[rdsi]

I have so many areas of interest besides machining that it gets difficult to keep tabs on everything so I keep notes. If I don't do this I waste time trying to remember how I did things pissing away my original efforts.

Anyway, the attached pdf is one such note explaining how to back-up the Tormach PP v2 USB drive.

[mountaindew]

Thanks, for detailed write up. I added this to my library

[Steve303]

Nice write up rdsi! We should all back up the PP thumb drive. Another option is to make an ISO of the original PP thumb drive. Having an ISO file will also simplify the installation of PP on Virtualbox. Only takes a few minutes to burn a replacement PP thumb drive when needed when you have an ISO file.

Steve

[kstrauss]

That sounds like a great idea. Could you provide similar instructions on making the USB drive into an ISO?

[popspipes]

I wonder if this could be done on a windows machine? Windows is much simpler for me. Linux is a very good machine control but leaves a bit to be desired for other things.

[rdsi]

Typically I use the ISO method but this didn’t work for me when trying to make a backup for the PP USB drive. I finally found this out when I went to use my original ISO I had made & found it didn’t work.

Not saying it cannot be done but I don’t know the recipe for making it work. That’s why I decided to do it this way. This time I fully tested it out making sure the USB drive duplicate and image file were both working correctly.

I’m thinking the ISO method does not work because of the R-Drive stuff that Tormach uses. My ISO version would do the live boot thing but then R-Drive would complain about missing stuff and fail.

[Steve303]

That sounds like a great idea. Could you provide similar instructions on making the USB drive into an ISO?

Ken, you can back up the original PP usb drive right from the PP Desktop.

1. Boot to the Desktop on your PP computer.
2. Insert your Original PP USB Installation Thumb Drive
3. Open the program "Disks" - you should see your PP Thumb Drive
4. Select your PP Thumb Drive
5. Now that you have selected the correct disk to backup you click on the "GEAR ICON"
6. Click on "Create Disk Image"
7. Choose where to store your image.



Now that you have the backup image of your original PP install Thumb Drive all that needs to be done is to burn the image onto your new Thumb Drive. The new Thumb Drive has to bee at least 8GB. You can use a Thumb Drive larger 8GB. I used 16GB because that was what I had on hand.

1. Insert the USB Thumb Drive you wish to burn the PP install to.
2. Left Click on your PP Image file and select "Restore Disk Image"
3. Select your Thumb Drive in the "Destination Box" and CLICK on "Start Restoring"



Should only take a few minutes.

Steve

[rdsi]

Ken, you can back up the original PP usb drive right from the PP Desktop

Yeah, I like your method better. Works good & insulates the user from all the Linux stuff - good find!