Creating bootable discs to restore my system to a certain state?

[Ryu Hitokiri]

Since restoring my computer is a pain because I have to reformat with the eMachines disc, uninstall the useless programs, then install my programs, couldn't I just create discs that do what the eMachines disc does, but with what I want?

So, right now, my computer is exactly the way I like it, perfect spot for a fresh start point. What I want the discs to do, is the 1st disc would reformat the main drive (C:\) to NTFS, then would tell you to insert the 2nd disc which would start copying files over, which would tell you to insert the 3rd disc, etc, until it has copied my whole system back to how it is (now).

And if I can't do the method I just explained, is there anyway/any method to do what I said in the first paragraph? Any programs or guides? Thanks.

 

[Impulse666]

i'd take some sick programming skills to be able to create your own restore disks, but there are plenty of programs that do exactly what you want. Norton Ghost and Acronis TrueImage are both great programs that make an entire image backup of your computer, partition, hdd, whatever you want, and can put it on an external hard drive, or i do believe there is a way to put the backup on multiple dvds or cds, but i havent used that personally. both are around $60 and 100% worth it if your hdd crashes and you need to replace it.

 

[munkyeetr]

Perhaps try a disk imaging program like Norton Ghost or Acronis True Image.

These allow you to restore your Windows partition (or any partition you want) to a saved state. Anything you install or save on the imaged drive after creating the image will be gone when you restore the saved image.

A word of advice when using these is to keep all your documents, music, pictures, etc... (anything dynamically changing, that you don't want to lose) on a separate partition.

 

[Ryu Hitokiri]

So your saying if I image C:/ to G:/, and I added a file on C:/, when I restored G:/ to C:/, that file wouldn't be there? If so, that is fine. Or are you saying if I imaged C:/ to G:/ and I added a file to C:/, G:/ would be deleted?

 

[munkyeetr]

It's not really like that (at least not with Ghost, which I've used). You basically create an image of C: and it is saved in an image file which can be stored anywhere on your system (other partitions, burned to a DVD, etc...)

Then when you want to revert back to your fresh installation you boot using the Ghost disk and you choose the image you want to revert to (so you can obviously make multiple images, for instance one with a fresh XP install and nothing else done to it, one after your have installed your updates and security software), then you choose the drive you want to copy that image to, and it overwrites it. When you reboot, it's as though you just installed the OS (or are back at the point where you created the image).

So any software installed after the image was created will not be there (it doesn't exist as far as the image is concerned), same thing goes for any files saved on the drive being overwritten. They are gone.

It can also be used to back up files, but I've never used it for that, just drives.

 

[Ryu Hitokiri]

It's not really like that (at least not with Ghost, which I've used). You basically create an image of C: and it is saved in an image file which can be stored anywhere on your system (other partitions, burned to a DVD, etc...)

Then when you want to revert back to your fresh installation you boot using the Ghost disk and you choose the image you want to revert to (so you can obviously make multiple images, for instance one with a fresh XP install and nothing else done to it, one after your have installed your updates and security software), then you choose the drive you want to copy that image to, and it overwrites it. When you reboot, it's as though you just installed the OS (or are back at the point where you created the image).

So any software installed after the image was created will not be there (it doesn't exist as far as the image is concerned), same thing goes for any files saved on the drive being overwritten. They are gone.

It can also be used to back up files, but I've never used it for that, just drives.

Well I have both, but I'm confused as to how to do what you just said. Could you post a little guide? By the way, I have Norton Ghost v12 and Acronis True Image Home 10.

Also, with Ghost, I heard someone created a 30gb partition, and when they restored it with Ghost, it was only 15gb.

 

[Impulse666]

meh. i've got nothing better to do today. tutorial up soon enough for TrueImage. (maybe an hour)

edit: something came up and i've got some real work to do so i'll have to put off on the guide. But in the meantime here's a quick walkthrough:
When you start TI (TrueImage) in the bottom right hand corner you will see "create bootable rescue media". if you go through that process you can burn a CD or create an .iso and that will be used to boot your computer and recover your data using your TI backups from an external HDD or another partition. TI also has the option to recover from muliple disks as you wanted to do originally. Its a simple process from there but first you need to actually have some backups. That is also a very easy process and you can make backups manually or schedule backups automatically. Look around on acronis' site and you'll get more info but its a fairly straightforward process.

 

[Ryu Hitokiri]

meh. i've got nothing better to do today. tutorial up soon enough for TrueImage. (maybe an hour)

Yay this is what I have! What I did was creation the Secure Zone partition on my secondary hard drive, and I'm in the process of backing up My Computer (option in True Image), aka C: partition. So if I just want to restore it, I put in my boot CD and choose that partition (since I don't have F11 enabled)?

 

[Ryu Hitokiri]

Just a quick question, after you restore your computer from the backup selected, when you boot up, will it act like you just shut down the day before the backup was made, then start up exactly how your system was when you made the backup?

 

[munkyeetr]

Just a quick question, after you restore your computer from the backup selected, when you boot up, will it act like you just shut down the day before the backup was made, then start up exactly how your system was when you made the backup?

I don't know about True Image, but with Ghost: Yes.

 

[Impulse666]

Just a quick question, after you restore your computer from the backup selected, when you boot up, will it act like you just shut down the day before the backup was made, then start up exactly how your system was when you made the backup?

exactly. with a complicated process of backing up and restoring, you can make your 30-day software trials last forever! muahahaha but thats not to discuss here

 

[Ryu Hitokiri]

exactly. with a complicated process of backing up and restoring, you can make your 30-day software trials last forever! muahahaha but thats not to discuss here

Nah, there is easier stuff. I love True Image 10!