Ok, so where I work one of my main jobs is to reinstall operating systems on 2nd hand PCs/laptops. Currently, we've got dozens of CDs/DVDs with different operating systems depending on what I need (basically, if a computer has a Windows license sticker, I'll use the corresponding disc to install, if no license is preset I install some iteration of Linux). The problem is that my co-workers are buggers for either loosing the discs, or scratching the hell out of them (which results in me having to go out and buy more CD-Rs/DVD-Rs and reburn them). I had a thought the other day, but I'm not sure if it's possible. Basically, I'm wondering whether I can set up an external HDD loaded with copies of all my OS ISO files and use some kind of boot loader to select an ISO, mount it on a virtual drive, and install said operating system? I know there's a linux based boot loader wotnot that's used with the UBCD (Ultimate Boot CD) but I've got no idea what software they use for this, where to get it, or how to configure it. Any of you bright sparks think this is possible and have any links to documentation that I could read? It's not really something that's needed, but it would make my life a lot simpler. Also, would this actually work with larger ISO images? A couple of the OS ISOs are actually fairly large (MacOS and Windows 7 weigh in at well over 5GB). Actually, thinking about it, it'll probably be easier to skip the virtual drive emulation idea and just extract the contents of the ISOs to multiple folders on the HDD...
i would grab two drives and then install an OS, then image the installation the biggest drive you can find. then repeat for every OS Basically rather than installing the OS everytime, just image it across. Just don't allow internet access or driver installation prior to imaging the installation. you want it as clean as possible. Also you save a mental amount of time and hassle.
Ooh, that looks to be exactly what I'm after, thanks mate @Burnout21 - while that's a good suggestion and would work, it'd be pretty time consuming to do that for each OS we use. Plus, I'm not sure it'd work too well for Windows installs. Surely, if I image the install from a specific PC, then attempt to use that image on an entirely different machine (lets say a Netbook), wouldn't Windows throw a wobbly because pretty much all of the hardware would be different? [edit] Hmm, just looked into that tool brighty suggested and it seems as though it requires a FAT32 formatted drive, which means any ISO bigger than 4GB wouldn't work. I'll do some more reading - maybe there's a way to use an NTFS or EXT drive instead. Or failing that, use the contents of an extracted ISO rather than the ISO file itself...
Yeah I've got a bootable DVD with every version of XP including media and tablet on it its really handy.
