Using restore instead of snapshot for merge replication

We have a 65GB database as a merge replication publisher. When we take a snapshot of the database and replicate it to the subscriber, it would take 12 hours to run. I read that we can backup the publisher database, restore the backup to the subscriber database, then add the subscription with "no initialization". However, we tried this and could not get it work. Has anyone done this before? Any help will be appreciated.

I have not done it in SQL 2005 but check the following BOL topic...
SQL Server 2005 Books Online (September 2007)
Initializing a Merge Subscription Without a Snapshot
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms152488(SQL.90).aspx

[quote user="MohammedU"]
Initializing a Merge Subscription Without a Snapshot
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms152488(SQL.90).aspx
[/quote]
"This feature will be removed in a future version of Microsoft SQL Server. Avoid using this feature in new development work, and plan to modify applications that currently use this feature."
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms152488(v=SQL.105).aspx