Evenin Boys
I have a puter question for ya. I have my hard drive sectioned off into 4 drives, c-d-e and f. I use f drive for the system back up. If I copy the windows directory to the f drive will a utility program that fixes broken short cuts try and pick up the windows directory that is on the f drive and load it when I start windows? If that happens my puter will lock up and I won't go no where. I know that a puter will only load c drive unless a program that is on a different drive loads it's .exe , .ini and dll's to the system files. That's why I only load windows , anti virus and fire's wall on c drive and all other programs on d and e drives. In the past when my puter goes south all I have to do is format c drive, reload windows and then use task bar to tell my puter where the other programs and my personal files are and nothin is lost. It would be easier and quicker to just load a fresh copy windows to get up and running then copy a windows back up over top of it and I am back to normal. Other wise it takes me 3 days to get back up running again, I >THINK< I copied the windows dir to f drive about 6 years ago and every thing went south, But that was with windows 98, I am now using xp, Darn I miss 95 and dos. I even had more control with 3.1.1 and dos. Remember the good old days?

you would be better to use the windows backup program and backup the "C" drive and the "system state". YOu can use windows backup to do a restore then.

The other alternative is to do an "image copy" with something like Ghost.

Keep in mind you "C" and "F" drive are on the same physical device. If it fails, all is gone!

I'm going to move this to the computer forum. It will get more notice and more replies there....

Mornin YnotAZ
I looked and I missed the "Electronics and Computers" form, sorry. and thanks for the info.

I use to do that a long time ago Hobbles, pslit the drive in to a few diferent partitions taht is. Now I just put every thing on C and take an immage to DVD of my data and programs I want along with the registry. That way if the worst happens and the thing goes south on me its an easy reload.

The reason I stopped doing what your doing is when it goes south its all lost backups and primary. Also its slows ths sytem down a tad bit and when your running high graphics or heavy disk usage operations you notice it. So losing all data and programs anyway plus the slow down just made it not worth it imho.

Now if you use 2 hard drives then that is a good idea to put the op system and any related stuff on one drive and your programs and data on the other. It speads it up and if one drive goes bad you only have lost some of your stuff.

Just remmeber to make taht data image to some removable long life storage device like a DVD or CD.

Afternoon Warith
Sorry Warith but I got to disagree with you on this one. I have had windows go south a few times since 1990, (haven't we all) and I have always got back in and saved the other drives. I just format c drive, Even now with xp I use the 98 boot disk and get back in to format c drive.
And I am a graphic freak so I have a few graphic s and keep them all on e drive, I don't see how having 4 partitions can slow anything down. I only load windows and a few other things on boot up and their all on c drive. When It has to go to another drive to find something it's instant. The task bar takes care of that trick. And it takes no more time then going to another program to do the same thing.
The main reason I do it this way is when I want to back up my system I just have to back up the new stuff, Pictures, letters and such. I do that usin Norton Commander.
If people back up their system every night, like we all should then all would be ok. But I just never seem to do that. I do have my whole system back up on cd's but that is 5 months old now. As for the back up on my f drive, it's 4 days old. I'm not sayin the way I do it is the right way, I know I should back up more often. But I also know I won't so my way works for me.
Shucks,,,, 5 months old,,,, well. I guess I better re do those now. sure glad I buy cd's but the big case...

Yeah that works if you dont have a hard ware problem but seem like when I have a problem its usualy hardware not software

I am very carefull about what I load on my machine and "crosses fingers knocks on wood" havent had a virus in a few years. But have had to replace the HD a couple of times in the last 2 or 3 years.

I havent checked it in a few years and the newer sata drives may not slow down when switching partitions anymore but the old 5400speed hds did.

But what ever works for you works and that is all that realy counts in the end

Just remember Hobbles, that hard drive you are using is a mechanical device. All mechanical devices will start to wear out the first time you use it. It is not a question of "if it will fail." It is a question of "when it will fail." I see where you are coming from trying not to put all of your eggs in the same basket, but you are. You have just sectioned the basket off. If you have never had a hard drive fail, you are lucky. However, the odds are against you for failure.

If you really want to be safe, a second hard drive is in order. There are several programs that will make a "snapshot" of your main drive, putting in on the second drive. Also, having the data you have created backed up to CD or DVD is one of the best moves you can make. Or get a USB hard drive for backup. BTW just copying the windows directory will not get all of the information needed to properly operate your PC. You need to run special programs to do this now.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Deolman,

0k,,,,
over 7 hr's. 41 cd's, (compressed) I am backed up. I can tell I am not going to do this once a week.
Now, next question,,
Has anyone used or know of anyone that has used the 6 (six) 1.44 boot disks for XP? I know, we MIGHT be able to put in on a cd But before I start learning about this I was wondering if anyone has tried it.. Every time I learn one thing about a computer I find I have to learn 5 more things to go with it.. I hate puters....

This message has been edited. Last edited by: hobbles,

Hobbles, I have never used floppies for XP. My XP installations have always been on CD. Maybe I am not understanding what it is you want to do with the floppies.

My last 3 machines didnt even have a floppy drive. So to answer your question no I have never used floppies to load XP.

However I must agree with Deolman what ever are you going to us the floppies for?

Mornin Boys.
I got it on cd..
I will use the cd to get into the dos mode of windows. Same as with the boot disk for 98. Altho in 98 it did have the autoexec and config hidden, it still had em, I can't seem to be able to find them in xp. They must be written into something else. Even if they are hidden files I would of found them by now. The boot disk in 98 has the fdisk that does work with xp. Xp can do most if not all that dos can/did do. I guess I'm just not ready to give up that much control of my puter yet.
It's just a personal thing, I'll drop the questions and see what I can find out by trial and error. It's more fun that way anyway. Thanks all.....
http://www.eddiemaintenance.com/about.html
http://www.bootdisk.com/bootdisk.htm

nothing wrong with questions hobbles. Heck I still believe in the old saw 'the only stupid question is the unasked one'.

Actualy it's probley a good idea to beable to fdisk even on the new machines. I just aint never had a reason to is all.

Good luck on the trial and error routine adn if you find something usefull that way please let us know.

Hobbles,
Are these the floppies you were asking about?
I've used them on an old laptop with a failed internal cdrom and an old bios that wouldn't boot from a USB cdrom. It only loads drivers to see an external cdrom with the XP cd in it. It's not the whole xp installation.

Evenin Sujada
It's a utilities program not installation files, I'm just used to the old ways of fixing things that go wrong with computers. I still use fdisk.exe to partition and format.com to format my hard drive before I install windows. XP has a new way of doing it, but I"m used to the old way, It was straight forward and clear to me, That was back when you could get inside windows and make it work the way we wanted it to.
Multi-boot was a good tool as with chkdsk, Debug, edit, scandisk and so on. Even now you can get spyware that will write to windows that windows won't let you get it out. I use the 98 boot disk to get to dos and then I use Norton Commander dos version to erase what windows won't let me. Windows write protects some things or keeps them in use and the hackers can set it up so windows will. I had a Lady friend that went to a horse web site that was hacked and instead of the horse site, it was a sex site. And it loaded itself into windows and put their icon on and in the start menu then write protected it self. That was back when I was the "PUTER DOC" and I made some money on that one, (always had a spot in my heart for hackers, I bought a lot of toys thanks to them) These are programs that spybot and others can't take out. Once you learn't windows 3.1.1 it was a neat program. You could do a lot with it, Then 95 came out and it did some of it for you and you lost what it didn't. (but you still had dos to fix that part) Then 98 and ME came out with the same >upgrades< and we lost more, (But, dos was still there again) Now with XP there is no dos. Or I haven't found it, yet,,,

With the autoexec.bat and the config.sys files you could lie to your puter and tell it, it was fast and could do things that it thought it couldn't. I always liked that part. Still can in XP. just not as much.
>example< with Print artist, which was better when it was a dos program. It thinks can't run with XP
2. Run the Make Compatible utility to designate more Stack Space to
Print Artist. Go to Start, Run, and type: MKCOMPAT (+ Enter)
This command will open the Make Compatible uitlity.
Select "Choose Program" from the FILE menu.
Change the "Look in" box to the Print Artist folder, C:\SIERRA\PRTARTST, (or E:\SIERRA\PRTARTST in my case).
Select the Print Artist executable file, PRTARTST.EXE and click on OPEN.
Check the following 3 options:
-Don"t spool to enhanced metafiles
-Give application more stack space
-Lie about printer device mode size. ( the lie part)
Now choose Save form the FILE menu, then EXIT the windows.
NOTE: These changes will only affect the selected application.
END:

I know Sujada, Way to much info.. lol


Disk partition tool

MULTI-CONFIG START MENU
CD-Rom drives are supported
Attrib.exe Add or remove file attributes
Chkdsk.exe A simpler and smaller disk status tool
Debug.exe Debugging utility
Edit.com Real-mode emergency text editor
Ext.exe New, simple file extract utility
Format.com Disk format tool
Mscdex.exe Microsoft CD-ROM file extension for MS-DOS
Scandisk.exe Disk status tool
Scandisk.ini Disk status tool configuration file
Sys.com Transfers system files and make disk bootable

And the EBD file in 98/system files ( I think, can't remember now) is where they hid the autoexec and config files, and I had a geek squad guy tell me 98 didn't use them anymore.. Now there are some rocket scientist's for ya. Some are good but most are a joke, If they can't find the problem in their error web page then it's just a dirty computer and want $25 to clean it, Then they call in the real help to fix things or start selling you a new mother board and so on till they get it fixed. They will also install xp for you for just $125.00, What a deal,, I've heard a few of them talking to customers. You probably haven't noticed, but I don't care to much for most of them .. >>BUT<< some are sharp. Some have helped me and I have helped some.

LIST OF ALL COMPONENTS ON THE EBD
=================================

The following table describes the function of each file copied to the EBD.

File Function
Aspi2dos.sys Real-Mode Adaptec CD-ROM driver
Aspi4dos.sys Real-Mode Adaptec CD-ROM driver
Aspi8dos.sys Real-Mode Adaptec CD-ROM driver
Aspi8u2.sys Real-Mode Adaptec CD-ROM driver
Aspicd.sys Real-Mode Adaptec CD-ROM driver
Autoexec.bat Startup batch file
Btcdrom.sys Mylex/BusLogic CD-ROM driver
Btdosm.sys Mylex/BusLogic CD-ROM driver
Command.com Command interpreter
Config.sys Loads the device drivers
Drvspace.bin Microsoft DriveSpace compression driver
Ebd.cab Cab file containing extract utilities
Ebd.sys File identifying the ESD
Extract.exe File to expand the Ebd.cab file
Fdisk.exe Disk partition tool
Findramd.exe Utility to find the RAMDrive during startup
Flashpt.sys Mylex/BusLogic CD-ROM driver
Himem.sys XMS Memory Manager
Io.sys System boot file
Msdos.sys Boot option information (paths, multiboot, and so on)
Oakcdrom.sys Generic device driver for ATAPI CD-ROM drives
Ramdrive.sys Creates a Ramdrive during startup
Setramd.bat Searches for first available drive to be a Ramdrive

Hobbles, DOS is still there in XP. Go to Start > Run and type in cmd > OK. Type help for a list of commands. BTW, if you are not careful, you have enough power to destroy the XP operating system.

Mornin Deolman

You can get to the same place by going to start-programs-accessories-command prompt. It's still in windows not dos but I will have to check that out. It's a start, Thanks,,,

Hobbles,

Your into this a lot deeper than I'll get. I jumped in to computers w95 era and have always struggled with dos. envious of the people that do it as second nature as I know there's a lot more that can be done in dos than a windoze shell.
My current setup is an 80 GB primary split 3 ways currently double booting XP64bit and Vista 64 Ultimate and going to load a Linux flavor in the 3rd partition. 3 250GB in a raid 5 for all data storage.

Mornin Sujada

Don't underestimate your self. Your a lot farther along then some, Besides,, nothing is hard once you know how to do it. I bet there is a lot I could learn from you.
When I first got into puters I had a friend show me how to start it and how to run programs, (word perfect 5.1 comes to mind) Then I started asking How could I make my puter do this and that. He told me not to worry about that stuff, just learn the program, And he knew the programs. He was good. He would make money teaching people to run them. I could never stop wondering how things worked. So, about 2 years later I would still call him to ask how to do something inside a program and he would call me to find out how to fix a puter for a customer he was working with, We made a good team.
I learn't a long time ago that I could learn >something< from any body.

hobbles that is how I got my current job. I was a computer maintenance man for the Air Force. When I got out there was no jobs for that well none I could find. But one day down at the unemployment office looking for something to keep my ribs from sticking togather I seen a job listed as a computer programmer trainee. I figured I could be a trainee at anything. Here I am many years later maken my living programming

Evenin Warith
"I figured I could be a trainee at anything."
Yep. that's how to look at life.....

This message has been edited. Last edited by: hobbles,