Bootable recovery CDs

I considered putting this in Other Software, but my question will be specific to XP as we will only be working with XP systems...

I want to be able to create those nifty system restore cds that the big boys have (Compaq, Sony) after installing XP and software before selling the computer to a user.

If they have trouble I want them to be able to pop in the cds and restore the system to the point I gave it to them...

Anybody have any suggestions on the easiest/cheapest methods?

Thanks!

 

InstantRecovery or Norton Ghost 2003 will allow just what you want as will some other programs.

 

Drive Image 2002 by PowerQuest is also pretty good. $29 here:
http://ebargainsoftware.com/driveimage.html

I have my drive partitioned into three:

C (NTFS) for OS and Program Installations
D (NTFS) for All Data, including Favorites and My Documents
E (FAT 32) for Drive Image files.

As a home user, my data actually doesn't radically change. I don't need to re-image my data over and over. The partitiong scheme allows me to make a smaller image file. It means making them quicker and restoring the image quicker.

I create and save images to my hard drive in split files that can be burned to CD. I can burn the images directly to CD. But it takes longer and uses a lot of CDs.

I actually do a lot of restoring from image files. But I just execute from the hard drive. It's much faster in burning and restoring. I just keep a couple of images on the hard drive.

But as a secondary back up, I'll use my regular CD burning program to burn the image files to CD. I don't burn every image I make. I just do it when I make a whole bunch of changes from the last set of disks (maybe every couple of months). The CDs aren't self booting. If I have to use those CDs, I boot from floppy and then execute the CDs. If I burned directly to CD, the CDs would be self booting.

But I make a new image when I make changes...updates, new installations, etc. So I burn a couple of new images every 10 days. It takes me about 10 minutes to burn and 5 to restore.

You can sniff around and get Norton Ghost for about $15 or so. But whatever, an imaging program is well worth the money in saved aggravation.

 

Here is another one you can checkout.

 

Newt...
I'm currently evaluating InstantRecovery. It seems to be what I'm looking for...no bells, no whistles, simple (no eye-candy) interface and easy to use. Problem is I had an error on recovery - speaking to tech with them now. Still testing...

RayH...
I've about had it with 2002!
Three attempts to back to cd...three errors all in different stages!
I've only had one problem with version 4 with 98 and was hoping 2002 or even version 7 would be just as nice...so far...no!
Version 7 forces installing .net framework etc. Jeez!
See comment above...InstantRecovery doesn't even need to be installed!

Russ...
I'm too cheap! Too much $$$ when I found IR for $30

Thanks all for the replies!