I’ve been using Retrospect for a few years and it is a great program. I have it on two desktops and my laptop. I always make a bootable Disaster Recovery CD by saving to an .iso file and then burning to a CD. This has worked without a problem until a new computer I just got.
All of my computers are using Windows XP, including the new Dell Inspiron 530 I just got. I ordered it with a bare minimum of programs, no antispyware, antivirus, or much else, as wanted to use the programs I already have.
I used Laplink’s PCMover to migrate everything from the old desktop to the new, which worked fine as it has before. Had to get a few new drivers for my two printers, etc, but basically, it is an exact clone of the old one, except that it has a faster CPU and more RAM. No new programs at all.
In the past, the .iso file was about 640MB, so it easily fit on a CD. Since loading Retrospect on the new computer, when I try to create the .iso file, I get the following message:
“Windows installation software you have chosen would cause the final Disaster Recovery CD-R disk image to be over 650 MB, which cannot be burned by most applications. Continue anyway or try again with different Windows installation software?”
Just for kicks, one time I went ahead, and sure enough, the file was over 1.1GB.
What the heck does it mean, to continue with “different Windows installation software?” It’s the same damn version of Win XP Home. I did try it once by unchecking I386 and a few unnecessary other big files before doing the backup, but that made no difference.
I am wondering if it is possible to make a bootable DVD disk, but I don’t have a DVD write drive anyway.
Tech support for Retrospect now costs an arm and a leg, so am hoping somebody may have a way around this problem. Any ideas?