HI Gerald and others,
Do not, absolutely do not rely on a single copy of anything! Especially a
hard drive image burned to optical media such as DVD.
I've been using Image for Windows for some time now (Leo Laporte's
security
guru suggestion), and the very few times I've used the DVD recovery media
I've noticed odd results.
The first time something happened where my Dell desktop would take 5
minutes
to boot. The only thing different before and after this quirk was that I
used my Image for Windows recovery DVDs. I think there might be an issue
in
regards to the optical nature and structure of a DVD verses the structure
of
a magnetic hard drive. I could not continue suffering through that long
bootup process, so I had my husband reformat and reinstall Windows from
scratch. After that incident, I thought it better to take images to
external
hard drives, which is a faster process, and the bit for bit backup is much
more likely to be reproduced accurately when saving the image to a similar
medium.
One day when I had to restore my netbook, the process of recovering from a
burned image from an external hard drive was flawless, and luckily the
long
bootup issue did not happen. From that day on, I create backups to
external
hard drives every couple of weeks, burn images to DVD every month, and use
synctoy weekly.
Gerald's problem is easy to solve, simply take the burned DVD image, use
another drive (many computers nowadays have multiple drives), and use
Image
for Windows to yank a file. Image for windows allows the user to go into
an
image and pull needed files if necessary.
It is also likely that Gerald's bad drive is due to inferior products big
name manufacturers put in their desktops. Profit margin is so razor thin
that manufacturers will skimp wherever they can find an opportunity. I had
an aftermarket Sony burner in my Dell for about 7 years without the
slightest issue. Of course those unknowable reasons why things break
cannot
be ruled out.
LS
----- Original Message -----
From: "Gerald Levy" <[email protected]>
To: <[email protected]>
Sent: Friday, August 17, 2012 6:17 AM
Subject: Re: [Blind-Computing] the image for windows program
As I mentioned a few days ago, I had begun experiencing trouble with the
DVD
drive built into my five-year-old Dell workstation. So yesterday, it was
replaced by a Dell technician. He asked me if I had ever used
double-layer
disks for recording in the origial drive, because he claimed that they
could
sometimes cause tracking problems with the laser mechanism. I told him
that
I had only used single-layer, single-sided CD-R's for recording in the
faulty drive, so it must have gone bad for some other reason such as dirt
accumulation on the laser lens or just old age. He told me that it is not
uncommon for a DVD drive to start experiencing tracking problems when it
is
four or five years old. Apparently, DVD drive reliability declines with
age, so there is no guarantee that an image backup created on a DVD drive
that is a few years old will be later recognized or read successfully by
that drive , especially if double-layer disks are used.
Gerald
----- Original Message -----
From: "Rick Justice" <[email protected]>
To: <[email protected]>
Sent: Friday, August 17, 2012 8:25 AM
Subject: Re: [Blind-Computing] the image for windows program
Setting up a new laptop, and the recovery media creator requires 5 DVD's
using double-sided disks, I can get it done with 3.
Double-sided disks are a great space-saver.
Rick Justice
----- Original Message -----
From: "David Ferrin" <[email protected]>
To: <[email protected]>
Sent: Friday, August 17, 2012 7:36 AM
Subject: Re: [Blind-Computing] the image for windows program
Simple really, I used maximum compression from with in the program
itself.
It offers several options from no compression at all, as such creating
the
image quite quickly to the max which is much slower. I used two single
sided
DVDs available at your local electronic store.
Note the version I used when I created tutorial one can't perform this
trick. That was 2.03 if memory serves. They are up to around 2.73 by now.
I
have been receiving free upgrades for over 4.5 years now.
David Ferrin
Compromise is never good if it means sacrificing a principle.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Gerald Levy" <[email protected]>
To: <[email protected]>
Sent: Friday, August 17, 2012 7:07 AM
Subject: Re: [Blind-Computing] the image for windows program
You claim that you were able to squeeze 29 gb of data onto two DVD's.
How
did you accomplish this amazing feat? A standard single-layer,
single-sided
DVD can store approximately 4.7 gb of data, while a single-layer,
double-sided DVD can store 9.4 gb of data. So assuming you used two
single-layer, double-sided DVD's, you could only store a total of about
19
gb of data. Did you use some hard-to-find double-layer, double-sided
DVD's,
which can hold about 18.5 gb each? Or did you perhaps use blue ray
disks,
which have a much higher storage capacity than standard DVD's, but are
much
more expensive and thus not really practical for frequent image backups?
Or
is there some magical technique for cramming more data onto a DVD than it
can physically store? Just curious.
Gerald
----- Original Message -----
From: "David Ferrin" <[email protected]>
To: <[email protected]>
Sent: Thursday, August 16, 2012 7:21 AM
Subject: Re: [Blind-Computing] the image for windows program
If memory serves I did the first tutorial almost four and a half years
ago.
The program has changed slightly with some new features but it is still
completely usable with a screen reader.
I like using maximum compression for my images. They take a bit longer
but
it minimizes the amount of DVDs you end up using. I just did an image
the
other day and 29 GB fit on two disks, now that's an improvement.
David Ferrin
Compromise is never good if it means sacrificing a principle.
----- Original Message -----
From: "MWB" <[email protected]>
To: <[email protected]>
Sent: Thursday, August 16, 2012 7:11 AM
Subject: Re: [Blind-Computing] the image for windows program
Hi Juan,
The owner of this list & the Jaws-Users list did a 3 part tutorial on
using
Image for Windows. Below are the direct download links to all 3 parts;
Part#1:
http://www.jaws-users.com/audio/Utilities/ImageForWindows1.mp3
Part #2:
http://www.jaws-users.com/audio/Utilities/ImageForWindows2.mp3
Part #3:
http://www.jaws-users.com/audio/Utilities/ImageForWindows3.mp3
This 3 part tutorial shows how to create an image and restore it using
speech the whole way from start to finish
Hope this helps. Take care.
Mike
This email was sent from my ILazyBoy.
----- Original Message -----
From: Juan's Netbook
To: [email protected]
Sent: Wednesday, August 15, 2012 4:16 PM
Subject: [Blind-Computing] the image for windows program
Hello everyone:
i am interested in knowing if has anyone ever used the program image for
windows?
I am interested in knowing how to make an image of a hard drive then
re-store it?
I would greatly appreciate some tips ideas or perhaps a tutorial
thanks very much
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