make a bootable CD using ImgBurn 2.5.0.0 from a set of 2 floppies

[Frankenstien]

Maybe someone can help me with this task: I tried to make a bootable CD using ImgBurn 2.5.0.0 from a set of 2 floppies that have Symantec Ghost 8.0 Corporate Edition on them and use PC DOS 7.1 on disk 1 to boot up initially.

 

I tried to do this because I can't get a Toshiba Satellite L300D laptop to read the 2nd floppy disk and load 'ghost.exe' from the root folder 'GHOST' when using a Syba USB FDD (SY-USB-FDD)(disk 2 has to go in when prompted, after disk 1 is finished loading) .. yet disk 2 is fine and reads and loads properly in an older Toshiba Tecra 8000 laptop that uses a Toshiba proprietary USB drive / connector ... (?)

 

So, I try the bootable CD I made and I wind up with a similar problem ... the L300D can't seem to see the contents of the 'GHOST' folder where 'ghost.exe' is ... the contents are there on the CD, but, aren't being loaded into memory. The CD/DVD drive is not being seen by PC DOS 7.1, presumably because I forgot to include CD driver(s) when I organized the contents to be burned.

 

Here's how I made the CD:

 

- I consolidated the contents of both floppies into a folder called 'CD'. The only identical features on both floppies were the root folders 'GHOST' (empty on disk 1, contain 4 objects on disk 2) and the 'autoexec.bat' files (absolutely identical, byte for byte).

- I pointed ImgBurn's Build mode to the 'CD' folder and extracted a boot image from the disk 1 floppy, storing a copy of BootImage.ima in the 'CD' folder as well.

-ImgBurn caught the 'CD' folder as a containing folder only and prompted me with a GUI dialog to Build (and Write) only the contents of said folder.

 

I've attached a screenshot of the contents of the floppies and a copy of 'AUTOEXEC.BAT' (renamed 'AUTOEXEC.TXT') to help those who would help me.

 

Thank you for any help with this ... FFF

 

 

AUTOEXEC.TXT

[LIGHTNING UK!]

It's not going to work like that.

 

You'd need to create a new (virtual) 2.88meg image in something like WinImage, using disc 1 as the starting point and then add the files from disc 2.

 

Then use that virtual image as the boot image.

 

They way you're doing it now, disc 1 will boot fine but it won't be loading any cdrom drivers etc and would never see the other (non boot image) data on the cd - i.e. all of disc 2's stuff.

 

Another option for you is to make a bootable usb pen and copy everything to it.

 

What's the actual issue with you booting off the real disc 1 floppy disc to get the dos prompt, putting discs 2 in and running 'ghost.exe' yourself?

 

If the disc is physically readable (and not corrupt) then there shouldn't be a problem.

[Frankenstien]

Hey LIGHTNING UK! ... thanks for helping out ... you must put in some serious time around here ...

 

Yeah, I got to thinking about the CD driver ... but then I realized I'd probably have to tinker with 'autoexec.bat' and 'config.sys' in order to get things to actually work ... am out of my depth on that latter stuff, even more so these days due never having to mess with 386's & 486's, ect.

 

I'll look into the WinImage suggestion (I've made lots of floppies created by / involving WinImage but am not too familiar with the s/w itself - I have versions 6.10 and a v.8.00 30-day trial) and I really like your idea of the USB pen.

 

As to why I don't just use the floppies (for this particular Toshiba Satellite L300D laptop), disk 1 will boot the laptop to the expected prompt:

 

"Insert Ghost boot disk 2 (containing Ghost.exe)

Press any key to continue ..."

 

Then, upon removing disk 1, inserting disk 2 and hitting the space bar, normally the program fininshes loading to a rudimentary Symantec Ghost GUI ... however, with the Syba USB FDD and Toshiba L300D, Ghost.exe won't load ... after some FDD physical activity, I am prompted again as above. Very strange ... I've tried all 3 USB ports on the L300D ... the FDD is always seen as a boot device but won't run disk 2 normally. I have my suspicions about the Syba USB FDD because I have had the experience where an IBM T40 laptop only sees the FDD intermittently ... sometimes the BIOS recognizes that a FDD is attached, sometimes not.

 

If I can lose the need for the ext. USB FDD and floppies while using this version of Ghost, so much the better.

 

FFF