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Super-Disc: Multi-Boot Project CD/DVD Using ISOLINUX


jetman

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Hi Jet good to see you back posting on the forum :)

I noticed this with RockRidge a while ago but I've never had any probs omiting it from my multi-boot disc. None of the Linux distros I've used have really needed symbolic links on the disc anyway.

Here's my mkisofs script if anyones interested.

#!/bin/bash

~/mkisofs -o "/tmp/test.iso" -V "test" -J -joliet-long -N -D -no-emul-boot -boot-info-table -boot-load-size 4 -b boot/isolinux/isolinux.bin -c boot/isolinux/boot.catalogue ~/test

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Hi Jet good to see you back posting on the forum :)

I noticed this with RockRidge a while ago but I've never had any probs omiting it from my multi-boot disc. None of the Linux distros I've used have really needed symbolic links on the disc anyway.

Here's my mkisofs script if anyones interested.

#!/bin/bash

~/mkisofs -o "/tmp/test.iso" -V "test" -J -joliet-long -N -D -no-emul-boot -boot-info-table -boot-load-size 4 -b boot/isolinux/isolinux.bin -c boot/isolinux/boot.catalogue ~/test

When working under Linux, I don't even bother w/ MKISOFS from the cmd-line. K3B is *soooo* much easier. Anyway, the RockRidge thing was just a guess.....

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...

When working under Linux, I don't even bother w/ MKISOFS from the cmd-line. K3B is *soooo* much easier. Anyway, the RockRidge thing was just a guess.....

Yes and no.

K3B is definitely the best burner in the Linux world but I ran in to some annoying limitations which forced me to switch to mkisofs. It doesn't help that genisoimage is broken (joliet I think) in the current version either.

Edited by kof94
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Here's my mkisofs command line (on windows though):

mkisofs -J -N -joliet-long -no-iso-translate -duplicates-once -iso-level-4 -no-emul-boot -boot-load-size 4 -boot-info-table -hide boot.catalog -hide-joliet boot.catalog -hide isolinux.bin -hide-joliet isolinux.bin -b ISOLINUX/isolinux.bin -V "AdminToolkit" -o "D:\AdminToolkit61_dvd.iso" "D:\AdminToolkit_dvd"

This works fine with everything I've thrown at it, be it Windows, Linux, or DOS. The only exception is that -iso-level-4 does something strange with MSCDEX where you need to have all of your DOS files capitalized in order to use them (or even read them) when booted from the disc. SHSUCDX does not have this issue (or so I've been told, I haven't had time to mess around with it).

Cheers

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  • 2 weeks later...
The only exception is that -iso-level-4 does something strange with MSCDEX where you need to have all of your DOS files capitalized in order to use them (or even read them) when booted from the disc. SHSUCDX does not have this issue (or so I've been told, I haven't had time to mess around with it).

Yep, FYI:

http://www.boot-land.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=2267

the -iso-level 4 mean in "plain English", "use the 1999 ISO extensions", and since MSCDEX was written before 1999 it cannot work with them.

jaclaz

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  • 4 weeks later...

Hello all,

While I'd hate to sound like a rookie (even though I know I will :blushing:), I read about half of the thread and did not find an answer to a rookie-like question. So, even though I do understand this is a how-to and not a tutorial and I do understand what isolinux actually does (and does not) and I do understand what a boot information for each ISO is and how can be extracted, I still can't understand (/find) how I would end up having a multi-boot DVD when starting with the following "baseline":

- one ISO Acronis

- one ISO Dell Diagnostics

- one ISO Win XP SP2 (orig.)

- one ISO Mandriva Spring 2007

- one ISO Win XP SP2 May 2007 (nLite for desktop)

- one ISO Win XP SP2 Feb 2008 (nLite for laptop + Intel SCSI drivers)

My main concern is the layout of the data on the final DVD (where does each ISO content need to go). I understand that pushing the ISO's (as mere files) on it won't actually work (would it ?), but do I need to extract the contents of each ISO in the DVD root for the setup of each one to function (especially the XP ones) ? This, as I understand it, would be quite tricky for me, as the 3 XP "distributions" I need to push there are quite different one from each other.

So, does someone have some words for me around this ?

Thanks.

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  • 3 weeks later...
Hello all,

While I'd hate to sound like a rookie (even though I know I will :blushing:), I read about half of the thread and did not find an answer to a rookie-like question. So, even though I do understand this is a how-to and not a tutorial and I do understand what isolinux actually does (and does not) and I do understand what a boot information for each ISO is and how can be extracted, I still can't understand (/find) how I would end up having a multi-boot DVD when starting with the following "baseline":

- one ISO Acronis

- one ISO Dell Diagnostics

- one ISO Win XP SP2 (orig.)

- one ISO Mandriva Spring 2007

- one ISO Win XP SP2 May 2007 (nLite for desktop)

- one ISO Win XP SP2 Feb 2008 (nLite for laptop + Intel SCSI drivers)

My main concern is the layout of the data on the final DVD (where does each ISO content need to go). I understand that pushing the ISO's (as mere files) on it won't actually work (would it ?), but do I need to extract the contents of each ISO in the DVD root for the setup of each one to function (especially the XP ones) ? This, as I understand it, would be quite tricky for me, as the 3 XP "distributions" I need to push there are quite different one from each other.

So, does someone have some words for me around this ?

Thanks.

Rookies to the entire Multi-Boot CD/DVD sub-forum make the same mistake over-and-over again: they have these super elaborate projects (exactly WHAT is the point of XPSP2 2007 and 2008 !?!?!) and expect someone to guide them to their destination. The entire point of this exercise is to start w/ a small, doable project and incrementally build it into exactly what you want, on your own.

To repeat what's been said before: The contents of ISOs must be extracted to the hdrive and the ISO's bootstrap must be extracted using BBIE (search the topic for the link and details.) The 1st msg in the topic explains most of one needs to know about disc layout. I've also pointed out Andre's MultiBoot DVD topic as the source for details about adding XP (or whatever) to a Super-Disc project.

Later....Jet

Edited by jetman
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Hi,

Ok, thanks, but I actually got the entire project running with CD Shell, except for Acronis True Image 10, which I can either get to say something like "Boot error ..." or I can either get it to crash during it's own linux-based loader => has someone managed in some way to get it running ?

Thanks.

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Acronis True image is a pain in the a**. I had version 9 working about two years ago but to be honest Clonezilla does just as good a job (if not better). All the info you need is right here in the forum if you really want to get it working though, just search ;) .

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Acronis True image is a pain in the a**. I had version 9 working about two years ago but to be honest Clonezilla does just as good a job (if not better). All the info you need is right here in the forum if you really want to get it working though, just search ;) .

Isn't Clonezilla a client-server solution only ? I started playing w/ it aft you mentioned your work and dropped it for this reason, as I recall. Actually, I want to revisit PartImage this month bec I need a freeware solution for the disk imaging issue....Jet

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If you want to make use of multi-casting then you need to setup a DRBL server but if you just want to clone local disks or backup an image to a system on your network then you use the Clonezilla LiveCD! Incidentally Clonezilla implements Partimage, ntfsclone, UDPcast etc for this task.

An added bonus with Clonezilla is it can either create a traditional raw copy of the source disk (entire disk) or just clone the used part of the disk which obviously makes your image smaller and the process faster.

I know I'm starting to sound like an advert here but I've been using Clonezilla for a while now and I really can't see why anyone would spend out on a commercial piece of software that just provides a pretty Windowsy front end with less functionality.

End of rant :)

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If you want to make use of multi-casting then you need to setup a DRBL server but if you just want to clone local disks or backup an image to a system on your network then you use the Clonezilla LiveCD! Incidentally Clonezilla implements Partimage, ntfsclone, UDPcast etc for this task.

An added bonus with Clonezilla is it can either create a traditional raw copy of the source disk (entire disk) or just clone the used part of the disk which obviously makes your image smaller and the process faster.

I know I'm starting to sound like an advert here but I've been using Clonezilla for a while now and I really can't see why anyone would spend out on a commercial piece of software that just provides a pretty Windowsy front end with less functionality.

End of rant :)

If you're knowledgeable of a subj, it's okay to sound as if you like your choice. Yeah, NTFSCLONE; must try that too. Frankly, I only need one [program]. I've been holding on to copies of GHOST 8 from the days when they bundled it w/ every mboard, but I can't legitmately leave it anywhere even though it's everything I need, incl [and esp] its GDISK. I think PartImage has everything I need, exc they [the authors] won't completely finish it and release 1.0.

Anyway, TTYL....Jet

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I can't legitmately leave it anywhere

That's one of the reasons I always look for a FOSS alternative now.

I had a version of my multi-boot disc stolen from my desk at work recently but it doesn't matter because everything on it was FOSS or freeware.

I would have liked to have been asked but at least I've done that person a favor by introducing them to Linux (oops wrong forum :whistle::D ).

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  • 2 months later...

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