This blog post informs you how to create a Toshiba Backup and Restore system repair disc image without a CD/DVD writer.
Warning: I have not yet tested if this method works! Please do not rely on the below method as your only means of reinstalling Microsoft Windows onto your Toshiba laptop. A large backup image could suffer corruption, and you should also use ‘Create Recovery Media’ to create another form of backup. Alas the ‘Create Recovery Media’ software doesn’t work with the method used below.
Introduction
I’ve been meaning to blog about a Toshiba backup problem I ran into last year, on a Toshiba laptop without a DVD drive. I needed to create a ‘System Repair Disc’ without a DVD writer!
The Toshiba laptop being used is a Toshiba Satellite T130 with Mictosoft Windows 7 installed. After solving the problem both a full hard drive backup and the ‘System Repair Disc’ iso image are stored on an external hard drive. Then if the Toshiba’s hard drive fails, I will burn the iso image using another computer’s DVD writer, hook up a DVD drive to the Toshiba laptop and restore the full backup image from the external drive to a new hard drive.
The backup solution I’ve used is not foolproof as I am relying on a monster backup image (I’m worried about corruption on such a large backup), and at some stage I will use Toshiba’s ‘Create Recovery Media’ to create two DVDs to provide a second backup option.
How to use ‘Backup and Restore’ without a CD/DVD writer
Step 1 – Hook up an external hard drive with plenty of free space.
Step 2 – Run ‘Backup and Restore’.
Step 3 – Select ‘Create a system image’.
Step 4 – Select the hard drive to store your backup image.
Step 5 – Select the drives to backup.
Step 6 – Run KernSafe TotalMounter and create a new ‘Virtual CD/DVD-RW’ to mount.
Step 7 – Configure the virtual DVD image for your ‘Toshiba System Repair Disc’.
Step 8 – Create your ‘System Repair Disc’ iso image.
I hope you found this Toshiba backup ‘how to’ guide useful.