WIndows 10 Difference in Boot Media

Doctor T

New Member
Hi!

What is the difference and/or benefit of creating a CD/DVD (ISO FILE) instead of a USB boot media for Windows 10?

Thanks!

Dr. T
 

johnb35

Administrator
Staff member
Personal preference. If you have USB 3 available then it doesn't take as long to install windows since it transfers so much faster especially if you are using an SSD as boot drive. On some systems you have to disable secure boot in bios to boot to anything other then the hdd. Lately I have been using the USB since I've been building machines with SSD's in them. But I still do the CD/DVD ISO depending on what I need, especially if its for like hdd diagnostic software or Hirens boot cd.
 

Doctor T

New Member
Personal preference. If you have USB 3 available then it doesn't take as long to install windows since it transfers so much faster especially if you are using an SSD as boot drive. On some systems you have to disable secure boot in bios to boot to anything other then the hdd. Lately I have been using the USB since I've been building machines with SSD's in them. But I still do the CD/DVD ISO depending on what I need, especially if its for like hdd diagnostic software or Hirens boot cd.
Hey John,

Thank you for your prompt reply.

Question: When a computer boots, it first "looks" in the C drive, no? If, for whatever reason Windows 10 was corrupted, isn't the CD/DVD the second place the computer "looks" to boot?

Dr. T
 

johnb35

Administrator
Staff member
All depends on boot order set in bios. And if windows 10 is corrupted, it's not gonna look at the cd drive next. Thats just not the way it works. The hard drive would have to be totally shot and unrecognizable in order for it to boot to the cd drive next.
 

Doctor T

New Member
All depends on boot order set in bios. And if windows 10 is corrupted, it's not gonna look at the cd drive next. Thats just not the way it works. The hard drive would have to be totally shot and unrecognizable in order for it to boot to the cd drive next.
Hey John!

Again, thank you for your reply!

Given my ignorance on the topic, would my best bet be (1) to make a CD/DVD boot disk and (2) make a "mirror image" of the C:/ drive (i.e., O/S and programs) to an external drive and, if something happens, let a local techie handle it?

FYI. I keep my data in an external drive, which I back up to a memory stick nightly.

Dr. T
 

DavidG

Active Member
Not really sure what you are trying to achieve, initially you are asking about the different types of bootable media, then you go on to talk about making a "mirror image" of the C drive.
What you are suggesting would work, but your mirror image backups (cloning) are only useful if you keep them up to date, so a cloning is of limited value here. Your better bet would be dedicated backup software to an external drive with one full and incremental backups every day, so that all your work is up to date in the event of disaster failure. In this situation the backup software would have a provision to create a bootable USB/CD to start the recovery process.
 

beers

Moderator
Staff member
You can use the ISO again in the future, if you just choose the USB option then you'd have to manually extract and clone it, whereas you could just use another tool to make another USB stick like etcher or burn onto DVD if you already had the iso image handy.

Boot order depends entirely how you have it defined in BIOS/UEFI.
 

DavidG

Active Member
What is the difference and/or benefit of creating a CD/DVD (ISO FILE) instead of a USB boot media for Windows 10?
There is no benefit in using an DVD instead of an iso. A DVD is also much slower to install windows. Microsoft releases new versions of windows every 6months so you would need to download and create either a new iso/DVD or make a new bootable USB if you wanted to install the latest version. Given the benefits of speed, the cheapness of USB sticks, you may as well use a USB, if necessary you could then wipe it and use it for other purposes until you need it again.
 
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Doctor T

New Member
Not really sure what you are trying to achieve, initially you are asking about the different types of bootable media, then you go on to talk about making a "mirror image" of the C drive.
What you are suggesting would work, but your mirror image backups (cloning) are only useful if you keep them up to date, so a cloning is of limited value here. Your better bet would be dedicated backup software to an external drive with one full and incremental backups every day, so that all your work is up to date in the event of disaster failure. In this situation the backup software would have a provision to create a bootable USB/CD to start the recovery process.

Hey David!

Thank you for your reply!

First, you said “Not really sure what you are trying to achieve, initially you are asking about the different types of bootable media, then you go on to talk about making a "mirror image" of the C drive.” So let me recap my query:

(1) Over the years, I had two types of problems: (a) Windows not working and (b) severely damaged C:/ drives.

(2) So, to solve the first problem, I wanted to create a boot media and I asked which type was better: a USB drive or a DVD/CD disk.

(3) And, to solve the second problem, I wanted to back up the C:/ drive (i.e., Windows and the application programs, not the data, which I keep in an external drive).

(4) Based on John's replies and my ignorance on the topic, I decided my best bet was to (a) create a DVD/CD boot disk and (b) to back up the C:/ drive to an external drive. Then, hopefully, a local techie should be able to help me.

(5) Do you agree?.

Then, you said “... your mirror image backups (cloning) are only useful if you keep them up to date, so a cloning is of limited value here.

I agree but (a) I rarely add new application programs and (b) as I said before, I keep the data in an external drive.

Finally, you said “Your better bet would be dedicated backup software to an external drive ...”

You are right, but, as I said before, given that (a) I rarely add new programs and (b) I keep the data in an external drive, shouldn't I pick a solution that I understand?

Dr. T
 

Doctor T

New Member
You can use the ISO again in the future, if you just choose the USB option then you'd have to manually extract and clone it, whereas you could just use another tool to make another USB stick like etcher or burn onto DVD if you already had the iso image handy.

Boot order depends entirely how you have it defined in BIOS/UEFI.

Hey Beers!

Thank you for your reply!

First, you said “You can use the ISO again in the future ...” Do you mean the DVD/CD media?

Then, you said “Boot order depends entirely how you have it defined in BIOS/UEFI.” The boot order is whatever was the computer's default BIOS/UEFI. Given my ignorance, I wouldn't dare to change it!

Over the years, I had two types of problems: (a) Windows not working and (b) severely damaged C:/ drives.

I order to solve those two problems, I believe my best bet is to (a) create a DVD/CD boot disk and (b) to back up the C:/ drive (Windows and the application programs, not the data, which I keep in an external drive) to an external drive. Then, hopefully, a local techie should be able to help me.

Do you agree?

Dr. T
 

Doctor T

New Member
There is no benefit in using an DVD instead of an iso. A DVD is also much slower to install windows. Microsoft releases new versions of windows every 6months so you would need to download and create either a new iso/DVD or make a new bootable USB if you wanted to install the latest version. Given the benefits of speed, the cheapness of USB sticks, you may as well use a USB, if necessary you could then wipe it and use it for other purposes until you need it again.

Hey David!

Thank you for your reply!

You said “There is no benefit in using an DVD instead of an iso.” By “iso” you mean an USB drive?

Dr. T
 

johnb35

Administrator
Staff member
If you have problems with damaging hard drives, you need to look into how its happening and stop that process. Is this a laptop or desktop? Buy backup software that will do incremental backups daily to an external drive. Then this backup software should have an option for bootable media to actually transfer that backup to a new hard drive in case of disaster. Or if its a desktop and has the option for raid then you can run Raid 1 which mirrors the data on one drive to the other in case of disaster.
 

DavidG

Active Member
Then, you said “... your mirror image backups (cloning) are only useful if you keep them up to date, so a cloning is of limited value here.

I agree but (a) I rarely add new application programs and (b) as I said before, I keep the data in an external drive.
Microsoft release updates every 2 weeks so even if you keep all your data on an external drive you would still have the prospect of losing weeks or months of updates, and as said before Microsoft release major updates every 6 months, so even if you restored your clone you would have an outdated version of windows
I repeat again Cloning is not a complete backup solution - it is most useful for doing disaster recovery when you are performing critical windows procedures or moving windows to bigger or smaller drives etc, not for regular day to day backups.
You said “There is no benefit in using an DVD instead of an iso.” By “iso” you mean an USB drive?
Yes sorry that was a typo.
You are right, but, as I said before, given that (a) I rarely add new programs and (b) I keep the data in an external drive, shouldn't I pick a solution that I understand?
You are of course free to choose any method you wish, bit it would be remiss of us not to point out the pitfalls as well as the advantages in your thinking.

David
 
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Doctor T

New Member
Microsoft release updates every 2 weeks so even if you keep all your data on an external drive you would still have the prospect of losing weeks or months of updates, and as said before Microsoft release major updates every 6 months, so even if you restored your clone you would have an outdated version of windows
I repeat again Cloning is not a complete backup solution - it is most useful for doing disaster recovery when you are performing critical windows procedures or moving windows to bigger or smaller drives etc, not for regular day to day backups.

Yes sorry that was a typo.

You are of course free to choose any method you wish, bit it would be remiss of us not to point out the pitfalls as well as the advantages in your thinking.

David
Hey David!

Tank you for your reply!

I am not ignoring the comments made by you or by others. But given my low level of knowledge on the topic, I have to pick the simplest, if not the best. solution.

Dr. T
 

Doctor T

New Member
If you have problems with damaging hard drives, you need to look into how its happening and stop that process. Is this a laptop or desktop? Buy backup software that will do incremental backups daily to an external drive. Then this backup software should have an option for bootable media to actually transfer that backup to a new hard drive in case of disaster. Or if its a desktop and has the option for raid then you can run Raid 1 which mirrors the data on one drive to the other in case of disaster.
Jey John!

Thank you for your reply! I am not having hard drive problems with my desktop now buy i had problems in the past so I am trying to be safe.

Dr. T
 
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