XP Home laptop (No Floppy) Bootable CD??

[A C]

Having just bought a 'modern' laptop without a floppy drive, safe in the
sure knowledge that CDs have been bootable now for at least a couple of
operating systems....

And also I am new to XP.

....I am taken a back somewhat that even though the laptop has a CDRW,
that, to create a bootable CD using the (pre installed) sw (Sonic
'RecordNow!') the first thing the sw does is ask me for a bootable
floppy in the A: drive!!! It gives no alternative, like a file finder,
just sits waiting for a floppy.

This sounds a bit like an unpleasant dream.

Ok, I am contacting the laptop supplier etc, and meanwhile, looking
through google on related subjects it sounds like it might be possible
if I get a specialist degree in boot CD creation, or buy one, or even
simply copy the supplied XP reinstall CD, but that is not my question.

What techniques are usual in cases like this, to create bootable CDs for
things such as ghosting the HD or disaster recovery sw - with no floppy?

I know that Norton Ghost 2002 only comes talking about a boot *disk*
(=floppy), which I presume is no good at all to me (?)
Application I use/d in Win 98 such as backup (Exec) MyPC do not have a
disatser recovery option in XP - not supported in the fairly early
version I seem to have..
If necessary I am not entierley against buying a new application if I
have to, but I am not confident that they will come compatible with 'No
Floppy'!

btw am trying to avoid buying a usb connected floppy drive etc , it
sounds even less standard than the laptop!

Comments much appreciated

 

[neil]

If it's any help, Nero allows you to create a boot disk with the option to
select where the boot files come from. You can download the demo to see if
it does what you want http://www.ahead.de/en/

Neil

 

[A C]

If it's any help, Nero allows you to create a boot disk with the option to
select where the boot files come from. You can download the demo to see if
it does what you want http://www.ahead.de/en/

Thanks Neil! will give it a go


(thinks) - what is a useful way to get a 'bootable' image from a boot
disk? Or maybe it does *not* have to look like a diskette? Maybe I just
point it to the windows folder??

 

[Bob]

take that PC back and get a decent make and model...sounds like you went the
bottom end...ya' gets what ya pays for...