Whole system backup to the cds

[Rajesh Muthu]

Hi
How can I backup the whole hard disk to the cds.

I have the idea ?
backup the whole system with a dos based software in
dos OS and then startup with windows 98 or XP and burn
the file to the CDs. Do you know what software cam I use
in DOS environment

Rajesh Muthu

[Rick \Nutcase\ Rogers]

Hi,

Try looking into imaging software. This is one example: Image for Windows
from www.terabyteunlimited.com

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers aka "Nutcase" MS-MVP - Win9x
http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/
Associate Expert - WinXP - Expert Zone
www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone
Win98 Help - www.rickrogers.org

"Rajesh Muthu" > wrote in message
...
> Hi
> How can I backup the whole hard disk to the cds.
>
> I have the idea ?
> backup the whole system with a dos based software in
> dos OS and then startup with windows 98 or XP and burn
> the file to the CDs. Do you know what software cam I use
> in DOS environment
>
> Rajesh Muthu

[Earl F. Parrish]

"Rajesh Muthu" > wrote in message
...
> Hi
> How can I backup the whole hard disk to the cds.
>
> I have the idea ?
> backup the whole system with a dos based software in
> dos OS and then startup with windows 98 or XP and burn
> the file to the CDs. Do you know what software cam I use
> in DOS environment
>
> Rajesh Muthu

The backup utility which comes with Windows XP will not backup to CD
directly. You can backup files to a folder on the hard drive and
write those backups to the CD using the CD burning capability in
Windows XP. Your backup file are limited to the space on a single
CD and you cannot span multiple disks.

Commercial companies offer programs which will backup directly to CD
or write an image to CD across several disks. The companies which
make backup software include Stomp, Inc., Novastor, NTI, Dantz and
Roxio. Disk imaging companies include Powerquest, Symantec,
Novastor, Dantz, Ahead and NTI. For Windows XP, disk imaging is
more reliable because files in use cannot be backed up or restored.
You would miss many of the critical system files during a backup.
Restoration of an image does not require reinstallation of the
operating system first. You could use a regular backup for your
data files which you could do more often and use disk imaging for
your operating system. Whether you back up your program files or
reinstall is a personal choice. If you have done a lot of
customizing or downloaded updates and service packs, the disk image
method would be the way to go. If you have your program files on a
separate partition from your operating system, you would have to
create images of each partition involved at the nearly the same
time.

Most of the disk imaging packages work outside of the operating
system so that all clusters can be copied without conflicts. The
restoration is done the same way. MS-DOS based backup programs
would not be able to do a file type backup of an NTFS partition
because the operating system would not be able to read the disk. If
you have FAT32 or FAT16 file systems on the hard drives, the files
may be accessible but long file name support may not be available.
MS-DOS based backups are limited to images only. Since the disk
cannot be read directly, all sectors would be copied whether they
store useful data or not. If you have a 40 gigabyte hard drive with
10 gigabytes used, the image would be of the entire 40 gigabytes of
space. The modern disk imaging programs designed for Windows XP
copy only sectors occupied by files and do not copy unallocated
sectors or slack space.

We cannot expect Microsoft to include every possible function in the
operating system. What would the companies I mentioned above do to
sell their products if a single purchase of an operating system disk
for $99.00 USD to $299.00 USD would include everything you would
ever need?

--
Earl F. Parrish

[Lorne Smith]

"Earl F. Parrish" > wrote in message
...
>
>
> We cannot expect Microsoft to include every possible function in the
> operating system. What would the companies I mentioned above do to
> sell their products if a single purchase of an operating system disk
> for $99.00 USD to $299.00 USD would include everything you would
> ever need?
>
> --
> Earl F. Parrish
>

Not to mention dropping Ms right back in court with another monoply class
action suit! :)