BootCD

Here we will make a bootable CD. To use a bootable CD you will need a BIOS that can boot from CD. If your BIOS does not support this, then do not make a bootable CD. It's more of a final touch. To make a bootable CD you will need a boot img (a boot disk). this boot disk will need CD drivers on it. Just cause the BIOS can boot from a CD, does not mean you can leave out the CD drivers. If you plan to read data off the disk you will need DOS CD drivers.

In this example I will be using WinOnCD. Adaptec's Easy CD can do the same.

When you first start WinOnCD you will be offered a selection of types of disks you can make. Select bootable CD.

Now right click the "boot source" and select properties. Put your boot disk in drive A, and point WinOnCD to that disk. it will take that information and put it on the CD, so that it can boot.

When your Recording program is done, you then select new, and record your first image to that disk. Only the first image needs to be bootable.

If you automated Ghost to start, you should first test it. A few things you should know. When you boot from a bootable CD, your CD drive will get two letters. Drive A, and the next available drive letter after the HDs. so lets say you have 2 HDs and one CD drive. In DOS that CD will be assigned letter A: and letter E:. This is regardless of what windows assigned the CD. So in Windows your CD may be Q:, but in DOS it will be E:. This is important cause if you made a restore text file, and its looking for your CD on Q, it will not work. So always test your boot disks. In fact, start with the floppy. Once you think you got it the way you want, set the write protect on the floppy (to simulate Read Only Memory AKA CD-ROM). And boot from the floppy. You should have access to your CD drive. If running Ghost with batch files, you should get no errors. Note; NEVER, EVER use the "-Sure" command on a bootable CD. If by accident you leave that CD in your computer, the next time you power it on, laters.

Problem:

If you use your bootable CD and get an error "Invalid source drive, error code 11030".

Chances are you wrote the command line in windows and gave your Windows assigned CD drive letter. In DOS that letter may be different. If you have 2 HD and one CD drive, and in windows your CD is something like Q:, it will not work in DOS. In DOS that CD would be E: using my example, and F: if you used a 98 Boot disk, cause of the RAM drive. Use the bootable floppy you used to make the image to the bootable CD, and see what Drive letters are assigned to your CD drives. Also a common mistake when making a bootable CD is leaving out the DOS CD drivers all together. Some assume that cause there BIOS can boot from CD, that the computer can see the Whole CD. This is not true, if you use a bootable CD with out CD drivers, all you will see is the 1.44M or 2.88M-boot image on the CD.