Restore DVD

[William R. Cousert]

I am about to reformat my hard drive and reinstall everything YET AGAIN.
Seems like I do it at least once a year.

Is it possible to create a Restore DVD, similar to the CD's that come with
most new computers, that has xp and my applications and service packs
preinstalled?

I'm tired of spending nearly a day just reinstalling my software.

 

[Jerry]

One thing you can do is make your own CD or DVD that has XP (Pro or Home),
servicepacks, and updates/patches/hotfixes/etc merged.

Service packs are 'slipstreamed' to update, say XP to XPw/Sp1, or to XP
w/SP2, or, soon, to XP w/SP3. Google the word slipstreaming and you'll get
information.

Adding updates/patches/hotfixes/etc is accomplished with 'integration'
programs, there are a couple. One I use is the RyanVM Integrator.

For more info the following forums will help:
http://www.autopatcher.com/forums/
http://forum.driverpacks.net/
http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php
http://www.doitrightconsulting.net/forum/index.php
http://www.ryanvm.net/forum/
http://siginetsoftware.com/forum/
http://www.thehotfix.net/forums/
http://forums.microsoft.com/TechNet/ShowForum.aspx?ForumID=2010&SiteID=17

Be aware, that if you want to download stuff from these forums you may be
required to join that forum; it's free so don't worry about it.

A lot of info is available in these forums to help you improve your efforst
at 're-installing' your stuff.

 

[Nepatsfan]

I am about to reformat my hard drive and reinstall everything YET AGAIN. Seems
like I do it at least once a year.

Is it possible to create a Restore DVD, similar to the CD's that come with
most new computers, that has xp and my applications and service packs
preinstalled?

I'm tired of spending nearly a day just reinstalling my software.

Once you get your computer setup exactly as you want it, use an imaging program
such as Acronis True Image or Norton Ghost to create an image of your system.
You can store the image files on an external hard drive or DVDs. You can update
the image on a regular basis. The next time you feel the need to wipe everything
out, you have an image that can be restored in minutes.

Good luck

Nepatsfan

 

[TaurArian]

Once you are at the stage with everything that you want on, why not image your drive -

Acronis for all your backup and data recovery needs - easy to use
http://www.acronis.com.sg/

or

Home and Office, Small Business & Medium and Large Business Utilities for hard disk
management etc
http://www.paragon-software.com/
For a list of products see:
http://www.paragon-software.com/products.htm


--
====================================
TaurArian [MVP] 2005-2008 - Australia
====================================
How to ask a question: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/555375
http://taurarian.mvps.org/index.htm
Emails will not be acknowledged - please post to the newsgroup so all may benefit.
Computer Maintenance: Acronis / Diskeeper / Paragon / Raxco


|I am about to reformat my hard drive and reinstall everything YET AGAIN.
| Seems like I do it at least once a year.
|
| Is it possible to create a Restore DVD, similar to the CD's that come with
| most new computers, that has xp and my applications and service packs
| preinstalled?
|
| I'm tired of spending nearly a day just reinstalling my software.
|
|
|

 

[Lil' Dave]

Once you get your computer setup exactly as you want it, use an imaging
program such as Acronis True Image or Norton Ghost to create an image of
your system. You can store the image files on an external hard drive or
DVDs. You can update the image on a regular basis. The next time you feel
the need to wipe everything out, you have an image that can be restored in
minutes.

Good luck

Nepatsfan

Just a note on storing image files on DVD. You're probably going to use ISO
9600 format on the DVD so the imaging recovery program can "see" the image.
ISO 9600 is limited to 2GB filesize, less overhead.

 

[peter]

The problem is not the creation of a restore CD...that part is easy..
The problem is why are you installing..(YET AGAIN).........if you have not
found and solved the problem that seems to
make you continuously restore.......you will continuously restore

peter