Can DriveImage XML image be bootable ?

[Jiggy]

Is it possible to make a bootable cd image using DriveImage XML or do I copy the image files to cd and make it bootable when burning ?

[Paul Komski]

Don't know the program but I do like runtime.org's software and will shortly try out this unsupported freeware.

I don't know why they have chosen xml files since I cant believe these are extensible markup files in the more usual xml/html sense. It is likely that they are raw uncompressed images but I won't know till I get a chance to try them out.

Guessing again - but I doubt if they make bootable images directly otherwise there would have been no real need to state that you can run DriveImage XML from a WinPE boot CD-ROM (http://www.runtime.org/dixml.htm) and if they are raw images what software would you intend to use to use on them from a boot CD; Linux's dd maybe!

[Paul Komski]

Interesting freeware. The backup option creates two files; an xml file that contains info and a dat file containing raw or split or compressed data. To be honest its not a raw image since there is a one-sector header at the start of the so-called raw file but if this is known then any hex manipulation software such as WinHex, TinyHexer or dd can restore the "raw" files to a partition.

The software will write the image indirectly to a CD/DVD using the native WinXP burning software but there is no way that I know of to directly make such a multi-session disk bootable.

Thanks jiggy for a new toy to play with.

[Jiggy]

Hello Paul,

What I was thinking/trying to do is make an image of a HD and burn that image to a cd (not a live/boot cd), so that I can restore that image from a cd upon booting instead of clicking on restore an image within the image program.

Didnt Ghost do it using a floppy to point to the image.

[Jiggy]

If you made an image then stored that image to a cd, booted from Barts PE and pointed the image program to the stored image on the cd using two cd-roms.

[Galaxian]

i like acronis trueimage, at boot i just press F11 and it brings me to restore console, much faster than messing with disks.

[Paul Komski]

so that I can restore that image from a cd upon booting instead of clicking on restore an image within the image program.The CD(s) must be accessible in the first place and you must be able to run some imaging software that is compatible with the particular type of image file stored. Thus DriveImage (or the latest version of Ghost) for its pqi files, Older versions of Ghost for its gho files, ImageForDOS or the Imaging software in BiNG for its img files ... and so on. With "raw" or literal byte-for-byte images such as created by the runtime.org software or WinHex you will need to run a program such as TinyHexer or the runtime software from a Bart PE CD or use the dd utility from something like a live Knoppix CD.

Galaxian might like Acronis but I don't like its price and BiNG can do everything and much more than Acronis at a fraction of the cost.

The last version of DriveImage before it was taken over by Symantec would (at least theoretically) make a bootable CD if you imaged directly to a CD. I found this to be a bit hit and miss in the first place and since the bootable CD ran from DOS there were limitations as to what could be seen to restore the image file to. For a long time (and still occasionally) I restored pqi files using DI from an EBCD but nowadays BiNG installed to the HDD and available at boot time meets just about all my needs - including access to USB2 HDDs and CD/DVDs.

Didnt Ghost do it using a floppy to point to the imageThe older versions of Ghost did this but there was a bit of a learning curve if your system was anything other than very standard. ImageForDOS does things similarly but (at the latest count) can access a greater number of types of media.

There were also ways of automating the restore processes by editing the autoexec.bat and other batch files in the boot image so that they would function like a proprietary bootable restoration CD. There has always been a great source of information on the use of Ghost on the Radified site (http://ghost.radified.com/). The terabyteunlimited software can also be used to make such customised restoration CDs - though that is something I have yet to try to do.

If you made an image then stored that image to a cd, booted from Barts PE and pointed the image program to the stored image on the cd using two cd-roms.That is a completely valid approach and once loaded into RAM you might still be able to read a file from the same CDROM by ejecting and inserting when prompte to browse for the source of the image file.

[jlreich]

The terabyteunlimited software can also be used to make such customised restoration CDs - though that is something I have yet to try to do.
I have wanted to try that for some time as well but never have gotten around to it.

If you try it let us know how it goes. I will do the same if I get around to it first.

[Paul Komski]

jlreich - yes it would be good for builds/repairs to other peoples systems; for myself BiNG and an external USB HDD do the trick in a more versatile way.

[jlreich]

Absolutely, I prefer to do it manually myself. But like you said I was thinking of restore discs for customers.