activate programs without reinstalling them

[Guest]

I had a XP crash from which I couln't recover. I installed into my home built
2 80 GB SG drives and set them up as a RAID 1. I still have the drive with
all of my programs that had been loaded onto it, XP just doesn't work. I am
using PnP to put all of my hardware back into the new RAID 1 drive (E
setup.
My set up is:
ASUS P4C800 Deluxe MB
1GB RAM
Built in USB ports (4 are activated)
Built in Network connection (RJ45 Port)
Built in Sound using Sound MAx software.
Uses Promise Fst Trak 378 Driver for the RAID
I have also make the system a multiple boot with an XP system on C:, E:, & F:
C: is SG 160GB
D: is a 22GB portion of C:
E: is 2 SG 80 GB Raid 1 Mirrorred drives (I've had 2 crashes in 6 months)
F:is a WD 120GB a rebuilt replacement for the the original failure.

F: boot does not work and that is the disk with all of the installed HW & SW

Certainly there must be a way to have the progams already installed on F: to
act as if they have been installed on the E: and D: drives without actually
installing them.

I hope someone can tell me how to do this. It is most distressing to be
required to reinstall about 50 (including utilities) programs.

 

[DL]

Why on earth you want multiple xp boots is beyond me, however a winxp hd
placed in another sys is unlikely to work without performing a repair
installation
http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/XPrepairinstall.htm
Of course the HD may simply have failed.

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

I had a XP crash from which I couln't recover. I installed into my
home built 2 80 GB SG drives and set them up as a RAID 1. I still
have the drive with all of my programs that had been loaded onto it,
XP just doesn't work. I am using PnP to put all of my hardware back
into the new RAID 1 drive (E setup.
My set up is:
ASUS P4C800 Deluxe MB
1GB RAM
Built in USB ports (4 are activated)
Built in Network connection (RJ45 Port)
Built in Sound using Sound MAx software.
Uses Promise Fst Trak 378 Driver for the RAID
I have also make the system a multiple boot with an XP system on C:,
E:, & F: C: is SG 160GB
D: is a 22GB portion of C:
E: is 2 SG 80 GB Raid 1 Mirrorred drives (I've had 2 crashes in 6
months) F:is a WD 120GB a rebuilt replacement for the the original
failure.

F: boot does not work and that is the disk with all of the installed
HW & SW

Certainly there must be a way to have the progams already installed
on F: to act as if they have been installed on the E: and D: drives
without actually installing them.

I hope someone can tell me how to do this. It is most distressing to
be required to reinstall about 50 (including utilities) programs.

Are you saying that you have installed programs on F: and that these
programs had been installed under Windows XP, but Windows XP has since been
cleanly reinstalled?

Sorry, but there is no way to use those installed programs, and they have to
be reinstalled from scratch. Installed programs (all but the very occasionl
tiny program) have many components and references all over the operating
system (in the registry and elsewhere).When you reinstalled Windows, all of
this was lost.

This is the main reason why having a separate drive or partition for
installed programs isn't really a useful thing to do.

 

[Guest]

Let me straighten out any misconceptions. All of the current drives have only
been installed on this machine.

I had a faulty HD from which no data coiuld be retreived, (sent to a
recovery company), in the mean time I installed a SG 160GB and installed XP
and reloaded most of my programs. The damaged HD was under warrenty so
WD sent me a refurbished HD that was the same model and size of the old one.
I was intending to use the WD dirive strictly as backup for data, I didn't
want to loose all of my data again.

After about 3 weeks the SG 160GB XP installation started failing and I
couldn't get it to repair. I then installed XP on the refurbished WD drive
and reinstalled the HW and SW again.

In the meantime I investigated using a RAID configuration with a mirror
solution to try to avoid more down time, I depend on my computer everyday I
can't afford to have it unusable, it needs to be available 100% of the time.
So I came up with the brilliant idea of multiple boots.

My idea was to use the mirror drive as the main boot, and have one on each
of the other drives, just in case.

Most of my programs had been installed on the F: drive, of couse it was the
C: drive at the time. No fear I can use Norton Windoctor to change any
designations to whatever they need to be changed to. And no there has not
been a clean install on the F: drive. I read DL's responce and I will try to
repair the XP installation before I proceed any further.

I understand about having progams on a seperate partition or disk is not of
much value now. It seems to me that W95 would reinstall and any programs on
your HD would automatically be registered and installed for use. What a crime
that XP doesn't work that way.

Thank you both, DL and Ken. I'll let you know how I make out.

 

[DL]

A mirror raid is not an altenative to a backup.
Depending on the raid controler, if a hd fails the system may not report
which hd has failed, and it may go down. It also maybe that you cannot
reboot untill you split the raid and disconnect the failed HD, once you have
determined which HD has failed.
After experiencing many problems with onboard raid, as supplied on many
mobos, I purchased a reasonably high end raid card ($380) I know this unit
will show which HD has a problem and will continue running the sys when a HD
fails. I also added a third hot swap HD which the card will automatically
use to rebuild if one fails.
PS I still have onsite/offsite backups

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

A mirror raid is not an altenative to a backup.

Absolutely right. Mirroring is used to provide reduncancy in a situation
where downtime can't be tolerated. Backup is still required to provent loss
of data in situations where both the original and mirror are lost
simultaneously.

For the average user (certainly almost every home user) mirroring not only
isn't required, it isn't even a good idea.. It provides a false sense of
security, and suffers from the same weaknesses as backup to a non-removable
hard drive--it leaves you susceptible to simultaneous loss of the original
and backup to many of the most common dangers: severe power glitches, nearby
lightning strikes, virus attacks, even theft of the computer.

 

[Guest]

OK I get the message, That is kinda what I expected so I planned to use the
Other 2 drives as backups once I got my system running smoothly.

So how can I get all my programs that were installed on the F: drive to run
on my mirror drive and the C: drive.

 

[DL]

I'm a bit confused by your setup, but assuming
you have a functioning C drive containing the win installation and
functioning raid drives containing data and / or apps that were installed
with this win setup.
Any apps on F wiill have to be reinstalled to wherever.

On a personal note I think you are making life too complicated.
By all means config your system to use raid mirror with the two 80gb drives.
Disconect all other hd's, Partition these to C: win + apps, D: data and
install win and apps.
Once up and running, connect the other hd and use this as a backup of either
data only or with a third party tool eg Acronis as a full sys/data backup
NB If you have a sys backup and the origonal sys is corrupted so may your
backup.

OK I get the message, That is kinda what I expected so I planned to use the
Other 2 drives as backups once I got my system running smoothly.

So how can I get all my programs that were installed on the F: drive to run
on my mirror drive and the C: drive.

 

[Guest]

You can reach me directly at (e-mail address removed) if it would be easier.

I have 3 functioning drives. Meaning I can read and write to all 3. A 160GB
SG is rives C: & D:; a 120GB WD is F:, was c: when installed XP,; and 2 80GB
SG is mirrored and designated E:.

Windows XP is setup and working on the C: and E: drives, it is setup on the
F: drive but not working, I was going to repair that installation and as I
have already copied all to the program folders to the users on the C: & E:
drives, I was hoping to use the transfer option and transfer all of the
program function to the C: & E: drives so that in the future I could have an
instant fall back on another system should the E: fail. Of course I would
back up the data files to the systems on C: & F: daily. I could also use
Norton Windoctor to correct any regestry errors.

Just sorry that MS not longer allows windows to see already installed
programs when you are forced to reinstall Windows!

 

[DL]

If your saying you had an winxp installation together with programs
installed on F: which is no longer functioning as a bootable drive,
allthough you can boot from C: and read/write to F
Then any apps that were installed on F will have to be reinstalled to
wherever.
You cannot move apps from one win installation to another. You can only move
data.

 

[Guest]

Thanks for all of your help. Repair didn't work either so it looks like from
scratch it is.

 

[DL]

cest la vie
But please simplify your installation ie
C: drive & data drive (mirror data if you wish) backup drive
total of 4 hd's

Thanks for all of your help. Repair didn't work either so it looks like from
scratch it is.
--
Thanks in advance,
Realtor John

If your saying you had an winxp installation together with programs
installed on F: which is no longer functioning as a bootable drive,
allthough you can boot from C: and read/write to F
Then any apps that were installed on F will have to be reinstalled to
wherever.
You cannot move apps from one win installation to another. You can only move
data.

You can reach me directly at (e-mail address removed) if it would be easier.

I have 3 functioning drives. Meaning I can read and write to all 3. A 160GB
SG is rives C: & D:; a 120GB WD is F:, was c: when installed XP,; and

2
80GB

SG is mirrored and designated E:.

Windows XP is setup and working on the C: and E: drives, it is setup

on
the

F: drive but not working, I was going to repair that installation and as I
have already copied all to the program folders to the users on the C: & E:
drives, I was hoping to use the transfer option and transfer all of the
program function to the C: & E: drives so that in the future I could

have
an

instant fall back on another system should the E: fail. Of course I would
back up the data files to the systems on C: & F: daily. I could also use
Norton Windoctor to correct any regestry errors.

Just sorry that MS not longer allows windows to see already installed
programs when you are forced to reinstall Windows!
--
Thanks in advance,
Realtor John

:

I'm a bit confused by your setup, but assuming
you have a functioning C drive containing the win installation and
functioning raid drives containing data and / or apps that were installed
with this win setup.
Any apps on F wiill have to be reinstalled to wherever.

On a personal note I think you are making life too complicated.
By all means config your system to use raid mirror with the two 80gb drives.
Disconect all other hd's, Partition these to C: win + apps, D: data and
install win and apps.
Once up and running, connect the other hd and use this as a backup

of
either

data only or with a third party tool eg Acronis as a full sys/data backup
NB If you have a sys backup and the origonal sys is corrupted so may your
backup.

OK I get the message, That is kinda what I expected so I planned

to
use

the
Other 2 drives as backups once I got my system running smoothly.

So how can I get all my programs that were installed on the F:

drive
to

run
on my mirror drive and the C: drive.
--
Thanks in advance,
Realtor John


:

DL wrote:

A mirror raid is not an altenative to a backup.


Absolutely right. Mirroring is used to provide reduncancy in a situation
where downtime can't be tolerated. Backup is still required to provent
loss
of data in situations where both the original and mirror are lost
simultaneously.

For the average user (certainly almost every home user)

mirroring
not

only
isn't required, it isn't even a good idea.. It provides a false sense of
security, and suffers from the same weaknesses as backup to a
non-removable
hard drive--it leaves you susceptible to simultaneous loss of the
original
and backup to many of the most common dangers: severe power glitches,
nearby
lightning strikes, virus attacks, even theft of the computer.


--
Ken Blake - Microsoft MVP Windows: Shell/User
Please reply to the newsgroup


Depending on the raid controler, if a hd fails the system may not
report which hd has failed, and it may go down. It also maybe that
you cannot reboot untill you split the raid and disconnect the failed
HD, once you have determined which HD has failed.
After experiencing many problems with onboard raid, as supplied on
many mobos, I purchased a reasonably high end raid card ($380)

I
know

this unit will show which HD has a problem and will continue running
the sys when a HD fails. I also added a third hot swap HD

which
the

card will automatically use to rebuild if one fails.
PS I still have onsite/offsite backups

Let me straighten out any misconceptions. All of the current drives
have only been installed on this machine.

I had a faulty HD from which no data coiuld be retreived,

(sent
to a

recovery company), in the mean time I installed a SG 160GB and
installed XP and reloaded most of my programs. The damaged HD was
under warrenty so
WD sent me a refurbished HD that was the same model and size

of
the

old one. I was intending to use the WD dirive strictly as

backup
for

data, I didn't want to loose all of my data again.

After about 3 weeks the SG 160GB XP installation started

failing
and

I couldn't get it to repair. I then installed XP on the refurbished
WD drive and reinstalled the HW and SW again.

In the meantime I investigated using a RAID configuration with a
mirror solution to try to avoid more down time, I depend on my
computer everyday I can't afford to have it unusable, it

needs to
be

available 100% of the time. So I came up with the brilliant

idea
of

multiple boots.

My idea was to use the mirror drive as the main boot, and

have
one

on each of the other drives, just in case.

Most of my programs had been installed on the F: drive, of

couse
it

was the C: drive at the time. No fear I can use Norton

Windoctor
to

change any designations to whatever they need to be changed

to.
And

no there has not been a clean install on the F: drive. I read DL's
responce and I will try to repair the XP installation before I
proceed any further.

I understand about having progams on a seperate partition or

disk
is

not of much value now. It seems to me that W95 would

reinstall
and

any programs on your HD would automatically be registered and
installed for use. What a crime that XP doesn't work that way.

Thank you both, DL and Ken. I'll let you know how I make out.
--
Thanks in advance,
Realtor John


:

RealtorJohn wrote:

I had a XP crash from which I couln't recover. I installed

into
my

home built 2 80 GB SG drives and set them up as a RAID 1. I still
have the drive with all of my programs that had been loaded onto
it, XP just doesn't work. I am using PnP to put all of my hardware
back into the new RAID 1 drive (E setup.
My set up is:
ASUS P4C800 Deluxe MB
1GB RAM
Built in USB ports (4 are activated)
Built in Network connection (RJ45 Port)
Built in Sound using Sound MAx software.
Uses Promise Fst Trak 378 Driver for the RAID
I have also make the system a multiple boot with an XP

system
on

C:, E:, & F: C: is SG 160GB
D: is a 22GB portion of C:
E: is 2 SG 80 GB Raid 1 Mirrorred drives (I've had 2

crashes in
6

months) F:is a WD 120GB a rebuilt replacement for the the original
failure.

F: boot does not work and that is the disk with all of the
installed HW & SW

Certainly there must be a way to have the progams already installed