAIN. The reason I am told is that
they made the Bootable Restoration CD for my system after the OS was
activated with M$.

I asked what software they used to make the Bootable Restoration CD so
I might get a copy so I could make my own. It would be nice to keep
Restoration CD's current as the system evolves with added software,
drivers and toys. They said the software cost thousands so if I
wanted to keep up-to-date Restoration CD's as my system grew and
evolved, I would have to pay them $30 per pop each time.

Are they telling me the truth or can I make my own Bootable
Restoration CD's with something like Ghost? I know that Ghost makes
an image of what you got but can that image be put on a Bootable CD
that will take care of everything needed to do a clean format, Fdisk
and installation of all that was there before and whatever else is
needed to do a complete restoration on a NTFS system.

If not, who makes such software.

Regards,
T

Well, It was suggested that I get a copy of Ghost 2003 to use for
this. According to info gotten off a couple of Symantec forums out
there, version 2003 was the last "Stable" version they put out. Sound
Familiar? Same reason a lot of people still use NAV 2003 and never
upgraded to 2004 or 2005. Symantec went to hell after all their 2003
versions of most of the software. Anyway, got a copy of Ghost 2003
and did a complete backup of my HD to DVD. Using the options for HIGH
Compression I was able to get everything on two DVDs and using the
write Boots files to DVD, I can use DVD #1 to boot from and open up
the DOS version of the Ghost Interactive Panel. For backup booting, I
also had Ghost make me a Bootable floppy with the DOS version of the
Ghost Interactive Panel on it.

The whole process took 1:15:30 hrs.

Tested DVD #1 to see if it would boot and it did just fine.

Regards,