Question about a Restore CD

[Robert Oaks 0]

We are building our own PC based video recorders. We of course load the Windows operating system, the video card software, the motherboard software, the CD burner software, and the GEO software. Usually, we also load an auto defragmenting program.

 

When one purchases a notebook (and I guess some of the desk tops) there is usually a restoration disk that returns the PC to the same condition as when purchased. Now this may be a stupid question to those of you that are computer literate, but anyway - Is it possible for an individual to make a restore disk to load the items in the first paragraph above? It would be used for new-builds, and for restoring a PC when a problem arises that can not be fixed without a software repair. Thank you.

[rory 0]

Yes. I did this some time ago when I worked for a local company that built PCs. i cant remember the software off hand, did a search but didnt recognise any names. If I remember ill post it here. You just had to load windows and everything and set up the computer completely, then using their software it creates an image and makes the restore into 1 EXE file, which using something like Nero you create a boot CD with a customized bat file that runs the exe file on booting.

 

Rory

[AVCONSULTING 0]

You might be thinking of Norton Ghost. One DVR company that I used to deal with did a master setup on the first computer then ghosted the whole thing to CD's and from then on all they did was restore the ghosted image to all newly built PC Based DVRs.

[rory 0]

That too, but the one I used was easier. I just cant remember the name for anything, it began with the letter A. They did back ups and restores local or over networks etc.

[loop 0]

Might be Acronis.

 

http://www.acronis.com/products/trueimage/

[Dude! 0]

Hi all,

 

My first post!

 

I haven't used Norton Ghost on a PC based DVR (I just don't have one! ) but I am using it on my home PC. What I usually do is to do a fresh install of the OS, then boot it into DOS with a boot disk and create an image on another partition. When I am sick of all the craps that I install over the months, I boot it to DOS again and restore it to the original state. All it takes is 5 mintes which I reckon that's pretty quick compared to reinstalling the whole OS for more than 1/2 hr.

 

Hope this helps!

 

Cheers,

 

LK

[knightvision 0]

This is something my company has done for quite some time now. Most of the service calls our Dealers encounter seem to be from the End Users getting in and screwing around with the settings. Because of this, we ship all our units with a System Restore floppy, so they can stick it in, reboot, and restore back to factory default settings.

 

We have actually even gone one step further, and given the dealer the ability to create a second backup image, so the EU can be guided *over the phone* to restore the unit from the day the installer originally left the unit, with all their settings in place.

 

There are multiple programs out there you can use, Norton Ghost being one of them. PowerQuest also has a really robust program as well. The trick with all these when using them to load onto a new machine, is to make sure you have all your software liscences in place. It is very easy to mix up and accidentally install the same Windows, Application software, etc. onto multiple machines (and Microsoft really doesn't like this).

 

If you have any questions about the backup software, PM me. I'd be more than happy to help, and it's a great idea. Our dealers LOVE it!

[Thomas 0]

A few things to keep in mind when using Ghost and other programs like it:

 

1. Thier licencess are per machine. One copy of ghost for each machine you use it on. If you send out bootable CD images, you have to send a copy of ghost. For internal use the corprate edition is a bit more flexiable, but you can't distrubt bootable CD's to your customers (each bootable CD has a copy of ghost and making multiple copies and distrubting them without licences is piracy.)

 

2. You have to be constant in building your machines. That means the same parts, the same companies each time, or you have to build a ghost image for each machine seperately. Not being careful is a good way to get driver conflicts.

 

3. MS makes a tool called sysprep. This lets you strip out info from an XP or 2000 image. Things like CD keys, network indentifiers, ect.

 

4. Test your image carefully. Make sure that you do a burn in period with a few machines with the image. Not every problem pops up imeaditly, and it will piss off the end user if thier machines go down because you didn't check that the hotfix you included conflicts with thier video server.

 

5. Linux support. Not much, Ghost can handle ext2 and ext3 and that's it.

 

6. Ghost is pretty much all or nothing. You can't restore a single program from a backed up install. You can restore a single file, but not the registry settings of a program.

 

7. Ghost will destroy any partition it writes to. So keeping video on a seperate drive is important.

 

Not to discourage use of Ghost, or other programs like it, but remeber that it's not a magic bullet, it does have limits. There are some other options that may be better from a licencing standpoint and from a end user stand point.

 

Making your own OEM version of windows is a good idea. It takes longer for the end user but gives more flexibility. You can restore a single program, you get access to the repair consol, and SFC. The downside is that it's not the simplest thing in the world. Slipstreaming drivers in is a pain, and some programs fight being installed this way. It also takes a little longer to install.

[Robert Oaks 0]

Might be Acronis.

 

http://www.acronis.com/products/trueimage/

 

This looks like what I need - expect to purchase it this weekend. Thanks to all. Happy 4th!!

[cctv_down_under 0]

2. You have to be constant in building your machines. That means the same parts, the same companies each time, or you have to build a ghost image for each machine seperately. Not being careful is a good way to get driver conflicts.

 

Once again Tom is on the ball, the problem is that if you are building machines and using Ghost as a Pre Install you have to be very wary, next week they may change the driver of chipset for the same Video card you used last time, so then you are not loading the right thing, this is a common flaw in taking shortcuts, especially with Video card Bios and DVr card that can change at a drop of hat!

 

I personnaly like ghost but it should not be used untill a complete burn in is done and only if you are sure that the customer is not going to update a driver or if the hardware manfactorer has not updated his.

[rory 0]

A few things to keep in mind when using Ghost and other programs like it:

 

1. Thier licencess are per machine. One copy of ghost for each machine you use it on. If you send out bootable CD images, you have to send a copy of ghost. For internal use the corprate edition is a bit more flexiable, but you can't distrubt bootable CD's to your customers (each bootable CD has a copy of ghost and making multiple copies and distrubting them without licences is piracy.)

 

 

When I was doing it, we paid $125 for a certain amount of machines. The more you paid the more machines you could make CDs for. It had only one file, everything was in a single EXE file. We had looked around and at the time the one we were using was considered one of the best, and easiest. Just cant remeber the name for anything, but there appears to be much more out there now, as this WAS a few years back.

 

And yes, mboards changing (or totally different mboards) and the distributors (or the owners purchasing different network cards, etc, required a new setup, which occurred alot at that time and was one of the reasons I left them.

 

Then again no computer companies down here adhere to licencing laws! The one i was with at the time was the first (and only one since then)

[Thomas 0]

And I don't mean to scare anyone away from using Ghost. When I was working for myself, I saved countless gigs of data off of failing drives with it. Any tech without it is like a mechanic without a battery tester. They might not always need it, but every real pro is going to have one in thier tool kit.