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#16
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Making backups by just copying files
BillW50 wrote:
.... use BartPE CD to just copy the OS files from my laptop to my external HD. Thus I could use that copy if my laptop internal HD ever fails. Plus if I am successful, it should be bootable so I can see if it actually works. As it is terrible making backups and later learn when it is too late that the backups are no good. It is NOT hard to validate/confirm and prove-out whether a backup restores correctly or not. What planet are you from? A Ghost and former ntbackup user during my poorer days. |
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#17
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Making backups by just copying files
"BillW50" wrote in message ... "Pegasus" wrote in message "BillW50" wrote in message ... Okay back when Windows 95 was released, you could dualboot to another copy and copy just the Windows and Program Files folder to make a backup of your OS and applications. Is the same still true with Windows XP? Maybe adding the Documents and Settings folder too? My plan is to use BartPE to copy the files over to a bootable USB hard drive. This solves any files in use errors when copying files from itself, right? Or this problem doesn't occur under Windows XP? Just Windows 9x and ME? Why not use a backup program you might ask? I hate them, especially if they do not create a bootable usable copy. This is also handy to test your backup copy as well. Plus this method is free and I can do this with anybodys machine. As often I am asked to help others with no tools around. LOL Why not clone the HD? Yeah I have Partition Magic, DriveCopy, etc. But I want to only make a backup of the OS and programs. Not the rest of the data. Which is copied elsewhere. Another reason is that the backup partition isn't large enough for the whole partition. Next problem is changing the external drive to drive C to work proberly. Since it will be copied from a working drive C. I guess I can always turn off the laptop's internal HD through the BIOS. I guess that should work. Any thoughts and ideas about any of this before I start? TIA I don't know what you mean with "This solves any files in use errors when copying files from itself, right?" but yes, you can use a Bart PE boot CD to create a bootable clone of your existing Windows installation, provided that the target disk was formatted under WinXP. Well I already made a bootable BartPE CD. But this in itself will not restore my OS in case of a disaster (HD faulure, etc). Why not? I've done it several times, using just this method! |
#18
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Making backups by just copying files
On Wed, 16 May 2007 14:53:36 -0500, "BillW50" wrote:
John Hensley wrote in message To get copy of Windows XP or 2K booting and running from an external USB hard drive one only needs to change the start value in service keys of the drivers that make up the USB stack. The OS will then boot and run from the drive but Windows will crash with a disk read or write error if anything is dynamically plugged into the same USB hub after booting is complete. To get Windows to run un-interrupted on the USB drive requires adding a custom driver to the USB stack that prevents new devices from being recognized after the initial boot. This prevents the USB stack from being torn down and rebuilt. I gave a demo of XP running on a USB drive to many of the hard drive manufacturers at Comdex way back in 2002. At that time there were only a few hundred thousand USB drives being sold annually and the drive manufacturers were only willing to pay a few pennies for each piece of bundled software. Even though the drive manufacturers though it was way cool it didn't make sense to continue pursuing the product. Windows running from a user create RescueBoot CD uses a very similar process for getting a subset of files from an existing installation of XP or 2K to boot and run from the CD. In the future I'm hoping to update RescueBoot to automatically create a bootable Windows XP or 2K USB drive key in addition to the bootable CD. John Hensley www.resqware.com Wow impressive John! I'll keep experiementing and I'll keep an eye out for this. Thanks again. If you want to try to get your USB drive booting Windows you can find the names of the drivers in the USB stack using the Device Manager. If you look at the entries under the USB controllers you will find the names of the drivers by clicking on the "Driver Details" button on the Drivers property page. You can locate the service associated with each driver by searching for the driver name in registry under: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Servic es For example in XP you find the service key for usbhub.sys is named usbhub. Sometimes the driver is specified in the service key without tne .sys extension and sometime the name of the service key is used to identify the driver file. For example the service TDTCP does not have an ImagePath value the name of the driver is tdtcp.sys. After finding the service key for the driver you will need to set the "Start" value to 0 (zero) which tells Windows the driver is needed for booting the OS. Good luck, John Hensley www.resqware.com |
#19
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Making backups by just copying files
"Pegasus" wrote in message
"BillW50" wrote in message ... Well I already made a bootable BartPE CD. But this in itself will not restore my OS in case of a disaster (HD faulure, etc). Why not? I've done it several times, using just this method! How? With that Drive Copy utility? Mine doesn't work until I register it. Or did you just copy the files over? -- Bill |
#20
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Making backups by just copying files
"BillW50" wrote in message ... "Pegasus" wrote in message "BillW50" wrote in message ... Well I already made a bootable BartPE CD. But this in itself will not restore my OS in case of a disaster (HD faulure, etc). Why not? I've done it several times, using just this method! How? With that Drive Copy utility? Mine doesn't work until I register it. Or did you just copy the files over? -- Bill Using xcopy.exe with lots of switches under a Bert PE boot. |
#21
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Making backups by just copying files
"Poprivet" wrote in message
BillW50 wrote: Okay back when Windows 95 was released, you could dualboot to another copy and copy just the Windows and Program Files folder to make a backup of your OS and applications. Is the same still true with Windows XP? Maybe adding the Documents and Settings folder too? XP is different; very different. Remember people do the impossible only because they weren't told ahead of time that it was impossible in the first place. :P My plan is to use BartPE to copy the files over to a bootable USB hard drive. This solves any files in use errors when copying files from itself, right? Or this problem doesn't occur under Windows XP? Just Windows 9x and ME? XP AFAIK will not boot from a USB device. Have you proven that it can be done yet? I have partly. But John Hensley has fully. From: John Hensley Newsgroups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.general Subject: Making backups by just copying files Date: Wed, 16 May 2007 15:04:15 -0400 Why not use a backup program you might ask? I hate them, especially if they do not create a bootable usable copy. This is also handy to test your backup copy as well. Plus this method is free and I can do this with anybodys machine. As often I am asked to help others with no tools around. LOL Sounds fishy and closed minded. Quite the opposite. Professionals: Have tested a full server restore in the last 6 months Amateurs: Carry on backing up but they have no idea if the tapes will restore! And 35% of restores didn't work correctly. http://www.computerperformance.co.uk/Litmus/backup.htm Why not clone the HD? Yeah I have Partition Magic, DriveCopy, etc. But I want to only make a backup of the OS and programs. Not the rest of the data. Which is copied elsewhere. Another reason is that the backup partition isn't large enough for the whole partition. You need an external drive that's large enough. The external HD is 320GB. The internal one is only 60GB. But the external one has 120GB of mpeg videos from the TV card alone. Plus Paragon Partition Manager 2005 isn't allowing the extended part to be resized. As the option is greyed out. Part the logical partition can be resized within the extended. Not that does me any good though. And Partition Magic 8 won't touch it in the external case. Claims the geometery is wrong. Yet Partition Magic 8 was the one that partitioned and formatted it in a desktop. Go figure! Next problem is changing the external drive to drive C to work proberly. Since it will be copied from a working drive C. I guess I can always turn off the laptop's internal HD through the BIOS. I guess that should work. Any thoughts and ideas about any of this before I start? TIA You can only INSTALL ONE (1) instance of XP on any system. You will not be able to get them both activated. Well, unless you do something illegal. Good luck; sounds like a wart on the ass of progress to me. Pop` Yup, I tell people they have to buy an extra license for their backup copy too. :P But seriously, I have one OEM version that came with this Gateway laptop and I have two other retail Windows XP boxes still shrinkwrapped along with my Wal-Mart receipt. So I am still in good shape you think? -- Bill |
#22
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Making backups by just copying files
"Pegasus" wrote in message
"BillW50" wrote in message ... "Pegasus" wrote in message "BillW50" wrote in message ... Well I already made a bootable BartPE CD. But this in itself will not restore my OS in case of a disaster (HD faulure, etc). Why not? I've done it several times, using just this method! How? With that Drive Copy utility? Mine doesn't work until I register it. Or did you just copy the files over? Using xcopy.exe with lots of switches under a Bert PE boot. Oh okay, one clever batch file will handle that. Thanks! And you have restored with xcopy too and everything including Windows XP was fine? -- Bill |
#23
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Making backups by just copying files
John Hensley wrote in message
If you want to try to get your USB drive booting Windows you can find the names of the drivers in the USB stack using the Device Manager. If you look at the entries under the USB controllers you will find the names of the drivers by clicking on the "Driver Details" button on the Drivers property page. You can locate the service associated with each driver by searching for the driver name in registry under: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Servic es For example in XP you find the service key for usbhub.sys is named usbhub. Sometimes the driver is specified in the service key without tne .sys extension and sometime the name of the service key is used to identify the driver file. For example the service TDTCP does not have an ImagePath value the name of the driver is tdtcp.sys. After finding the service key for the driver you will need to set the "Start" value to 0 (zero) which tells Windows the driver is needed for booting the OS. Good luck, John Hensley www.resqware.com Much thanks John! I really appreciate it. You don't know how much time you just saved me. -- Bill |
#24
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Making backups by just copying files
"BillW50" wrote in message ... "Pegasus" wrote in message "BillW50" wrote in message ... "Pegasus" wrote in message "BillW50" wrote in message ... Well I already made a bootable BartPE CD. But this in itself will not restore my OS in case of a disaster (HD faulure, etc). Why not? I've done it several times, using just this method! How? With that Drive Copy utility? Mine doesn't work until I register it. Or did you just copy the files over? Using xcopy.exe with lots of switches under a Bert PE boot. Oh okay, one clever batch file will handle that. Thanks! And you have restored with xcopy too and everything including Windows XP was fine? -- Bill I certainly have. There is little advantage in using a batch file. Batch files are great when you have several complex commands or when you wish to automate a task. Neither seems to apply in your case, hence it's probably faster to type your command at the Command Prompt. |
#25
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Making backups by just copying files
"Pegasus" wrote in message
"BillW50" wrote in message ... "Pegasus" wrote in message "BillW50" wrote in message ... "Pegasus" wrote in message "BillW50" wrote in message ... Well I already made a bootable BartPE CD. But this in itself will not restore my OS in case of a disaster (HD faulure, etc). Why not? I've done it several times, using just this method! How? With that Drive Copy utility? Mine doesn't work until I register it. Or did you just copy the files over? Using xcopy.exe with lots of switches under a Bert PE boot. Oh okay, one clever batch file will handle that. Thanks! And you have restored with xcopy too and everything including Windows XP was fine? I certainly have. There is little advantage in using a batch file. Batch files are great when you have several complex commands or when you wish to automate a task. Neither seems to apply in your case, hence it's probably faster to type your command at the Command Prompt. Oh many thanks! This is the info I needed to know. Xcopy the 3 folders should cover the OS and programs. The data I have covered under another program which syncs data to other computers on the network. Windows Program Files Documents and Settings -- Bill |
#26
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Making backups by just copying files
On 5/16/2007 7:31 PM On a whim, BillW50 pounded out on the keyboard
"Pegasus" wrote in message "BillW50" wrote in message ... "Pegasus" wrote in message "BillW50" wrote in message ... "Pegasus" wrote in message "BillW50" wrote in message ... Well I already made a bootable BartPE CD. But this in itself will not restore my OS in case of a disaster (HD faulure, etc). Why not? I've done it several times, using just this method! How? With that Drive Copy utility? Mine doesn't work until I register it. Or did you just copy the files over? Using xcopy.exe with lots of switches under a Bert PE boot. Oh okay, one clever batch file will handle that. Thanks! And you have restored with xcopy too and everything including Windows XP was fine? I certainly have. There is little advantage in using a batch file. Batch files are great when you have several complex commands or when you wish to automate a task. Neither seems to apply in your case, hence it's probably faster to type your command at the Command Prompt. Oh many thanks! This is the info I needed to know. Xcopy the 3 folders should cover the OS and programs. The data I have covered under another program which syncs data to other computers on the network. Windows Program Files Documents and Settings Bill, Have you heard about xxcopy? Do a search for it. You may find it able to do all you want. -- Terry ***Reply Note*** Anti-spam measures are included in my email address. Delete NOSPAM from the email address after clicking Reply. |
#27
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Making backups by just copying files
"Terry" wrote in message ... On 5/16/2007 7:31 PM On a whim, BillW50 pounded out on the keyboard "Pegasus" wrote in message "BillW50" wrote in message ... "Pegasus" wrote in message "BillW50" wrote in message ... "Pegasus" wrote in message "BillW50" wrote in message ... Well I already made a bootable BartPE CD. But this in itself will not restore my OS in case of a disaster (HD faulure, etc). Why not? I've done it several times, using just this method! How? With that Drive Copy utility? Mine doesn't work until I register it. Or did you just copy the files over? Using xcopy.exe with lots of switches under a Bert PE boot. Oh okay, one clever batch file will handle that. Thanks! And you have restored with xcopy too and everything including Windows XP was fine? I certainly have. There is little advantage in using a batch file. Batch files are great when you have several complex commands or when you wish to automate a task. Neither seems to apply in your case, hence it's probably faster to type your command at the Command Prompt. Oh many thanks! This is the info I needed to know. Xcopy the 3 folders should cover the OS and programs. The data I have covered under another program which syncs data to other computers on the network. Windows Program Files Documents and Settings Bill, Have you heard about xxcopy? Do a search for it. You may find it able to do all you want. -- Terry While xxcopy.exe is a great program, it offers no advantage in the OP's situation over native xcopy.exe. |
#28
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Making backups by just copying files
On Wed, 16 May 2007 20:42:36 -0500, "BillW50" wrote:
John Hensley wrote in message If you want to try to get your USB drive booting Windows you can find the names of the drivers in the USB stack using the Device Manager. If you look at the entries under the USB controllers you will find the names of the drivers by clicking on the "Driver Details" button on the Drivers property page. You can locate the service associated with each driver by searching for the driver name in registry under: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Servic es For example in XP you find the service key for usbhub.sys is named usbhub. Sometimes the driver is specified in the service key without tne .sys extension and sometime the name of the service key is used to identify the driver file. For example the service TDTCP does not have an ImagePath value the name of the driver is tdtcp.sys. After finding the service key for the driver you will need to set the "Start" value to 0 (zero) which tells Windows the driver is needed for booting the OS. Good luck, John Hensley www.resqware.com Much thanks John! I really appreciate it. You don't know how much time you just saved me. I just re-read your original message in this thread and thought I might be able to offer some additional hints in getting the Windows XP files to the USB drive and then booting from it. If you download the RescueBoot beta from www.resqware.com/Beta/beta.aspx it will automatically create a bootable clean install archive of Windows in a separate directory structure on your existing system drive and then update your boot.ini with a new RescueBoot OS menu entry to allow you to select to boot from the archived copy of Windows. After rebooting and selecting the RescueBoot option on the boot menu you will be running from the archived copy of Windows and you'll have access to all of the normal OS files without having to worry about them being in use. You can also use the RescueBoot Wizard to transfer the bootable Windows archive from your hard drive onto CDR/RW media giving you something like Bart's PE on steroids with most of the functionality of a clean install of Windows XP when booting and running from the CD. After booting from RescueBoot or Bart's PE you can use Xcopy to copy the files but this will cause you problems later because Xcopy doesn't copy the security descriptors on the files correctly. I would recommend downloading the Windows 2003 Resource Kit and using RoboCopy to copy your files to the USB drive so that you retain the correct security descriptors on the files. http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/d...displaylang=en If you eventually are able to boot off of the USB hard drive you will find that the USB drive will still have its original drive letter as will your original Windows system drive. This means that all of the paths in the registry will be pointing to the wrong drive. To get around this you will need to swap the drive letter assignments in the registry on the USB drive under the key. HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\MountedDevices If your USB is normally drive E: you do something like this. Rename the value "\DosDevices\E:" to "Tmp". Next rename "\DosDevices\C:" to "\DosDevices\E:" and then rename "Tmp" to "\DosDevices\C:". After copying all of the files to the USB drive you can run RegEdit and load the SYSTEM registry hive that was copied to the USB drive and then make these changes before booting from the USB drive. Now when you boot from the USB drive it will appear as drive C: and your original Windows drive will appear as E:. This is what RescueBoot does when creating it's bootable CD so that the emulated disk Windows is running from on the CD appears as drive C: and your original Windows drive appears as the last free drive letter that is available such as Z: John Hensley www.resqware.com |
#29
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Making backups by just copying files
Pegasus wrote:
"Terry" wrote in message ... On 5/16/2007 7:31 PM On a whim, BillW50 pounded out on the keyboard "Pegasus" wrote in message "BillW50" wrote in message ... "Pegasus" wrote in message "BillW50" wrote in message ... "Pegasus" wrote in message "BillW50" wrote in message ... Well I already made a bootable BartPE CD. But this in itself will not restore my OS in case of a disaster (HD faulure, etc). Why not? I've done it several times, using just this method! How? With that Drive Copy utility? Mine doesn't work until I register it. Or did you just copy the files over? Using xcopy.exe with lots of switches under a Bert PE boot. Oh okay, one clever batch file will handle that. Thanks! And you have restored with xcopy too and everything including Windows XP was fine? I certainly have. There is little advantage in using a batch file. Batch files are great when you have several complex commands or when you wish to automate a task. Neither seems to apply in your case, hence it's probably faster to type your command at the Command Prompt. Oh many thanks! This is the info I needed to know. Xcopy the 3 folders should cover the OS and programs. The data I have covered under another program which syncs data to other computers on the network. Windows Program Files Documents and Settings Bill, Have you heard about xxcopy? Do a search for it. You may find it able to do all you want. -- Terry While xxcopy.exe is a great program, it offers no advantage in the OP's situation over native xcopy.exe. Caveat: No one has mentioned that xcopy nor any copy command can copy the system files that are "in use". Just cleaning up details. Pop` |
#30
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Making backups by just copying files
"Poprivet" wrote in message ... Pegasus wrote: "Terry" wrote in message ... On 5/16/2007 7:31 PM On a whim, BillW50 pounded out on the keyboard "Pegasus" wrote in message "BillW50" wrote in message ... "Pegasus" wrote in message "BillW50" wrote in message ... "Pegasus" wrote in message "BillW50" wrote in message ... Well I already made a bootable BartPE CD. But this in itself will not restore my OS in case of a disaster (HD faulure, etc). Why not? I've done it several times, using just this method! How? With that Drive Copy utility? Mine doesn't work until I register it. Or did you just copy the files over? Using xcopy.exe with lots of switches under a Bert PE boot. Oh okay, one clever batch file will handle that. Thanks! And you have restored with xcopy too and everything including Windows XP was fine? I certainly have. There is little advantage in using a batch file. Batch files are great when you have several complex commands or when you wish to automate a task. Neither seems to apply in your case, hence it's probably faster to type your command at the Command Prompt. Oh many thanks! This is the info I needed to know. Xcopy the 3 folders should cover the OS and programs. The data I have covered under another program which syncs data to other computers on the network. Windows Program Files Documents and Settings Bill, Have you heard about xxcopy? Do a search for it. You may find it able to do all you want. -- Terry While xxcopy.exe is a great program, it offers no advantage in the OP's situation over native xcopy.exe. Caveat: No one has mentioned that xcopy nor any copy command can copy the system files that are "in use". Just cleaning up details. Pop` Not quite. When booting the machine with a Bart PE boot CD then no files are in use. This is the whole point of booting the machine with this CD! |
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