Damaged installation DVD

[Peter]

The outer edge of my Vista Business DVD has some scratches which I have
not been able to repair so far. However, when I look at the contents of the
DVD, I see the following folders and files which I have copied to my hard
drive:
Boot (folder)
Efi (folder)
Sources (folder)
Support (folder)
Upgrade (folder)
Autorun.inf
Bootmgr
Setup.exe

Assuming these are all of the original contents of the DVD, how can I use
them to make a new, bootable installation disk?

Peter

 

[Mick Murphy]

Have you tried booting with the disk to see if it still works?
If it does, use 3rd party burning Software to "Copy entire Disk"

 

[David B.]

No, just burning those files to disc will not result in a bootable DVD, have
you tried making a DVD to DVD copy, it seems if you can copy the data from
the disc, you should be able to make a copy.

 

[Peter]

Thanks David.

I am unable to make a DVD to DVD copy. The process stops with a few seconds
to go as the (perhaps empty) damaged section is reached. I've tried just
copying it and copying using Roxio Creator 9. Both stall at the end.

Peter

 

[Curious]

Peter,
What happens if you run setup.exe instead of trying to boot from the DVD?

 

[Peter]

I can boot with the damaged disk and I can run setup.exe as well. I have no
idea whether or not I can run through the entire install cycle. What I want
to do, and should have done long ago, is to make a backup copy of the DVD to
avoid losing the functionality of the disk entirely. So far all attempts to
copy the disk have failed during the last few seconds (although I can copy
the individual folders and files from the DVD). I have tried various
scratch "repair" methods but without success.

Peter

 

[Mick Murphy]

You need Nero, Ashampoo, etc Burning Program.
They have an option: "Copy Entire Disk"
you can do it with only 1 DVD drive.

 

[Malke]

I can boot with the damaged disk and I can run setup.exe as well. I have
no
idea whether or not I can run through the entire install cycle. What I
want to do, and should have done long ago, is to make a backup copy of the
DVD to
avoid losing the functionality of the disk entirely. So far all attempts
to copy the disk have failed during the last few seconds (although I can
copy
the individual folders and files from the DVD). I have tried various
scratch "repair" methods but without success.

Then just replace the DVD. If this is retail:

How to Replace Lost, Broken, or Missing Microsoft Software or Hardware -
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=KB;en-us;326246

Or make a copy of a friend's retail Vista disk to use with your own Product
Key.

If it is a restore disk that you got from an OEM (Dell, HP, Sony, etc.)
contact the OEM for replacement. This is usually very inexpensive.

Malke