Pilaar39 Posted January 14, 2007 Report Share Posted January 14, 2007 I just updated to 7.5, ran my first backup, and was prompted to create a disaster recovery CD. I think there may be a problem in this area. It prompts me to insert my Windows installation product CD, looking for the txtsetup.sif file. However, when I insert the CD, it will not recognise it.. ie, it appears not to be able to access the CD at all! I tried two different CD drives, and two different install CDs. Furthermore, it only appears to 'see' the CD if it is installed BEFORE I launch Retrospect.. and even then, it cannot find this txtsetup.sif file. AND.. to make matters worse, once Retrospect is running, I cannot even explore the CD from windows explorer.. Retrospect seems to have done something to lock it out. I can only see the contents of the CD after I shut down Retrospect! What the heck is going on? Is there a bug in this software? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jelenko Posted January 14, 2007 Report Share Posted January 14, 2007 You need to configure Retro to 'ignore' the cd drive. After creating the DR CD, you can reconfigure Retro to 'recognize' the drive. To have Retro ignore the cd drive, click on Devices [in the Configure section on the left hand menus]. When the dialog box opens, click on Environment. Right click on the drive, choose 'Igore ID'. Close and reopen Retro. Your system should now recognize the CD as needed. After you've finished, reconfigure Retro to 'Don't Ignore ID'. Another option is to copy all the of the i386 folder to your hard drive and browse to it. That way you don't have to fool around with the CD drive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pilaar39 Posted January 14, 2007 Author Report Share Posted January 14, 2007 <sarcasm> Man, that is SO intuitive and user friendly! Everyone should write code like that! </sarcasm> Thanks for the reply!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jelenko Posted January 14, 2007 Report Share Posted January 14, 2007 Ah, yes. I think it is documentated - sort of. As I remember, one of the screens when you're creating the DR CD mentions that the CD will be unavailable. But, I could never get from the wording to what you need to do. Good luck! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pilaar39 Posted January 14, 2007 Author Report Share Posted January 14, 2007 So, as I understand it, the creation of the DR CD involves collecting (reading) some data from the original XP install CD, then writing a DR CD. So, if I configure Retro to ignore the CD so it can read the XP code, then how is it going to see it later when it comes to writing the DR CD? Sounds like a catch 22. Only option I can see is to have two CD drives, one ignored and one not, or as you say, waste space on my HD with an image of the XP CD. Sheesh!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jelenko Posted January 14, 2007 Report Share Posted January 14, 2007 You have to use third party cd writing app to write the DR CD image to CD. Retro doesn't have this capability. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pilaar39 Posted January 15, 2007 Author Report Share Posted January 15, 2007 Ok, thanks.. things are progressing.. after copying the XP SP2 intall disk to a folder on my HD, I managed to create the iso image.. although I got a warning message saying the the image was 650 MB - too large for some burners. I chose to continue, assuming I can burn it on a 700 MB CD. However, I am a novice at burning ISO images, and while my Nero program seems to have the capability, it has a number of options that can be changed and set before the burn.. eg. data mode, file system, etc. Does anyone have a list of the settings I need, or is this documented somewhere that I can reference to ensure I create a workable, bootable CD? Secondly, is there a way of testing the DR CD, without actually 'running' the recovery? I don't want to boot from it only to find it just takes off and starts the recovery wiping out my system. Or does it pause before actually starting the recovery and wait for me to confirm? And lastly, (I also asked this in another forum thread), if the iso is indeed too large to burn to a CD, is it possible to burn it to a DVD disk? Thanks!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
safreeds Posted January 15, 2007 Report Share Posted January 15, 2007 I would not recommend burning the ISO to a dvd. If it will fit on a 700MB CD, awesome. One of the gotchas to the Retrospect DR CD process is that the i386 folder that comes with most OEM machines (Dell, HP etc.) is bloated with the stuff the manufacturer wants back on your system after a reinstall. The reliable, tested and recommended creation for a DR CD is to use Microsoft media not a 3rd party installer. It is understandable that all you get from the manufacturer As far as burning your DR CD: Nero has explicit instruction on their site about burning an ISO though there are no options you should be having to set. Simply choose burn ISO to disk then click Burn. Finally, the best way to see if your CD is bootable is to simply launch the computer with the DR CD and if you see the message "Setup is inspecting your hardware configuration..." followed by drivers loading you can simply ctrl-alt-del out at that point. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pilaar39 Posted January 15, 2007 Author Report Share Posted January 15, 2007 Thank you for the reply. I managed to successfully burn the ISO image onto the CD with Nero, but unfortunately it would not boot. I used the Nero 'burn image' option as described at: http://www.nero.com/nero7/enu/faq_search.php?search=iso&fid=510&s=0 but the disk would not boot. Presumeably, I need to specify somewhere to make it a bootable disk? Can you tell me where this explicit information on the Nero site is? Thanks!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jelenko Posted January 15, 2007 Report Share Posted January 15, 2007 Hmmm - in Nero you need to choose Recorder on the menu bar, then choose Burn Image, then browse to the DR CD image. The DR CD image should end in .iso. Is that what happened? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pilaar39 Posted January 15, 2007 Author Report Share Posted January 15, 2007 yep! is the fact that the image is an ISO file automatically make the disk bootable, or do I need to tell Nero to make it bootable? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jelenko Posted January 16, 2007 Report Share Posted January 16, 2007 I believe iso is just a file extension for an image. Retro simply builds a bootable image. In any case, the image that Retro builds for the Recovery CD is bootable. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AmyJ Posted January 16, 2007 Report Share Posted January 16, 2007 >>is the fact that the image is an ISO file automatically make the disk bootable No, but the files that Retrospect places in the ISO makes it bootable >>>, or do I need to tell Nero to make it bootable? No, you do not want Nero to make it bootable. Nero's only job is to create the CD from the existing ISO with no other changes (Burn Image). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pilaar39 Posted January 16, 2007 Author Report Share Posted January 16, 2007 Well, maybe I will check my bios settings to ensure the system checks the CD drive first in the boot sequence, but I am pretty sure it is.. will get back to you after I check. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pilaar39 Posted January 17, 2007 Author Report Share Posted January 17, 2007 Ok.. looks like the DR CD will indeed boot.. I tried it from my notebook and it boots. I will have to check the system in question as soon as I get access to it (currently running in production).. I suspect the bios settings for boot sequence are incorrect. Many thanks to all who helped with this problem! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pilaar39 Posted January 21, 2007 Author Report Share Posted January 21, 2007 Ok.. I am back... Regarding the booting of the DR CD, it turned out that the bios was incorretly set - it was set to first check the CDROM for a bootable disk, and after numerous attempts, it just would not boot - ANYTHING - not even the XP install disk. It was then that I noticed that the list of selectable boot devices was not completely displayed, and when I scrolled down, I saw my Pioneer DVD drive. I selected that instead of CDROM, and it booted up fine. Sheesh! Now the next problem is that there is a problem with the DR CD.. part way through the restore of the OS, it halts with a message that is cannot copy the file. "restore.rbc". Now, restore.rbc is indeed on the CD, in the directory, Documents and Settings\myname\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\CD Burning\I386, however, the file contains 0 bytes. Does anyone know what this file does, and what it should contain? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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