Windows 7 System Image creation to DVD-R's just turns my discs into Christmas decorations - should it work?

Question

I'm trying to create a Windows 7 System Image to DVD-R and very few minutes (about 7) it keeps getting me to insert another new disc, but even though there's no error given I think it's not actually making progress because:

1. The progress bar gets to about 40% then seems to drop back to 10% when I put the next disc in
2. When Windows asks me to put a disc in, it specifies a label to use. The text provided for the label has a 1 at the end, which presumably is a disc number.
3. I was warned by Windows it would be about 23GB of data, but I've been through about 8 discs now (which hold something like 4.7GB each), so it should have completed already.

For each new unformatted disc I put in, Windows asks me if I want to format it, which I confirm. The behaviour seems to match this comment in a Microsoft forum I found: "I also had the same problem with DVD Rs and after obtaining a supply of RW DVD's and formatting them all I tried again. It worked!!!!!"

It sounds like I just turned 8 of my discs into Christmas decorations.

There doesn't seem to be any indication from Windows that I should use DVD-RW discs, so I don't see why DVD-R's shouldn't work. Has anyone else got a System Image to work to DVD-R's? Is there something I'm missing that could get this process working?

Update: It worked when I used DVD-RW's. It took 2 discs, and before inserting the 2nd disc it specified to label it with something like "Windows 7 System Image 15/2/2012 2". This is a significant difference because when I used DVD-R's the label specified was always "Windows 7 System Image 15/2/2012 1" for every disc I put in. ie it kept burning disc 1 over and over without progressing further. Of course, it didn't specifically state that the number 1 at the end was a disc number, so it seemed somewhat sensible to assume it wasn't a disc number since it didn't go up by one each time I put a new disc in... grr!

Answer 1

It's probably going to be difficult to find out what causes the process to work for DVD-R's sometimes but not always, so the best advice is probably this:

1. If you're short on time and get a chance to plan in advance, it might be best to just use DVD-RW's to save on rework should the process fail.
2. If you try using DVD-R's and the 2nd disc displays a prompt telling you to label the disc with "Windows 7 System Image 1", then it's trying to burn disc 1 again and you might as well stop wasting your discs. You'll probably need to get some DVD-RW's and try again, unless someone else finds a solution to the problem. The prompt giving the label for the 2nd disc should read "Windows 7 System Image 2", not "Windows 7 System Image 1"