Help me understand system boot.

  • Thread starter Thread starter amlandreau
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A

amlandreau

Hi everybody,

I would like to build up a bootable optical disk (CD or DVD) that would help
me recover essential data that are recorded on a PC
which fails to boot Windows Vista Ultimate (hang up). I heard of Live CD/DVD
based on Linux hat do the trick by loading a mini
operating system without using the c:\ disk at all. That is: boot from
CD/DVD drive to memory and offers features to save files on USB keys.
From the Web I downloaded a file called "LinuxMint-6.iso" size 664MB. As
recommended I burned it to a DVD and got the same exact file on the disk.
Now when I try to boot from that disk nothing happens. That is according to
its set up the BIOS accesses the optical disk, reads it and presumably does
not recognise it as a bootable disk.
It then goes away and boots from the next bootable device which happen to be
the c drive with Vista on it. Hope somebody will help me understand how a PC
boots from a CD drive that only contains an single ISO file on it. Thanks
in advance.

Andre Landreau
 
amlandreau said:
Hi everybody,

I would like to build up a bootable optical disk (CD or DVD) that would
help me recover essential data that are recorded on a PC
which fails to boot Windows Vista Ultimate (hang up). I heard of Live
CD/DVD based on Linux hat do the trick by loading a mini
operating system without using the c:\ disk at all. That is: boot from
CD/DVD drive to memory and offers features to save files on USB keys.
From the Web I downloaded a file called "LinuxMint-6.iso" size 664MB. As
recommended I burned it to a DVD and got the same exact file on the disk.
Now when I try to boot from that disk nothing happens. That is according
to its set up the BIOS accesses the optical disk, reads it and presumably
does not recognise it as a bootable disk.
It then goes away and boots from the next bootable device which happen to
be the c drive with Vista on it. Hope somebody will help me understand how
a PC boots from a CD drive that only contains an single ISO file on it.
Thanks in advance.

Andre Landreau
Click to expand...

An .ISO is an image and should be burned to disk as an image. Consult the
help file(s)
on your burning software to learn how...
 
amlandreau said:
Hi everybody,

I would like to build up a bootable optical disk (CD or DVD) that would help
me recover essential data that are recorded on a PC
which fails to boot Windows Vista Ultimate (hang up). I heard of Live CD/DVD
based on Linux hat do the trick by loading a mini
operating system without using the c:\ disk at all. That is: boot from
CD/DVD drive to memory and offers features to save files on USB keys.
From the Web I downloaded a file called "LinuxMint-6.iso" size 664MB. As
recommended I burned it to a DVD and got the same exact file on the disk.
Now when I try to boot from that disk nothing happens. That is according to
its set up the BIOS accesses the optical disk, reads it and presumably does
not recognise it as a bootable disk.
It then goes away and boots from the next bootable device which happen to be
the c drive with Vista on it. Hope somebody will help me understand how a PC
boots from a CD drive that only contains an single ISO file on it. Thanks
in advance.

Andre Landreau
Click to expand...


It looks like that iso image is to install Linux , something you don't want to do.

I think this is the sort of thing you are looking for, The Ultimate Boot CD:
http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/
You can download a ready made iso image from there.
(It is a bit basic and dated now.)

Also have a look at the Ultimate Boot CD for Windows:
http://www.ubcd4win.com/index.htm
You have to make your own as they can't sell a ready-made cd (apparently due to copyright laws),
but you can download all of the tools.

I suspect that the reason your dvd didn't boot was because you just copied the iso
file onto a dvd. The burning software has to be able to recognise iso files.

Download the free Imgburn program to burn iso files correctly:
http://www.imgburn.com/index.php?act=download
 
Dave-UK said:
It looks like that iso image is to install Linux , something you don't
want to do.
Click to expand...

And why not pray? The OP might find he likes it!
But to get back to your comment - the OP didn't burn an image from the iso -
he just copied the iso to a CD....
If he'd burned the disk image, it would have booted and run from the CD
without being installed on the HDD and the OP would have been able to
recover data to an external media.
I think this is the sort of thing you are looking for, The Ultimate Boot
CD:
http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/
You can download a ready made iso image from there.
(It is a bit basic and dated now.)
Click to expand...

Still have to burn a disk image from the iso. Iso's aren't bootable on their
own!
 
Gordon said:
And why not pray? The OP might find he likes it!
Click to expand...

Ok, I'm going to burn a copy of that Linux cd and see what it can do!
(I hope it is a live cd and runs without installing anything on my hard drive.)
 
Dave-UK said:
Ok, I'm going to burn a copy of that Linux cd and see what it can do!
(I hope it is a live cd and runs without installing anything on my hard
drive.)
Click to expand...

It is, I assure you! I have one in front of me.....
 
Thanks to all of you pals,

With all your comments and advises, I guess I understand this subject better
now !
I'll try your suggestions right away. Thanks again.

Andre Landreauu
 
Gordon said:
It is, I assure you! I have one in front of me.....
Click to expand...

Well I downloaded Linux Mint 6 and gave it a go.
I ran it as a live dvd and didn't install anything.
It's ok for a basic introduction to Linux but as a Windows rescue-type disk
it's hopeless. All you have is a very basic file explorer. You can move, rename,
delete files etc., but that's about it.
You can read text files but can't run any Windows programs.
So you can't run a registry editing program and edit the registry.
You can access the internet with Firefox but you can't download and run
any antispyware or antivirus programs.

The BartPE boot disks and the Ultimate Boot for Windows run in an XP environment .
You can run Windows programs, edit the registry, mess about with permissions and do
stuff like that with your XP, Vista or Windows7 installation staying dormant.

Here's my rescue boot disk image:
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=4485B168
(UBCD4WIN.zip (151 M/B))

It's based on the Ultimate Boot for Windows image.
The default image is about 650 M/B.
I have removed useless bloat like screen-savers, games, trial
versions of antivirus programs, multiboot screens, Dos, Linux etc.
It's got usb and network support and a few useful Windows tools.
Give it a go and see what you think.
 
Dave-UK said:
Well I downloaded Linux Mint 6 and gave it a go.
I ran it as a live dvd and didn't install anything.
It's ok for a basic introduction to Linux but as a Windows rescue-type
disk
it's hopeless. All you have is a very basic file explorer. You can move,
rename,
delete files etc., but that's about it.
You can read text files but can't run any Windows programs.
Click to expand...

What did you expect? It's NOT a "windows rescue disk".
What it DOES do is allow you to save all your data to an external medium
before re-formatting and re-installing Windows. Especially useful as
recovery DVDs and hidden recovery partitions are becoming more and more
prominent...
 
Gordon said:
What did you expect? It's NOT a "windows rescue disk".
What it DOES do is allow you to save all your data to an external medium
before re-formatting and re-installing Windows. Especially useful as
recovery DVDs and hidden recovery partitions are becoming more and more
prominent...
Click to expand...

Why don't you tell him how everything works first time at your house and
you can't believe how Vista doesn't work for everyone else?
 
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