Copying XP Install Cd to Flash Drive

[casey.o]

I've read several webites that say it IS possible to boot and install XP
from a Flash Drive, but the more I read, the more confused I get. Seems
a lot of these sites are trying to sell their software too, which is
often costly.

Anyhow, while making an installable flash drive seems like a great idea,
I'm gonna put that off to the back burner for now. What I want to do
now, is copy all the data from the XP Cd to either the flash drive, or
to the hard drive. The reason is because I have tried to install XP to a
different hard drive at least 10 times, and each time I get an error
message (cant read _xxxxxx_ file), and then it starts over again.

I did clean the CD, and while it's not to bad, it does show a few minor
scratches. The plan then became to copy all the files to a flash drive,
then burn them to a new CD. However I think I still may need to somehow
make that new CD bootable, and that probably brings up another problem.

Anyhow, I did manage to copy much of the CD to flash drive just using
COPY in file manager. But it got to one file, left an error msg saying
the file is not readable, and the whole copy process quit.

To begin, im lookig for a piece of freeware that will copy everything,
and skip one bad file, and tell me which file(s) could not be copied.
Can someone suggest such a program?

Whatever files are missing, I have an out of state friend who has the
same CD, and who can email me the missing (broken) files.

The problem is in the i386 folder. (biggest one of course).
The rest of the CD copied fine.

Once I get a complete i386 folder, I'll have to try to figure out how to
make a new CD that will boot, or preferably a bootable installer on
Flash Drive.

Thanks

 

[Paul]

I've read several webites that say it IS possible to boot and install XP
from a Flash Drive, but the more I read, the more confused I get. Seems
a lot of these sites are trying to sell their software too, which is
often costly.

Anyhow, while making an installable flash drive seems like a great idea,
I'm gonna put that off to the back burner for now. What I want to do
now, is copy all the data from the XP Cd to either the flash drive, or
to the hard drive. The reason is because I have tried to install XP to a
different hard drive at least 10 times, and each time I get an error
message (cant read _xxxxxx_ file), and then it starts over again.

I did clean the CD, and while it's not to bad, it does show a few minor
scratches. The plan then became to copy all the files to a flash drive,
then burn them to a new CD. However I think I still may need to somehow
make that new CD bootable, and that probably brings up another problem.

Anyhow, I did manage to copy much of the CD to flash drive just using
COPY in file manager. But it got to one file, left an error msg saying
the file is not readable, and the whole copy process quit.

To begin, im lookig for a piece of freeware that will copy everything,
and skip one bad file, and tell me which file(s) could not be copied.
Can someone suggest such a program?

Whatever files are missing, I have an out of state friend who has the
same CD, and who can email me the missing (broken) files.

The problem is in the i386 folder. (biggest one of course).
The rest of the CD copied fine.

Once I get a complete i386 folder, I'll have to try to figure out how to
make a new CD that will boot, or preferably a bootable installer on
Flash Drive.

Thanks

For CD to CD, try Imgburn. Wikipedia articles sometimes
warn you about tool bars or Google Chrome being included
with newer versions of stuff.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imgburn

This archived page, gives me the checksum for the file.

https://web.archive.org/web/20090815083118/http://www.imgburn.com/index.php?act=download

ImgBurn v2.5.0.0 (2,119 KB)
Released: Sunday 26th July 2009

CRC32: 39CD6FC6
MD5: F3791CFACDAC03B9E676E44AA2630243
SHA-1: E07BCC23B495D0A966BAE359EA9E0E3A11888454

When I download version 2.5.0.0 from here, I can then
verify (by the SHA1), that it's clean. You can upload
the file to virustotal, to effectively generate a checksum.
The virustotal.com page should show various checksums.

http://www.oldversion.com/windows/imgburn/

ImgBurn 2.5.0.0 Jul 26, 2009 2.07 MB

For example, "Additional Details" tab here, should
match the details of the download. In other words, if you
use virustotal.com to scan your download, you should
end up on this page.

https://www.virustotal.com/en/file/...c6c9131ba6c7d279022e0d372f28ba8107d/analysis/

I don't know how well Imgburn does on reading bad CDs,
whether it includes raw read capabilities or not. But
it's still worth a shot.

Paul

 

[J. P. Gilliver (John)]

In message <[email protected]>,

I've read several webites that say it IS possible to boot and install XP
from a Flash Drive, but the more I read, the more confused I get. Seems
a lot of these sites are trying to sell their software too, which is
often costly.

Can't comment on the flash drive install.

Anyhow, while making an installable flash drive seems like a great idea,
I'm gonna put that off to the back burner for now. What I want to do
now, is copy all the data from the XP Cd to either the flash drive, or
to the hard drive. The reason is because I have tried to install XP to a
different hard drive at least 10 times, and each time I get an error
message (cant read _xxxxxx_ file), and then it starts over again.

I did clean the CD, and while it's not to bad, it does show a few minor
scratches. The plan then became to copy all the files to a flash drive,
then burn them to a new CD. However I think I still may need to somehow

Why via a flash drive rather than just the hard drive?

make that new CD bootable, and that probably brings up another problem.

Given the right software, just a plain CD copy should duplicate the CD
as bootable; CDBurnerXP is generally considered to have the
easiest-to-use simple "make a copy of a CD" button, but there are many.
Unfortunately, I don't know how it, imgburn as recommended by Paul, or
any of the others get on when they get to a dud sector.
[]

Whatever files are missing, I have an out of state friend who has the
same CD, and who can email me the missing (broken) files.

By far a simpler solution would be to have the friend copy the CD for
you, and either physically send you the copy, or extract (which doesn't
necessitate making a physical copy) an ISO file (which is an image of a
CD, but all as one file - you then burn it to a CD, though you have to
make sure you select the right part of your burning software to use an
ISO file, you don't just put it on a CD as a data file - but all burning
software I've ever used has the ability to use ISO files) and send you
that (possibly via some means other than email). I'd be most surprised
if there aren't downloadable such files on the internet anyway, though
you'd want to make sure via MD5 or similar that they are the real thing.

The problem is in the i386 folder. (biggest one of course).
The rest of the CD copied fine.

You could also ask your friend to email you just that folder (perhaps
zipped, perhaps in several goes). There's still the matter of then
making the reassembled CD bootable - though I have a feeling that what
makes CDs bootable is the presence or absence of certain files in the
root directory rather than anything else: can anyone confirm? (If this
is so, then "making it bootable" isn't really meaningful.)

Once I get a complete i386 folder, I'll have to try to figure out how to
make a new CD that will boot, or preferably a bootable installer on
Flash Drive.

Thanks

--
J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/<1985 MB++G()AL-IS-Ch++(p)Ar@T+H+Sh0!:`)DNAf

The truth is, almost everyone in the world is lovely. But the world is ruined
for us by the sociopaths and those who aren't lovely. - Richard Osman to
Alison Graham, in Radio Times 2013-6-8 to 14

 

[casey.o]

I've read several webites that say it IS possible to boot and install XP
from a Flash Drive, but the more I read, the more confused I get. Seems
a lot of these sites are trying to sell their software too, which is
often costly.

Can't comment on the flash drive install.

Anyhow, while making an installable flash drive seems like a great idea,
I'm gonna put that off to the back burner for now. What I want to do
now, is copy all the data from the XP Cd to either the flash drive, or
to the hard drive. The reason is because I have tried to install XP to a
different hard drive at least 10 times, and each time I get an error
message (cant read _xxxxxx_ file), and then it starts over again.

I did clean the CD, and while it's not to bad, it does show a few minor
scratches. The plan then became to copy all the files to a flash drive,
then burn them to a new CD. However I think I still may need to somehow

Why via a flash drive rather than just the hard drive?

make that new CD bootable, and that probably brings up another problem.

Given the right software, just a plain CD copy should duplicate the CD
as bootable; CDBurnerXP is generally considered to have the
easiest-to-use simple "make a copy of a CD" button, but there are many.
Unfortunately, I don't know how it, imgburn as recommended by Paul, or
any of the others get on when they get to a dud sector.
[]

Whatever files are missing, I have an out of state friend who has the
same CD, and who can email me the missing (broken) files.

By far a simpler solution would be to have the friend copy the CD for
you, and either physically send you the copy, or extract (which doesn't
necessitate making a physical copy) an ISO file (which is an image of a
CD, but all as one file - you then burn it to a CD, though you have to
make sure you select the right part of your burning software to use an
ISO file, you don't just put it on a CD as a data file - but all burning
software I've ever used has the ability to use ISO files) and send you
that (possibly via some means other than email). I'd be most surprised
if there aren't downloadable such files on the internet anyway, though
you'd want to make sure via MD5 or similar that they are the real thing.

The problem is in the i386 folder. (biggest one of course).
The rest of the CD copied fine.

You could also ask your friend to email you just that folder (perhaps
zipped, perhaps in several goes). There's still the matter of then
making the reassembled CD bootable - though I have a feeling that what
makes CDs bootable is the presence or absence of certain files in the
root directory rather than anything else: can anyone confirm? (If this
is so, then "making it bootable" isn't really meaningful.)

Once I get a complete i386 folder, I'll have to try to figure out how to
make a new CD that will boot, or preferably a bootable installer on
Flash Drive.

Thanks

After cleaning the disk one more time, and using rubbing alcohol this
time, I succeeded in copying everything to a flash drive. I copied each
sub-directory inside the i386 folder one at a time. I figured that way
I'd know which folder caused the error, and would have a better idea
what file to look for. I was pleased when it all copied without
problems.

Now, to install from this flash drive will be another thing. First off,
this old computer does NOT have a boot from USB option in the Bios. I
could plug in the drive I plan to use as a slave, copy all the files to
that HD, and run the setup program from the XP install files, but if I'm
not mistaken, dont the XP install format the HD?

Another thought is to install a barebones install of Win98 or Win2000,
make sure that USB support is enabled, insert that USB flash drive, and
run the XP installer as an upgrade (I assume that way it wont format the
HD).

I suppose I could try to make a copy of the CD to another CD, but it may
not work on this "touchy" CD that I have. Yea, as a last resort, I may
have my friend just burn me a new one and mail it to me, but that will
set me back at least a week by the time I get it. I know basically how
an ISO file works, but will it make a bootable CD? I have no clue, and
have my doubts..... Actually, I've never burned a CD, so I have never
used an ISO file to make a CD. But I have clicked on an ISO file and
found it opens like a .ZIP file. In fact I think Winzip opened it, but
I cant remember. So all I know is that an ISO is an image of a cd, and
I believe it can be an image of any other media, or maybe even a
folder???? I guess it's similar to a .ZIP file, but has some other
qualities that makes it suitable to burn a CD????

 

[J. P. Gilliver (John)]

In message <[email protected]>,

could plug in the drive I plan to use as a slave, copy all the files to
that HD, and run the setup program from the XP install files, but if I'm
not mistaken, dont the XP install format the HD?

It certainly has that ability, but I don't think you have to let it. (I
can't remember if it's the default or not.)

Another thought is to install a barebones install of Win98 or Win2000,
make sure that USB support is enabled, insert that USB flash drive, and
run the XP installer as an upgrade (I assume that way it wont format the
HD).

Probably not - but I have the feeling that the install involves at least
one restart, and you'd be hoping that you had working USB support by the
time it got to that point.
[]

set me back at least a week by the time I get it. I know basically how
an ISO file works, but will it make a bootable CD? I have no clue, and

If it was made from a "bootable CD", then it will make one. (I'm still
not sure whether there is anything other than the presence of certain
files in the root - such as autorun and things like that - that makes a
CD "bootable".)

have my doubts..... Actually, I've never burned a CD, so I have never
used an ISO file to make a CD. But I have clicked on an ISO file and

You need to investigate your CD-burning software to find out how to tell
it you are wanting to burn from an ISO file. If you're just using the
basic XP itself, which does have some CD-writing ability built-in, I'm
not sure that _has_ a burn-from-an-ISO image.