Copying the "Windows" and "Documents and Settings" folders ???

I do all my backups by just copying all of my partitions to an external
harddrive.

C: goes to a folder called CCC
D: goes to a folder called DDD
etc....

On my desktop computer with dual booted Win98 and Win2000, to copy these
OS folders I just boot to the other OS, because they cant be copied
while they are in use. (Which I have always thought was a stupid failure
on the part of Microsoft.) --- I'm copying it, not deleting it ---.
But it is, what it is, and that cant be changed. thanks to MS making
stupid software!

However, I have a Laptop computer which only has XP installed.
I can copy all my personal folders, and installed programs, but I cant
copy the WINDOWS folder, or the DOCUMENTS and SETTINGS folder.

I have never liked backup software that compacts stuff into one giant
file. I like my backups RAW copies. That way I know that one huge file
is not corrupt and useless. I can easily restore one file, and best of
all, I can plug my backup drive into another computer and copy my photos
or music files to that machine.

But I can not figure out how to backup these OS folders on my Laptop.
And I know that the Documents and Settings folders contain a lot of
personal data (even though I try to move much that stuff elsewhere).
But there are several files in the D&S folder that wont allow it to be
copied. I know one is called NTUSER.(something).

I guess if I knew each of those files that cant be copied, I could
manually select everything, then deselect those files, but that seems
tedious.

Is there any better way to simply copy these folders, without special
software or dual booting? (The 40G HDD is too small for dual booting.
other wise I'd probably dual boot XP and Win98se).

Thanks

wrote:
I do all my backups by just copying all of my partitions to an external
harddrive.

C: goes to a folder called CCC
D: goes to a folder called DDD
etc....

On my desktop computer with dual booted Win98 and Win2000, to copy these
OS folders I just boot to the other OS, because they cant be copied
while they are in use. (Which I have always thought was a stupid failure
on the part of Microsoft.) --- I'm copying it, not deleting it ---.
But it is, what it is, and that cant be changed. thanks to MS making
stupid software!

However, I have a Laptop computer which only has XP installed.
I can copy all my personal folders, and installed programs, but I cant
copy the WINDOWS folder, or the DOCUMENTS and SETTINGS folder.

I have never liked backup software that compacts stuff into one giant
file. I like my backups RAW copies. That way I know that one huge file
is not corrupt and useless. I can easily restore one file, and best of
all, I can plug my backup drive into another computer and copy my photos
or music files to that machine.

But I can not figure out how to backup these OS folders on my Laptop.
And I know that the Documents and Settings folders contain a lot of
personal data (even though I try to move much that stuff elsewhere).
But there are several files in the D&S folder that wont allow it to be
copied. I know one is called NTUSER.(something).

I guess if I knew each of those files that cant be copied, I could
manually select everything, then deselect those files, but that seems
tedious.

Is there any better way to simply copy these folders, without special
software or dual booting? (The 40G HDD is too small for dual booting.
other wise I'd probably dual boot XP and Win98se).

Thanks

If you really want a good drive backup, use either an image or clone
program. Since you're opposed to image backups, use a clone program, which
can make an identical copy of the source drive. And I think a few of them
are free, like Easeus Disk Copy, or Easeus Todo Backup Free, and probably a
few others.

As Bill in CO said, you don't have backup
now if you lose your system. You only have
files backed up. That's not of much value, but
if that's all you want then why not just copy
them to a DVD? You don't need to copy over
system files. (Even if you want copies you can
just use any install disk CAB set for that.)

As for dual booting on 40 GB, I don't see why
that's a problem. XP takes about 1 GB. Win98
takes about 700 MB. I currently have XP on a
5 GB partition (with 2 graphic editors, Libre Office
and Visual Studio 6, among other things). If I
were you I'd set up 2 partitions on the laptop
of 3-5 GB, then make maybe 2 data partitions
of about 15 GB each. If you want good backup
you shouldn't be storing data on the system
partition. It's a case of "all your eggs in one
basket".

Unless you're storing lots of large photos or some
such on your laptop, 40 GB should be plenty of room.
(Just don't go trying to install Vista/7. That will
eat up the whole thing.)

Another option would be to put in a new hard disk
that's bigger, but as noted, the real problem is with
your method of backup.

On 02/16/2015 11:19 PM, wrote:
I do all my backups by just copying all of my partitions to an external
harddrive.

C: goes to a folder called CCC
D: goes to a folder called DDD
etc....

On my desktop computer with dual booted Win98 and Win2000, to copy these
OS folders I just boot to the other OS, because they cant be copied
while they are in use. (Which I have always thought was a stupid failure
on the part of Microsoft.) --- I'm copying it, not deleting it ---.
But it is, what it is, and that cant be changed. thanks to MS making
stupid software!

However, I have a Laptop computer which only has XP installed.
I can copy all my personal folders, and installed programs, but I cant
copy the WINDOWS folder, or the DOCUMENTS and SETTINGS folder.

I have never liked backup software that compacts stuff into one giant
file. I like my backups RAW copies. That way I know that one huge file
is not corrupt and useless. I can easily restore one file, and best of
all, I can plug my backup drive into another computer and copy my photos
or music files to that machine.

But I can not figure out how to backup these OS folders on my Laptop.
And I know that the Documents and Settings folders contain a lot of
personal data (even though I try to move much that stuff elsewhere).
But there are several files in the D&S folder that wont allow it to be
copied. I know one is called NTUSER.(something).

I guess if I knew each of those files that cant be copied, I could
manually select everything, then deselect those files, but that seems
tedious.

Is there any better way to simply copy these folders, without special
software or dual booting? (The 40G HDD is too small for dual booting.
other wise I'd probably dual boot XP and Win98se).

Thanks






I agree with you in that just copying the files themselves is a good way
to back up.
I also agree that with a 40 gig HD it would be absurd to shrink it to
install another OS.


First off, there is no need to back up your Windows folder...


In the event your system got destroyed it would not do you much
good...and besides...as long as your data are backed up that's whats of
utmost importance.


As to "Documents and Settings"

There is no need to copy it all, as your data are only in one specific
place. Migrate to your profile within "Documents and Settings" and
within that will be the folder " My Documents"

That is the one you want to back up

In message ,
writes:
I do all my backups by just copying all of my partitions to an external
harddrive.

C: goes to a folder called CCC
D: goes to a folder called DDD
etc....

On my desktop computer with dual booted Win98 and Win2000, to copy these
OS folders I just boot to the other OS, because they cant be copied
while they are in use. (Which I have always thought was a stupid failure
on the part of Microsoft.) --- I'm copying it, not deleting it ---.
But it is, what it is, and that cant be changed. thanks to MS making
stupid software!

Well, I think their main concern was to stop people copying a working
system to another computer. The side effect of their efforts to prevent
that is, indeed, that you can't copy the system.

However, I have a Laptop computer which only has XP installed.
I can copy all my personal folders, and installed programs, but I cant
copy the WINDOWS folder, or the DOCUMENTS and SETTINGS folder.

Can you say why you _want_ to copy the Windows folder? (More below.) I
agree the D&S folder is irritating: at least, I don't _want_ to store my
documents and my settings in the same place. I'm pretty sure it's a
side-effect of them designing for multi-user systems, and they put
minimal effort (near enough none) into making it operate any differently
for single home user systems (even the ones with "home" in the title).

I have never liked backup software that compacts stuff into one giant
file. I like my backups RAW copies. That way I know that one huge file
is not corrupt and useless. I can easily restore one file, and best of
all, I can plug my backup drive into another computer and copy my photos
or music files to that machine.

I'm with you there, and for my data partition, that's exactly what I do
do (make a tree copy).
[]
Leaving aside the other things you can't copy for the moment, why _do_
you want to copy the Windows folder? If it's so you could restore it in
the event of disaster (such as disc crash), then just having a copy of
all the files won't help you: copying those back to a new blank disc
wouldn't give you a working system. You need to copy - _and be able to
restore_ - boot parameters, possibly the hidden partition, and other
arcane things of which I have little knowledge. To _backup_ this, I
think the easiest way _is_ to use an imaging software _that can also do
the restore_. (I've found the free version of Macrium to be fine - and I
found the boot CD for it fits onto a mini-CD.) As for the concern about
the single image file becoming corrupted, I get round that by just
making two or three image files that I use in rotation - although to
keep their size down, I keep a separate small partition for my OS and
software; I copy my data partition the way you like, not using Macrium.
--
J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/1985 MB++G()AL-IS-Ch++(p)Ar@T+H+Sh0!:`)DNAf

"When _I_ saw him, he was dead." "uh, he looked exactly the same when he was
alive, except he was vertical." (The Trouble with Harry)

In article ,
, says...

I do all my backups by just copying all of my partitions to an external
harddrive.

C: goes to a folder called CCC
D: goes to a folder called DDD
etc....

On my desktop computer with dual booted Win98 and Win2000, to copy these
OS folders I just boot to the other OS, because they cant be copied
while they are in use. (Which I have always thought was a stupid failure
on the part of Microsoft.) --- I'm copying it, not deleting it ---.
But it is, what it is, and that cant be changed. thanks to MS making
stupid software!

However, I have a Laptop computer which only has XP installed.
I can copy all my personal folders, and installed programs, but I cant
copy the WINDOWS folder, or the DOCUMENTS and SETTINGS folder.

I have never liked backup software that compacts stuff into one giant
file. I like my backups RAW copies. That way I know that one huge file
is not corrupt and useless. I can easily restore one file, and best of
all, I can plug my backup drive into another computer and copy my photos
or music files to that machine.

But I can not figure out how to backup these OS folders on my Laptop.
And I know that the Documents and Settings folders contain a lot of
personal data (even though I try to move much that stuff elsewhere).
But there are several files in the D&S folder that wont allow it to be
copied. I know one is called NTUSER.(something).

I guess if I knew each of those files that cant be copied, I could
manually select everything, then deselect those files, but that seems
tedious.

Is there any better way to simply copy these folders, without special
software or dual booting? (The 40G HDD is too small for dual booting.
other wise I'd probably dual boot XP and Win98se).

Thanks

Windows xcopy?
Ycopy? (Bing it)

--
Duncan.

Dave Doe wrote:
In article ,
, says...

I do all my backups by just copying all of my partitions to an external
harddrive.

C: goes to a folder called CCC
D: goes to a folder called DDD
etc....

On my desktop computer with dual booted Win98 and Win2000, to copy these
OS folders I just boot to the other OS, because they cant be copied
while they are in use. (Which I have always thought was a stupid failure
on the part of Microsoft.) --- I'm copying it, not deleting it ---.
But it is, what it is, and that cant be changed. thanks to MS making
stupid software!

However, I have a Laptop computer which only has XP installed.
I can copy all my personal folders, and installed programs, but I cant
copy the WINDOWS folder, or the DOCUMENTS and SETTINGS folder.

I have never liked backup software that compacts stuff into one giant
file. I like my backups RAW copies. That way I know that one huge file
is not corrupt and useless. I can easily restore one file, and best of
all, I can plug my backup drive into another computer and copy my photos
or music files to that machine.

But I can not figure out how to backup these OS folders on my Laptop.
And I know that the Documents and Settings folders contain a lot of
personal data (even though I try to move much that stuff elsewhere).
But there are several files in the D&S folder that wont allow it to be
copied. I know one is called NTUSER.(something).

I guess if I knew each of those files that cant be copied, I could
manually select everything, then deselect those files, but that seems
tedious.

Is there any better way to simply copy these folders, without special
software or dual booting? (The 40G HDD is too small for dual booting.
other wise I'd probably dual boot XP and Win98se).

Thanks

Windows xcopy?
Ycopy? (Bing it)

--
Duncan.

If the files are in use by Windows, I don't those two are going to work.
Besides which, as a much better backup plan, why not just clone or image the
drive (I think the OP wanted a *complete* backup, not just a select group of
files). And if he want's a true restore capability, he's going to have to
use either a clone or image backup.

On Tue, 17 Feb 2015 22:17:56 +0000, "J. P. Gilliver (John)"
wrote:


I'm with you there, and for my data partition, that's exactly what I do
do (make a tree copy).
[]
Leaving aside the other things you can't copy for the moment, why _do_
you want to copy the Windows folder? If it's so you could restore it in
the event of disaster (such as disc crash), then just having a copy of
all the files won't help you: copying those back to a new blank disc
wouldn't give you a working system. You need to copy - _and be able to
restore_ - boot parameters, possibly the hidden partition, and other
arcane things of which I have little knowledge. To _backup_ this, I
think the easiest way _is_ to use an imaging software _that can also do
the restore_. (I've found the free version of Macrium to be fine - and I

The reason I want to copy the Windows folder is to be able to do a
complete restore, if my HDD fails, or somthing else goes wrong. I know
it's not all that hard to reinstall XP from the original CD, but then
I'm stuck with spending weeks fu*king with setting it up the way I like
it. XP has a lot of annoyances that I changed or removed. I have my
own wallpaper, in the windows folder and other stuff like that, and
worse of all, all the programs need to be reinstalled, because most of
them wont work due to having their settings in the D&S folder and parts
of these files installed into the Windows folder.

I have restored Win98se numerous times, and it works immediately just
like i had it installed. Win98 files can be copied entirely as long as
I dont copy the swap file. I have many times over the years gone into
my backup of Win98 (windows folder), to restore something like a .DLL
file that got overwritten by some stupid program, or something liek
that.

I have many times copied the Win98 backup to another HDD, after using
the SYS C: command from Dos. Or just fornmatting from Dos, first.
Win98 just boots right up.

I have also copied my Win2000 partition (while booted to W98), and after
tweaking something to make it dual boot (I cant remember what that was),
it too worked as I had it installed.

But I realize XP is not that simple....
That's why I still prefer Win98 and 2000 over XP, and I wont even touch
anything newer.

Thanks

On Tue, 17 Feb 2015 18:04:23 -0700, "Bill in Co"
wrote:

If the files are in use by Windows, I don't those two are going to work.
Besides which, as a much better backup plan, why not just clone or image the
drive (I think the OP wanted a *complete* backup, not just a select group of
files). And if he want's a true restore capability, he's going to have to
use either a clone or image backup.


I have an old clone program called GHOST. I think that was made for
Win98 or Win2000 (not sure). Will that work?

wrote:
On Tue, 17 Feb 2015 18:04:23 -0700, "Bill in Co"
wrote:

If the files are in use by Windows, I don't those two are going to work.
Besides which, as a much better backup plan, why not just clone or image
the
drive (I think the OP wanted a *complete* backup, not just a select group
of files). And if he want's a true restore capability, he's going to
have to
use either a clone or image backup.


I have an old clone program called GHOST. I think that was made for
Win98 or Win2000 (not sure). Will that work?

I don't know, but I wouldn't bet on it, unless (possibly) you have the
latest version. You may have to research that. Look at the ones I
mentioned (e.g: Easeus has some good free (the ones I mentioned) and
paidware, for example)

On 02/18/2015 12:08 PM, wrote:
On Tue, 17 Feb 2015 22:17:56 +0000, "J. P. Gilliver (John)"
wrote:


I'm with you there, and for my data partition, that's exactly what I do
do (make a tree copy).
[]
Leaving aside the other things you can't copy for the moment, why _do_
you want to copy the Windows folder? If it's so you could restore it in
the event of disaster (such as disc crash), then just having a copy of
all the files won't help you: copying those back to a new blank disc
wouldn't give you a working system. You need to copy - _and be able to
restore_ - boot parameters, possibly the hidden partition, and other
arcane things of which I have little knowledge. To _backup_ this, I
think the easiest way _is_ to use an imaging software _that can also do
the restore_. (I've found the free version of Macrium to be fine - and I

The reason I want to copy the Windows folder is to be able to do a
complete restore, if my HDD fails,


snip

Then your scheme will fail.

What you need to do is clone your hard drive to another one...or create
a restorable "image".

On Wed, 18 Feb 2015 12:59:01 -0600, philo wrote:


The reason I want to copy the Windows folder is to be able to do a
complete restore, if my HDD fails,


snip

Then your scheme will fail.

What you need to do is clone your hard drive to another one...or create
a restorable "image".

So, what if I use that "backup" included with XP, and do an image of
just the Windows and the D&S folder? Then copy the rest of the data on
the drive in it's raw format? (Or I suppose since I only have 25G of
data on the drive, just do BOTH????)

The data on the drive changes often. Everything I download to the
laptop gets copied to my desktop computer and is archived there.
Besides the OS, everything on the laptop is already archived, except new
downloads from a remote location. I have some videos and some music on
the laptop from my archives, which I tend to change often. My laptop is
not really used as my "main" computer. I just use it "on the road", to
play music, show videos to friends, and connect remotely at WIFI places.

wrote:
On Wed, 18 Feb 2015 12:59:01 -0600, philo wrote:


The reason I want to copy the Windows folder is to be able to do a
complete restore, if my HDD fails,

snip

Then your scheme will fail.

What you need to do is clone your hard drive to another one...or create
a restorable "image".

So, what if I use that "backup" included with XP, and do an image of
just the Windows and the D&S folder? Then copy the rest of the data on
the drive in it's raw format? (Or I suppose since I only have 25G of
data on the drive, just do BOTH????)

The data on the drive changes often. Everything I download to the
laptop gets copied to my desktop computer and is archived there.
Besides the OS, everything on the laptop is already archived, except new
downloads from a remote location. I have some videos and some music on
the laptop from my archives, which I tend to change often. My laptop is
not really used as my "main" computer. I just use it "on the road", to
play music, show videos to friends, and connect remotely at WIFI places.



I back up everything here, on an irregular basis.

Why do I do it ?

The danger of Cryptolocker, or the mess that Sality would make.

The backup drive is disconnected from the computer, for safety,
so neither of those pests can get it.

The total storage space taken is 1TB. It takes the better
part of a whole day, to run that stuff (but using
VSS based backup tools I can continue working if I want).

Doing teeny tiny backups, putting a few files on a USB
stick, would leave me ill-prepared for a major disaster.
And that's why I do large, irregular backups, to cover
all the stuff I currently have set up. For example, I
have around 32 virtual machines, some as big as 30GB,
some as small as 2GB, which would be part of those
backups. I could re-create a large part of it,
given time, but it would take forever. When the backup
files are compressed, the storage space needed is 1TB total.

It's just easier to back it all up.

*******

Kinda funny, but within the last couple of weeks, a
Canadian couple are reported to have paid $800 worth
of bitcoins, to someone who applied Cryptolocker to
their computer. Not only did it encrypt their local files,
but by visiting the Dropbox folder, it encrypted the files
in there (which were duly synced with the Cloud dropbox
folder). Meaning that even files they thought were safely
stored on Dropbox, were replaced with encrypted copies. It
wasn't stated what the infection route was in that case, how
they were tricked into having a copy of Cryptolocker or
equivalent, on the computer. But the file loss for them
was severe enough, they paid the ransom.

This is why you want:

1) Local backups
2) Backup drive *disconnected* when not in usage.
3) More than one backup drive (in case you connect the
backup drive in the middle of an infection). Two backup
drives is probably a good idea, with alternation between
them. Do *not* leave them connected and running.

That doesn't guarantee they won't get you, but it gives
some recovery options.

Paul

wrote:
On Tue, 17 Feb 2015 18:04:23 -0700, "Bill in Co"
wrote:

If the files are in use by Windows, I don't those two are going to work.
Besides which, as a much better backup plan, why not just clone or image the
drive (I think the OP wanted a *complete* backup, not just a select group of
files). And if he want's a true restore capability, he's going to have to
use either a clone or image backup.


I have an old clone program called GHOST. I think that was made for
Win98 or Win2000 (not sure). Will that work?


You're in a WinXP group, and that's really the minimum, to
have a variety of VSS based backup solutions.

You're right, that things like Ghost would work on older
OSes. As well as perhaps the built-in Windows tools (ntbackup?),
but that would not be my first choice. In the past, Ghost
required that you reboot, so that Ghost would have exclusive
access to files, and there would be no "busy" files that
could not get backed up.

Note that, if you prepare the Macrium recovery CD, and you
boot that CD, you can do backups that way. The program
may refuse to install on Win2K. All that you need to do,
is find a WinXP machine long enough to make the recovery
CD, and then you can use the recovery CD to do your
backups. You boot the recovery CD on the Win2K machine,
and then you will have "Backup" to .mrimg file and
"Clone" to a second disk drive, as options.

*******

The Macrium Reflect Free page has disappeared from the Macrium site.

The CNET page is still here. This would be where the Macrium
download would point. This should be a two-stage download. A stub
downloader (which gives download options). Leave the defaults when
running the stub - it should download the actual Macrium ReflectFree
installer (close to 50MB) as well as about 100MB of WinPE files. If
you keep those two files for later, you can install on other computers
(would not be that useful on your Win2K machine, as it should
deny install on a non-VSS OS). I haven't tested on my Win2K, to see
if Macrium would exit on seeing no VSS subsystem.

http://download.cnet.com/Macrium-Ref...-10845728.html

You would want to do that on a WinXP or later machine, if you
can borrow one. Then, at least make the ISO9660 file, for
burning a recovery CD. Then boot the Win2K machine with the
CD, and do your backups.

When run on a WinXP or later machine, Macrium (as well as Acronis),
have an option to "random access" their backup file. For example,
I can select a Macrium .mrimg file, and mount it in File Explorer,
and visit any folder on the backup image, and copy out files.
So it's not like the restoration of data is "all or nothing".
You can also extract a file or two from the .mrimg. All it
takes is the plugin that Macrium installs, that runs under
WinXP or better.

Macrium even has an option, to convert the .mrimg file, to .vhd.
And a .vhd file can be accessed by many different virtual machine
hosting softwares. So there are even "export" options, in case
you were worried about "lockin" from a format perspective.

Paul

On 02/18/2015 01:22 PM, wrote:
On Wed, 18 Feb 2015 12:59:01 -0600, philo wrote:


The reason I want to copy the Windows folder is to be able to do a
complete restore, if my HDD fails,


snip

Then your scheme will fail.

What you need to do is clone your hard drive to another one...or create
a restorable "image".

So, what if I use that "backup" included with XP, and do an image of

Windows "backup" does not image the drive
you need 3rd party software to do that