save updates?

[Tom_Smart]

I'm using XP PRO. What is the easiest way to go about a fresh install and keep all the updates so i don't have to download them again?
Cheers.

Although it has a lot of good ideas, beer doesn't know anything about computers!!!

 

[Toejam31]

IMO, the easiest way is to create an image of the data on the active partition that contains the operating system, place it on a small, separate partition on the hard drive, and then burn the image to CD-R's. This is like creating a system recovery disk, but with all your preferences, patches, updates, drivers, and personal software preserved intact.

There are distinct advantages to creating an image.

One ... if the image is on the hard drive, as well as on a CD, this allows two different ways to recover the data on the active partition.

Two ... the image is bootable, and formats the active partition when it replaces the data. This effectively eliminates any viruses that have contaminated the system, recreates the file system, and fixes BSOD's due to incompatible drivers or programs added to the system that even the recovery console cannot repair.

Three ... it's much faster than reinstalling the entire operating system, and then patching and upgrading the system, even if this information is retained as separate data on a CD.

I backup both of my systems in this manner, regularly, and can easily recreate the active partition on either within an hour, exactly as it was ... a few days ago, or as far back as any point last year. Because of this, with minimal changes in the hardware, I'll never need to use an operating system installation CD again for these systems.

<A HREF="http://www.powerquest.com/partitionmagic/" target="_new">PartitionMagic 7.0</A>

<A HREF="http://www.powerquest.com/driveimage/" target="_new">Drive Image 5</A>

<A HREF="http://www.symantec.com/sabu/ghost/ghost_personal/" target="_new">Norton Ghost 2002</A>

All of these programs are functional in WinXP, and all require a minimum of time spent reading a manual before you'll be using them.

My personal perference is Drive Image 5.

Toejam31

<font color=red>My Rig:</font color=red> <A HREF="http://www.anandtech.com/mysystemrig.html?rigid=6847" target="_new"><font color=green>Toejam31's Tantalizing Tantric Toy</font color=green></A>
<font color=red>Second Rig:</font color=red> <A HREF="http://www.anandtech.com/mysystemrig.html?rigid=15942" target="_new"><font color=green>Toey's Dynamite DDR Duron</font color=green></A>
____________________________________________________________

<font color=purple>"Procrastination on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part."</font color=purple>

 

[btvillarin]

Good call, buddy. Now I have three good reasons to tell others why this method is a good idea.

<A HREF="http://www.geocities.com/btvillarin" target="_new">My Website</A>-<b>reorganized</b> & updated everyday

 

[Tom_Smart]

thanks for this info, i know now i can sort it all out.

Although it has a lot of good ideas, beer doesn't know anything about computers!!!

 

[camieabz]

Can you get an image copied to CD in Drive Image 5.0?

I still have to copy to another partition and drag n' drop.

Mind you, I'm still using 4.0 as I had probs with 5. Maybe one day I'll try it out again.

<b><font color=blue>~ Whew! Finished...Now all I need is a Cyrix badge ~ </font color=blue> </b>

 

[Toejam31]

Yes, I can ... but only on my main rig, and not on the Duron system. Even then, more often than not, the image is corrupted. So, I'm still using the same method with both; I burn to the disk, and then to the CDs.

I don't think it takes that much more time, and I always verify the image, anyway ... so it's never a really fast process. I just turn it on and go read a book.

It's funny that version 5 gave you problems. Version 4 didn't work worth a darn in Win2K on my system, and it was hard to create a viable image. And no matter what I tried, I couldn't access the Plextor at all (no listing), or get a workable mouse driver on the startup disk that the Caldera DOS would recognize.

None of those problems in version 5.

I don't drag and drop the image. I use Nero 5.5.7.2, and burn an ISO disk, Level 2, Mode 2 /XA, with relaxed ISO restrictions, and the Joliet Secondary Volume Discriptor. It's never failed when burning the image from the hard drive. It takes about five minutes per disk, so I can normally backup my C: partition (which is 3.07GB) in about 35 minutes, total, from starting QuickImage to the CDs.

If I don't verify the image, I can cut 10 minutes off of that time.

Toey

<font color=red>My Rig:</font color=red> <A HREF="http://www.anandtech.com/mysystemrig.html?rigid=6847" target="_new"><font color=green>Toejam31's Tantalizing Tantric Toy</font color=green></A>
<font color=red>Second Rig:</font color=red> <A HREF="http://www.anandtech.com/mysystemrig.html?rigid=15942" target="_new"><font color=green>Toey's Dynamite DDR Duron</font color=green></A>
____________________________________________________________

<font color=purple>"Procrastination on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part."</font color=purple>

 

[btvillarin]

<font color=green>I don't drag and drop the image. I use Nero 5.5.7.2, and burn an ISO disk, Level 2, Mode 2 /XA, with relaxed ISO restrictions, and the Joliet Secondary Volume Discriptor. It's never failed when burning the image from the hard drive. It takes about five minutes per disk, so I can normally backup my C: partition (which is 3.07GB) in about 35 minutes, total, from starting QuickImage to the CDs.

If I don't verify the image, I can cut 10 minutes off of that time.</font color=green>

Can you go through the process of how you do this exactly? The only thing I do is use QuickImage to burn to the hard drive, then burn that image to CD as a data CD. I've never tried to restore it, though. So, am I doing it wrong or something?

Can you explain what does burning this as an ISO disk do?

<A HREF="http://www.geocities.com/btvillarin" target="_new">My Website</A>-<b>reorganized</b> & updated everyday

 

[Toejam31]

ISO is a nearly universal file format that allows a CD to be read in different CD-ROMs, even in a MacOS. It's not perfect, but it comes close, as long as there are no illegal characters in the file and directory names, like slashes and backslashes.

The first thing I do to create an image is run a complete scan of the partition to be copied. I move all the file directories to the top of the partition with the boot-time scheduler built into Diskeeper after the thorough scan. Then I defrag the partition, twice if necessary.

Then I start QuickImage. I choose a predefined "definition file" ... one that I've previously created, with my preferences. This includes the partition to be copied, the destination of the image, the compression level, whether the image should be verified, the files system checked for errors, and if the Disk Writes should be verified. A password for the image can also be added. And the image can be spanned into files that are the right size for a CD-R.

Normally, I choose high compression, image content verification, and span the image into 730,000,000 byte files.

The only thing I change when creating the image is the date. This is what I put in the image description window. I save this change as a part of the definition file for that particular image. I have four definition files; one for each partition in my system.

I always choose the file name of the image to have 8 characters or less, since it must be accessed in DOS.

Note: The image verification doubles the time needed to create the image. But I'd rather be safe than sorry when I really need it.

The first file to be created will be a .pqi file. The other files, if needed, will be numbered in sequence, starting with .002, .003, etc.

After the image is created, I just fire up Nero, and burn each file to a separate CD, with the settings mentioned above. I don't use the Nero Wizard, as creating a new compilation from the File menu gives me more control over the burning process.

Each CD should be burned with no testing simulation, and the CD should be finalized (or closed, so that no further data can be written to the disk.)

The ISO settings I prefer allow a File/Directory name length of 31 characters, a path depth of more than 8 directories, and more than 255 characters in each path. You should also choose the ISO 9660 character set. You'll see a warning that this kind of disk might not be visible in DOS or Win3.1 ... but I have never had any difficulty booting with an image like this in DOS. I don't expect to see Win3.1 again anytime in the future.

I've tested the images in the past, and each one has been viable using this method.

It takes 34 CDs (and most of an evening) to backup all four of the partitions on my main system. Because of this, I only backup the active partition regularly, and the rest every four weeks.

This might be time-consuming, but if I ever have a hard drive go down, I'll lose very little data, if any, and nothing that I consider to be crucial. That's worth feeding CDs to the Plextor one evening a month while I watch some TV, IMHO.

Toey

<font color=red>My Rig:</font color=red> <A HREF="http://www.anandtech.com/mysystemrig.html?rigid=6847" target="_new"><font color=green>Toejam31's Tantalizing Tantric Toy</font color=green></A>
<font color=red>Second Rig:</font color=red> <A HREF="http://www.anandtech.com/mysystemrig.html?rigid=15942" target="_new"><font color=green>Toey's Dynamite DDR Duron</font color=green></A>
____________________________________________________________

<font color=purple>"Procrastination on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part."</font color=purple>