Hello -
Thanks for reading. Using linux live cd's, the dd command, and the new ntfsprogs package, I have managed to make a bit-by-bit clone of my Vista operating partition. This cloning was done to an external USB drive.
The reason I did this is so that I can reimage the Vista partition back to the internal hard drive in less than 10 minutes, instead of going through the mega-long factory restore process provided by the OEM manufacturer's restore partition.
So now I have an 8,756 MB clone sitting on the external hard drive, and I am wondering: Is there a way to now copy this 8,756 bit-by-bit to DVD media?
This would give me an optical backup of the bit-by-bit lay down, just in case I ever lost the backup partition on my USB external hard drive. Instinct tells me this is not possible because of the way optical media is read/write.
Thanks for any insights!!
Quote:Hello -
Thanks for reading. Using linux live cd's, the dd command, and the new ntfsprogs package, I have managed to make a bit-by-bit clone of my Vista operating partition. This cloning was done to an external USB drive.
The reason I did this is so that I can reimage the Vista partition back to the internal hard drive in less than 10 minutes, instead of going through the mega-long factory restore process provided by the OEM manufacturer's restore partition.
So now I have an 8,756 MB clone sitting on the external hard drive, and I am wondering: Is there a way to now copy this 8,756 bit-by-bit to DVD media?
This would give me an optical backup of the bit-by-bit lay down, just in case I ever lost the backup partition on my USB external hard drive. Instinct tells me this is not possible because of the way optical media is read/write.
Thanks for any insights!!
Yes, dd can do this and many, many others. I keep this page in my bookmarks as a reference:
[/url][url=http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/li...command-362506/]http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/li...command-362506/
I'm sure many, many Linux programs will create an ISO out of a file, providing your media can handle it. If you make an 8,756 MB ISO, you may have quite a time getting that onto a DVD, so you might want to split it between two discs and then setup a basic install file that would say "please insert second disc" when appropriate.
Something like an ISO shrinker MIGHT work, but be careful with that, if that's stripping data from a windows image, you might have disastrous and/or entertaining results. Keep us posted.