How to deal with VIDA?

Post by **Ozark Lee** » 09 Sep 2012, 21:39

I "stumbled upon" a copy of VIDA but I can't figure out how to burn it.

The image file is 7.8 gB, nearly twice what a standard DVD can handle.

For those of you with VIDA, how did you burn it to disk(s)?

...Lee

Post by **precopster** » 10 Sep 2012, 06:14

Hi Ozark. I purchased Vida with Dice but the 2nd time purchased from a UK eBay seller who also provided the entire Electronic Wiring Diagram disc for around $30

For troublesome issues like this I would use a program called Power ISO Virtual Drive Management. Just point it to the ISO file on the hard drive and it makes it look like a DVD drive in My Computer. From there you can run from disk or do a full install. Once it's installed just back up the ISO file to a USB disk or burn to a spanned set. As yet I don't think there are commercially available blank DVDs larger than 4.3GB.

Post by **jimmy57** » 10 Sep 2012, 08:31

Late VIDAS are that big and are on dual layer recorded DVD's. The requirement for the machines was changed to be dual layer read capable as I remember having to check that.

Post by **Ozark Lee** » 12 Sep 2012, 22:40

It was like giving birth but I am up and running with VIDA.

It took an upgrade from Windows 7 Home to Windows 7 Professional - along with 2 hours on the phone to Mumbai with tech support to get the Anytime Upgrade to actually upgrade. Since I bought the upgrade package from Microsoft they ate the tech support.

I found a real nifty freeware program called Gizmo that creates virtual drives and mounts .ISO image files as a virtual DVD.

My latest problem is getting VADIS to run on Windows 7 - I have tried Windows XP SP3 compatibility and It will install just fine. When I go to lookup parts though it will bring up part numbers but it errors on the exploded diagrams that all live in the Info folder.

VIDA looks much quicker and more complete than VADIS but I need to get a comfort factor going and I would love to have the ability to run either of them.

Any tips or tricks on VADIS and Windows 7 Pro would be greatly appreciated.

...Lee

Post by **precopster** » 13 Sep 2012, 08:07

Sorry Lee Win XP Pro all the way with me until my hardware fails and I'm forced to upgrade. The newer Vida 2012 apparently runs well on Win 7.

You CAN dual boot any laptop. Just create a partition for XP that's large enough for Windows XP and run the XP install disc to the newly created space. Googling can help with the procedure. In the last tab of My Computer Properties it asks you for how many seconds you want available boot options to show for. This comes into play when you have both operating systems installed.

Post by **regent** » 13 Sep 2012, 08:23

Just my two cents here: most later model laptops may be tricky or reluctant to accept WinXP due to the lack of certain drivers in XP for the new hardware environment that was designed to run Win7 and up; and as you may suspect, MS no longer supports XP...

There are simple workarounds for some but I don't recommend doing it. It would cost less time, $$ and adult language in the long run if you go the easier way and just use another (older) laptop that would run XP happily.

Post by **mikealder** » 13 Sep 2012, 15:27

Lee, what version have you got, 2012A will work fine on Win 7 Pro SP1 with no messing about in compatibility modes etc - Mike

Post by **Ozark Lee** » 13 Sep 2012, 17:24

The VIDA is working just fine, it is VADIS 2005A that I am having the trouble with. I still have it running on a machine with XP so it isn't the end of the world, I'm just trying to cut down on the number of computers on my desk - there are currently 4 including one running DOS for some of my old engineering programs.

...Lee

Post by **precopster** » 13 Sep 2012, 17:39

Sorry my mistake, thought you were having trouble with VIDA.

Doesn't Vida have everything Vadis has and then some? Or is there an early model overlap with Vadis?

If not once you get used to Vida you could cut ties with your old friend VADIS.

Post by **packetfire** » 13 Sep 2012, 19:13

I keep everything on 2 terrabyte or 3 terrabyte drives, so I use USB thumbrives rather than DVDs and CDs these days.
I did not burn VIDA to a DVD or CD, I copied it to a directory on the C drive by unpacking the .iso file with the "magic iso" program. It also allows one to "mount" the .iso file to an virtual CD drive, which is NOT a great idea, given that you have to reboot during the install process, and the reboot process needs to see the CD during the reboot.

http://www.magiciso.com/