Q35 - Repair options when booting from Samsung DVD?

Hi,

I've got a Q35 with Vista Business installed.

Vista Business comes with Complete PC Backup / Restore built-in. This means you can create image backups from a running Vista system (by the use of shadow services), great feature I would like to use.

So I created a Complete PC Backup on an external USB drive, very easy, very quick.

In an emergency you can boot from a Vista DVD and choose Complete PC Restore from the repair options-

To test this I tried to boot from the Samsung supplied system DVD.

But I only get to the install screen which let's me reinstall Vista.

I don't want to to that because Complete PC Restore straight from the repair options would be much quicker.

Does anybody know hoe to accomplish this with the Samsung supplied DVDs?


Cheers, Ernie

 

I doubt it can be done. Seems that Samsung supplied DVD is not the same as retail DVD and has those repair options all disabled.

I believe the easiest is to borrow another retail DVD and make an image out of them.

 

The Q70 (Vista Home Premium) comes with Samsung Recovery Solution II. When I first started Windows I had to make some selections and then it automatically made an image before I could actually start doing anything else.

Samsung Recovery Solution II includes two restore options: Basic Restore and Complete Restore. Basic Restore restores the major Windows files without touching the user configuration and data.

It would be worthwhile carefully reading your documentation. You may find that, if you go to the next step, then there is an option do do what you want.

John

 

I know of Samsung Recovery Solution II, it came with my Q35, too.

But it is not as versatile as the Vista Complete PC Backup. The Samsung software can only save to the second partition and can also only save one image apart from the one it creates after the first install.

A backup to the second partition is of no use when the HD fails.

Also to create a backup with the Samsung tool the notebook needs to be rebooted.

The Vista Complete PC Backup does not have these limitations, you can quickly create an image backup on an external drive, even while Vista is up and running and you are working away.

Seems like I gotta get a full Vista DVD to be able to boot from it and restore from external backup.

 

Just to let you know:

With a full Vista DVD it's no problem booting from it and using the Complete PC Restore. I successfully restored a backup which was made from a running Vista to an external USB drive.

For me this is a great feature which finally is built into Windows.

It seems to have a few limitations though, I would advise you to try it for yourself and google around a bit.

Apparently Complete PC Restore is only able to restore to partitions the same size or larger than the original, even if the data size used is a lot less than the partition size.

Well for me it means I will use it and stick to my current partitioning and should the hard disk fail some time I will get a replacement HD the same size or bigger.

 

Thanks for the update. That limitation about equal or better size also applies with disk cloning software. In some situations you can do a workaround using partition management software to resize partitions.

John