Continuing Education: Backup Using ISO File
Continuing Education: Backup Using ISO File
Of course, you have already backed up your GPS by copying it’s files to your PC, so you are ready for the unexpected. Then, when you updated the maps, you made another complete backup. Later, when the firmware was updated, you made another backup. All of a sudden, you notice that there is a lot of your hard drive is being taken up with GPS backups.
What if you were able to make the backup to a DVD?
What if making a backup to a DVD took less time that just copying files?
One technique for backing up to DVD is to make an “image” of the files on your GPS and then write that “image” to a DVD. Both these steps can be done using a piece of software called ImgBurn. You can download ImgBurn from
http://www.imgburn.com/index.php?act=download
(but see note 1 below)
Step 1: Connect your GPS to your computer
Step 2: Build "image" using ImgBurn
2.a: Start ImgBurn
2.b: Click on the middle option in the right panel “Create image file from files/folders"
2.c: If you have one of the newer devices which use MTP (and which you have switched to Mass Storage or you would not be able to see anything), click on the "Options" tab at the top of the right pane and put a check in the "Include Hidden Files" and "Include System Files" boxes.
2.d: In the top middle of the dialog box which appears is an Icon of a “folder”. Click on that folder.
2.e: In the “Browse For Folder” box which appears, navigate to the drive for your GPS and select it. (note: you want to image the entire drive).
2.f: Click Ok
2.g: In the destination Box, browse for a folder into which the file name you type in will be placed.
2.h: Click on the blue arrow.
2.i: Confirm the Volume label or just wait for the timer to run out.
2.j: ImgBurn will read the drive and give you the size of the files it will image
2.k: Click Ok and Image burn will proceed to create an ISO file of the GPS
Step 3: Burn to DVD
(Note: newer devices may contain more than 4.7G of data so a dual layer DVD may be required)
3.a: Start ImgBurn
3.b: Click on "Write image file to disk"
3.c: Click File > Browse for a source file and navigate to the ISO file you just created
3.d: Click Open
3.e: Load a DVD into your DVD writer
3.f: Check “Verify”
3.g: Click the blue arrow to write and verify your DVD
3.h: Click Ok to the “Operation Successfully completed” message
3.i: Depending on how you have your PC settings configured, you may get a pop up dialog for your DVD drive asking if you want to “open folder to view files using Windows Explorer”. If so, click the Ok button. Otherwise, navigate to your DVD drive using Windows Explorer and look at the files that are now on the DVD.
Additional Steps
What about the ISO file you created on your PC?
Well, you could delete it if you want because you have a backup on DVD. You could just leave the file there for later reference, but you will need a way to read that ISO file. 7-Zip portable will work. Get this software at http://portableapps.com/apps/utilities/7-zip_portable
Just download the “7-Zip….paf.exe” file to a new folder on you computer and run it. It will extract the program to that folder (no “install” as you are used to). You can then delete the “7-Zip….paf.exe” file. Run 7-Zip and point it to the ISO file. Select the file and click File > Open
Note 1: I prefer to use a “portable” version of ImgBurn – which means that you run ImgBurn from the folder to which you downloaded it; it does not require an “install”; it does not write to the registry and leaves no tracks on the computer. However, to get a “portable version requires that one “extract” the internal files from the “.exe” file using another product called Universal Extractor. If this interests you, then go to www.portablefreeware.com and search for both products.
Other pages
Change History
jgermann - May 22, 2014
5/22/2014 noted that more than 4.7G DVD might be requiredjgermann - May 30, 2013
5/30/2013 Update to make sure hidden files are includedjgermann - Sep 17, 2012
9/17/2012 title change