Backup image as iso files

Inspired by Bree, I decided to try image backup to dvd.

I hadnt used the dvd method before, so it was an interesting experiment.

I am too lazy to dig out a physical dvdrom drive so I created it as iso files instead ( strictly speaking they are udf ).




They are much smaller than a regular system image. They contain files with .vhd extension, but It is not clear how MS have done this. Assuming they were joined, I am not sure the resultant single file could be mounted.





Seems to work fine

It asks to insert the final dvd



so mount the final iso



there it is mounted



clcik retry so it scans again



As expected it is ready to go

SIW2 said:

Inspired by Bree,

Click to expand...

@Bree comes up with neat ideas that are always inspiring.
I could use the excuse that I have no DVD drive any more to try this, but in truth I'm in an extreme computer slump, lazy, and don't have a DVD drive.
I really admire you guys who still have the motivation.

don't have a DVD drive.

Click to expand...

I didnt use a physical dvd drive.

See, I'm in such a slump and uninterested in all things computer right now I didn't even think about doing it that way. I think it's time for me to be put out to pasture. Will somebody throw me a carrot ever once in a while as I'm grazing, alone and lonely.

Here's how it is done

SIW2 said:

Inspired by Bree, I decided to try image backup to dvd.
I hadnt used the dvd method before, so it was an interesting experiment.

Click to expand...

SIW2 said:

I didnt use a physical dvd drive.

Click to expand...

That is an ingenious way to get Backup & Restore to apply its compression. An interesting experiment, but I'm not sure I could recommend it as a reliable or convenient way to image a system

works fine for me.

As far as I know native vhd doesnt support compression ( compaction is different ), I expect they have done something else. Paragon has a format called .pvhd. I think what happens there is they create some compressed image file, then put it in a vhd wrapper/container.

I dont know what MS does I haven't been able to look inside those files except the small one which contains the esp.

They haven't just split the normal vhd into chunks, there is something else going on.

This is a cool discussion. I like this thinking

I do have one question / observation:

I notice that you are choosing to create a Virtual DVD image. Is there some reason that you are not creating a Virtual Blu-Ray image instead? That would allow you to have far fewer ISO image files. Or is this just so that you could burn them to standard DVD media rather than Blu-Ray media if you ever decide to burn to physical media?

Just recreating the standard save image to dvd. I expect bigger iso files would also work.

I might try fitting in one when I get a few minutes. Dont know it that would result in several vhds of the same size, or if it will make bigger ones.

Surprise. The 20gb iso has just two vhd. One is the esp, the other is the main image.



The vhd doesn't mount.

@SIW2, thanks for the information and taking the time to test this. I'll have to play with this myself. I also noticed your use of of KernSafe TotalMounter. I used to use another similar program, but some of your screenshots indicate that this might be a more flexible program than what I was using.

Thanks again.

It is the only program I know of that can create writeable virtual dvd drive.

The big iso seems ok.

mounted in winpe


bmrui




query with wbadmin

SIW2 said:

It is the only program I know of that can create writeable virtual dvd drive.

Click to expand...

There is another one that I have been using for many years. It's got a heck of a lot more options and some very advanced features. It might be worth checking out if this is something that you use frequently.

The only thing I find lacking is the inability to emulate the very latest Blu-Ray formats (like 100GB triple layer discs), but that's a fairly minor complaint.

My only other gripe is that they sent out a newsletter YEARS AGO saying that a new major version was about to be released. It is "in the starting gates". Unfortunately, for unknown reasons, that new version was never released.

Still, it is a very impressive program.


One more recommendation:

There is a free program out there called "Paragon Netburner". If you have a physical burner or even a virtual burner, you can use this to share it as an iSCSI device on the network. So, it will look to your local system like you have a CD / DVD / Blu-Ray drive attached locally, but it is really on another system remotely. But any burning software can use it as if it was a local device.

This is strange

looking at the big file with a .vhd extension shows only this small file inside



extract that small file

it says this and more of the same in different languages.:




It is not a normal vhd. Cant look at it properly with anything I have tried so far.

Haven't found any information on what this supposed vhd format actually is.

To update the thread, I tested a restore from the 4 dvd sized "iso" files.

Great work on this SIW2. Are you going to try to test a restore from the Big .ISO as well?

I couldnt get any other tools to work with these dvd-vhd files. Now trying raw copy. It is the vhd out of Big.iso . It appears to be working.




These dvd-vhd files are a mystery.

disk management shows uninitialized after the attempted restore



diskgenius shows something different

diskgenius has fixed it. no need to reinitialize the disk.



click Correct, then click Save








Now the disk is ok in diskmgmt



However raw copy doesnt seem to have done the job of restoring the odd vhd. You can see partition I showing as raw.

So far the only way to restore these dvd-vhd is with MS bmrui or wbadmin. Havent found a 3rd party program that understands what they are.