Saving Microsoft updates

[Azgir]

I usually connect at 26.6 and this isnt going to change anytime soon.

I also like to wipe my harddrive and reinstal a couple of times per year to keep my system running like new.

Now because of statement #1 statement #2 takes an entire day of downloading all of the updates from Microsoft for Windows, Office, Outlook etc.

Is there any way to save the automatic updates to my harddrive and then update from there?

[catch23]

http://corporate.windowsupdate.microsoft.com/

[Azgir]

What stuff is a must have download?

On the Win98 site there are at least 30 downloads. Do I need to update all of them or just aim for certain packages?

[Azgir]

I was mistaken. There are a LOT more than 30.

Anyone with tips on what downloads are must-haves?

[David_Jones]

To throw this open a little wider, why not FDISK, re-format, install Windows, download the updates you do want (using the Windows Update site if you are more comfortable with that), and then create an image of the entire setup and write it to CD, or another hard disk?

If you do that, you can return to that optimal setup any time you like, and probably much quicker than just installing Windows (withhout the updates) would be.

Just an idea.

David.

[Azgir]

I just bought a CD-RW so that I can start doing this.

The main question I have is how I should set it up.

I have a 60GB HDD divided into 2 30GB partitions with Win2k and Win98 on each. If I understand the process I would have to put all of both partitions onto CD so that would be a lot of wasted CDs w/ nothing on them. If im confused on this part would love some clarification.

Should I make a small partition (a couple of GBs) for each of the OSes and then place all of my programs on larger partitions that I wont have to back-up?

[David_Jones]

With that setup, I would suggest you Ghost the win2k partition onto the Win98 partition, and vice versa.

If you want, you can of course split the ghost files into, say, 650 / 700 Mb chunks and write them to CD for safety / offsite storage.

That way, the absolute total worst case, is that you have to FDISK to create the two partitions again, then re-create the individual partitions from the image(s) on CD.

In reality, it is unlikely you would even need to do that, since as long as you can access, say, the Win2k partition, then you an recreate the Win98 partition from the HDD directly, and extremely quickly.

The other option you outline would work too. You could create say, two 5 Gb partitions for win2k and Win98 (plus their apps), and keep the other 50Gb for data only.

That way you can backup the data whenever you like, without bothering with Ghost or anything else. When you want, you can then Ghost the two OS partitions as outlined above, and since they are only 5Gb each, it will be a bit quicker than doing a 30 Gb partition.

Another option is to create a fourth partition for the apps, and install each one twice (once to each of Win2k and Win98). Personally, I can't be bothered with that, since 5Gb is more than enough for Win(Any) and my apps, but it is a personal thing I guess.

Hope that makes sense!

David.

[RayH]

I used to be one to keep reformatting my hard drive, mostly because I didn't know what I was doing. I still don't know what I'm doing, but I've quit reformatting.

First, I got a copy of Drive Image. You can get a legal one on the cheap here: http://www.softwareandstuff.com/utilityspecial.html It's worth every cent, especially at discount. If you sniff around you might be able to find a free personal copy of Norton Ghost. They come with some motherboards.

I make an image of my drive before I do anything...updates, new installations, etc. If I don't like what I did, I just reinstall the former image.

Next, I use these free programs to maintain my hard drive: Spider, Easy Cleaner, Power Defrag, Win 98 Reskit, and Eraser. These programs will clean up your hard drive good enough from all the useless junk. Do a Google Search for the programs.