Back up C: Drive

[Bill Lane]

Hi all:

I read Jim Delong's articals on backing up my C: drive, but I have a question, could I back up my C: drive to a CDRW disk? And can I make this disk bootable? So if I had a problem, I could boot up from my back up disk, and overwrite all the files on C: drive.

Or if I had a problem, could I format C:/s, and just copy all files from my back up disk to C: ?

The reason, I would like to find an easy way to get my C: drive back to where it was before a problem. I've installed a lot of programs that have caused me a great deal of headaches in trying to get rid of them.


I only have 620Mb's of files on C:, so I shouldn't have a problem with space
on the CDRW disk.

My swap file is in a seperate partition.

I would Scan Disk, and Defrag before doing any back up.

My system: Win 98 4.10.1999, Pentium II 400MHz MMX, 383Mb's Ram, IE 5.5

Any help, and advice will be very much appreciated, and thanks ahead of time.

Bill Lane

[HAL9000]

Instructions on how to make a bootable rescue CD with GHOST.

[Bill Lane]

Thanks HAL9000:

I copied the instructions.

I just hope I don't get confused with my Adaptec program.

Bill Lane

[Carl Price]

The absolutely positively easiest way to restore your harddrive is to back it up to another harddrive (harddrives are cheap) of the same or greater capacity. If you put this hd in a removable frame then you can turn it on and off with a key and it doesn't wear. Then use something like ghost (xcopy32 comes with windows and its free) to backup your c drive and if you have a problem it just takes a cable switch and you are right back where you started.

[Bill Lane]

Thanks Carl:

I found Xcopy, Xcopy32, but how do you use it to copy from one hard drive
to the other?

I have a new hard drive already installed, formatted, and partitioned.

It's D:\ drive right now, but when I start the computer the first start up
screen shows two C:\ drives, I guess that's because the new hard drive was
formatted with the s switch.

Anyway, if you could tell me how to copy C: to D: I would appreciate it
very much. Or is it as simple as highlighting, coping and pasting?

Thanks again,

Bill Lane

[morriswindgate]

Instead of using xcopy, why not use the Backup program that comes with Windows? You need a second hard drive, but it does let you make a compressed copy. I have never restored from this program (I use Ghost myself), but it seems pretty straight forward.
To load it you need your Windows disk, Go Start>Settings>Control Panel>Add/Remove Programs>Accessories

[Bill Lane]

Thanks morriswindgate:

I installed the Windows Back-Up program, it looks like it should be a
pretty simple operation.

Thanks again,

Bill Lane

[Carl Price]

Originally posted by morriswindgate Instead of using xcopy, why not use the Backup program that comes with Windows? You need a second hard drive, but it does let you make a compressed copy. I have never restored from this program (I use Ghost myself), but it seems pretty straight forward. To load it you need your Windows disk, Go Start>Settings>Control Panel>Add/Remove Programs>Accessories

If you use anything that stores the backup in any format but native, you have to reinstall windows at least before you can restore. If you use something like xcopy or ghost that stores the backup in native format, you can just switch drive cables and you are totally restored with almost no effort or wasted time.

Bill the complete procedure for cloning a harddrive with xcopy can be found in the Hall Of Fame on this site. xcopy32 instructions

[reboot]

Bill, you've already got the second HD installed, just re-read my article.
It takes more room than Ghost (no compression), but it works the easiest.
BEWARE xcopy, in DOS it will truncate all long filenames!
Go get a copy of xxcopy at http://www.xxcopy.com/xxcopy/xxcopy09.htm
It has a built in "clone" mode, and is by far the easiest way to do things, and will retain all longfilenames, so you don't have to install windows before restoring windows.

[jmatt]

xxcopy is the way to go .

This is the copy command .

C:\ D:\ /CLONE /Xwindows\

---------------------------------------------------------------

Here are some choices for daily auto updates , once you have done the above .


http://www.xxcopy.com/xxcopy/xxcopy19.htm


Using XXCOPY macro to create a unique destination.

When you create a batch file for a periodic (daily) backup,
you may want to encode the current date (today) as a part
of the destination directory name you create. XXCOPY's macro
reference feature (/$xxxx$) was designed exactly for that.

For example, when you can enter

XXCOPY C:\ D:\mybackup\DB/$YYMMDD$\ /CLONE

and it will be expanded to

XXCOPY C:\ D:\mybackup\DB011225\ /CLONE

(assuming the current (today's) date is December 25, 2001.)
See article: XXTB #23, about Macros.

-------------------------------------------

This is probably better , need to work out exclusions .
Where to put exclusions ? in the below entry .
/xc:\windows\* ; specifies all the files in the first
level of the c:\Windows directory such
as, EXPLORER.EXE, WIN.INI, COMMAND.COM


Testing a directory using macro.

The power of /IA and /IP becomes even more evident when you use
a destination directory which is specified by a macro reference.

------------------------------------------------------
XXCOPY c:\ d:\backup\DB/$YYMMDD$\ /IA /CLONE
------------------------------------------------------

In this case, it's not a matter of making the batch file shorter
and prettier. There is no simple way to test the presence or the
absence of a directory whose name is "synthesized".

This command executes only when the directory is absent.
This technique prevents running the same daily backup routine
twice on the same day.
-------------------------------------------------

Full Clone
XXCOPY C:\ D:\ /CLONE

Exemptions eg.
XXCOPY C:\ D:\ /CLONE /Xwindows\

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Here is another way of using your 2nd HD .

http://www.jdresearch.com/mobile.htm
http://www.anime.net/~gigagon/removable/pricing.htm

[Bill Lane]

Thanks everybody:

I really appreciate all your help !!!

Reboot, where can I read your artical?

Thanks,

Bill Lane