New hard disk

  • Thread starter Thread starter Sanford Aranoff
  • Start date Start date
S

Sanford Aranoff

On a regular basis I create an image of my hard disk using Drive Image
7. The image file is located on an external disk. My hard disk went, and
I replaced it. The Dell technician used the Win XP SP2 restore disk to
restore Windows. I then restored my disk from the external by booting
with the Drive Image CD. It would not reboot! This meant that the
imaging software was faulty, as it did not restore the system! Would
Symantec Ghost work? Or is it impossible to restore the system from an
external?

Well, I had to put in the Windows CD and restore. This deleted the
registry. I copied from the external the /Windows files, pressing Ignore
for files it did not allow me to copy. Some registry settings I exported
and was able to import. I also exported the entire registry, but was not
able to import it.

Hard disks go all the time. It should be possible to restore the system
without reinstalling the programs using the CD's.

Can one create a restore point on the external, and restore from here?
Can BACKUP do this job?

I now have a few minor problems. Open Control Panel. I get an error
message: Intel (R) PROset Resources are not available. Click OK,and the
control panel opens. Do you have any idea how to fix this?

Reboot. It asks me which Windows I want. Both are identical. How can I
get rid of the message?

Thank you very much.
 
Sanford Aranoff said:
On a regular basis I create an image of my hard disk using Drive Image
7. The image file is located on an external disk. My hard disk went, and
I replaced it. The Dell technician used the Win XP SP2 restore disk to
restore Windows. I then restored my disk from the external by booting
with the Drive Image CD. It would not reboot! This meant that the
imaging software was faulty, as it did not restore the system! Would
Symantec Ghost work? Or is it impossible to restore the system from an
external?

Well, I had to put in the Windows CD and restore. This deleted the
registry. I copied from the external the /Windows files, pressing Ignore
for files it did not allow me to copy. Some registry settings I exported
and was able to import. I also exported the entire registry, but was not
able to import it.

Hard disks go all the time. It should be possible to restore the system
without reinstalling the programs using the CD's.

Can one create a restore point on the external, and restore from here?
Can BACKUP do this job?

I now have a few minor problems. Open Control Panel. I get an error
message: Intel (R) PROset Resources are not available. Click OK,and the
control panel opens. Do you have any idea how to fix this?

Reboot. It asks me which Windows I want. Both are identical. How can I
get rid of the message?

Thank you very much.

I sometimes use Norton Ghost but I would think your program should have an option of creating boot floppies with a restore (from whatever drive you have the image on) or it may have an option to make the image bootable.
Click to expand...
 
Got dragged away........ and as pointed out by John most of these full
feature programs span multiple CDs or DVDs and often the program CD is also
bootable to allow restores of images wherever they are and it should contain
a method (Norton has Ghost Walker I think) of viewing the image to see what
is in it. Finally of course when these programs create images they usually
give an option to verify the image. This takes twice as long but it
sometimes saves a lot of heartache!

In any case sometimes images are not the "best" backup since they recreate
any problems that have developed. Why not (also) use a back-up program to
decide which folders/files to back-up to another disk and then in the event
of a disaster you have "good" back-up files? I use free (donation if you
wish) Cobian backup which will put the files almost anywhere (USB, Firewire,
internal etc drives) including FTP transfer if you have GBs of webspace
(except CD or DVD but you can use another program to burn the files if you
wish). It does it all on timed jobs and you can have full, differential,
incremental backups (multiple jobs can be run to create different types of
back-ups) as you prefer. It will also run either as a service or as a
program with a GUI.
 
Dave said:
Got dragged away........ and as pointed out by John most of these full
feature programs span multiple CDs or DVDs and often the program CD is also
bootable to allow restores of images wherever they are and it should contain
a method (Norton has Ghost Walker I think) of viewing the image to see what
is in it. Finally of course when these programs create images they usually
give an option to verify the image. This takes twice as long but it
sometimes saves a lot of heartache!

In any case sometimes images are not the "best" backup since they recreate
any problems that have developed. Why not (also) use a back-up program to
decide which folders/files to back-up to another disk and then in the event
of a disaster you have "good" back-up files? I use free (donation if you
wish) Cobian backup which will put the files almost anywhere (USB, Firewire,
internal etc drives) including FTP transfer if you have GBs of webspace
(except CD or DVD but you can use another program to burn the files if you
wish). It does it all on timed jobs and you can have full, differential,
incremental backups (multiple jobs can be run to create different types of
back-ups) as you prefer. It will also run either as a service or as a
program with a GUI.
Click to expand...

Maybe you do not understand. I have my files on the external. What I do not have is the registry and other mysterous files. Now the correct way to backup the system is to put \windows on the CD, and then copy the extra files
from the external.
 
Sanford said:
Dave A wrote:




Maybe you do not understand. I have my files on the external. What I do not have is the registry and other mysterous files. Now the correct way to backup the system is to put \windows on the CD, and then copy the extra files
from the external.
Click to expand...

Regardless of whether one uses Drive Image or Ghost or True Image,
the image file must be generated on an external partition or media
since the image file must be re-written to the partition from which
it was derived, in the case of restoring from backup. The trick is
to get the computer started to the point of being able to recover
the operating system from its image file.

As to why the Drive Image CD had failed to boot, one must examine
the computer for the cause, if the CDROM disc made bootable. And one
does not need Windows to copy the Windows XP (or other OS) image file
to its system partition on a sector-by-sector basis. (IIRC, Drive
Image borrows a runtime version of DR DOS.) Because Windows does not
allow files that are in use to be copied, it would require a non-
Windows process, such as Drive Image, Ghost, True Image, etc., to
include the excluded Registry Files, functioning system files, etc.,
to be included in the image.

In one really wants to do as you propose, then the procedure might
be to create a dual-boot between Win98SE and Windows XP with FAT32
partitions, and separate partitions for each OS. A complete copy of
XP can be made via the Win98SE copy command, and vice versa.
 
GHalleck said:
Regardless of whether one uses Drive Image or Ghost or True Image,
the image file must be generated on an external partition or media
since the image file must be re-written to the partition from which
it was derived, in the case of restoring from backup. The trick is
to get the computer started to the point of being able to recover
the operating system from its image file.

As to why the Drive Image CD had failed to boot, one must examine
the computer for the cause, if the CDROM disc made bootable. And one
does not need Windows to copy the Windows XP (or other OS) image file
to its system partition on a sector-by-sector basis. (IIRC, Drive
Image borrows a runtime version of DR DOS.) Because Windows does not
allow files that are in use to be copied, it would require a non-
Windows process, such as Drive Image, Ghost, True Image, etc., to
include the excluded Registry Files, functioning system files, etc.,
to be included in the image.

In one really wants to do as you propose, then the procedure might
be to create a dual-boot between Win98SE and Windows XP with FAT32
partitions, and separate partitions for each OS. A complete copy of
XP can be made via the Win98SE copy command, and vice versa.
Click to expand...

Okay, let me understand. I create a separate partition and install Win98SE. (I'll have to get it somehow). Then I restore the files to a directory on the external hard disk. I then use Win98SE copy to copy /windows from the
external to the XP partition.

Is it possible to copy \Windows from the external to a directory c:\external\Windows, and then use DR DOS or whatever to copy it back to Windows?
 
Sorry for the overquote.

Okay, let me understand. I create a separate partition and install Win98SE. (I'll have to get it somehow). Then I restore the files to a directory on the external hard disk. I then use Win98SE copy to copy /windows from the
external to the XP partition.

Is it possible to copy \Windows from the external to a directory c:\external\Windows, and then use DR DOS or whatever to copy it back to Windows? Or use some software to create a bootable CD which would have /Windows. I would
then restore all my files from the external hard disk, and then insert the CD and restore /windows (including the registry).
Click to expand...

Thanks.
 
Sanford said:
Sorry for the overquote.





Thanks.
Click to expand...

Read the entire blurb. This dual-boot trick only works with FAT32
partitions, including that for the Windows XP system partition. It
might be something you do not really want to do.
 
Sanford said:
Sorry for the overquote.





Thanks.
Click to expand...

But why? This is the manual way of doing what Disk Image, Ghost, etc.,
does, for making disk image copies of the Windows system partition as
well as any other that can be selected by the user. The Dell tech was
incorrect in doing a Windows XP restore; it was not necessary since the
Disk Image image file had superseded it. Not that the Dell tech was
incorrect in offering this advice...this was the only advice that the
tech could offer on a support call without incurring any liability to
Dell. The user should have understood better.

Nor is it really a Windows problem that the Drive Image CD with the
image file had failed to reboot. It is a computer fault, perhaps in
bios setup. Or it could be an user fault in not specifying to make the
CD bootable.

Restoring partitions manually, as mentioned by GHalleck, carries its
own risks. Whilst it can be done, there are caveats and this process
should be left to the experts with the tools to do it. (Note that the
use of Win98SE requires FAT32 partitions...not "typical" in a Windows
XP installation.) Drive Image has been bought by Symantec. Test drive
Ghost or True Image or any other imaging application; choose one and
use it.
 
But why? This is the manual way of doing what Disk Image, Ghost, etc.,
does, for making disk image copies of the Windows system partition as
well as any other that can be selected by the user. The Dell tech was
incorrect in doing a Windows XP restore; it was not necessary since the
Disk Image image file had superseded it. Not that the Dell tech was
incorrect in offering this advice...this was the only advice that the
tech could offer on a support call without incurring any liability to
Dell. The user should have understood better.

Nor is it really a Windows problem that the Drive Image CD with the
image file had failed to reboot. It is a computer fault, perhaps in
bios setup. Or it could be an user fault in not specifying to make the
CD bootable.

Restoring partitions manually, as mentioned by GHalleck, carries its
own risks. Whilst it can be done, there are caveats and this process
should be left to the experts with the tools to do it. (Note that the
use of Win98SE requires FAT32 partitions...not "typical" in a Windows
XP installation.) Drive Image has been bought by Symantec. Test drive
Ghost or True Image or any other imaging application; choose one and
use it.
Click to expand...

The Drive Image CD was bootable. I booted from this CD, and did the restore. It seemed to go fine. "Reboot after restore". I checked yes. The reboot failed.

Shall I have reformatted the disk prior to booting from the Drive Image CD?

Drive Image works fine. It creates images, and I can restore individual files. But when I had to replace the hard disk I could not reboot from the disk.

My wonder is that we know that hard disks fail frequently. We have known this for years. Why isn't there a simple way to replace the hard disk and restore from the image on the external?
 
Sanford said:
The Drive Image CD was bootable. I booted from this CD, and did the restore. It seemed to go fine. "Reboot after restore". I checked yes. The reboot failed.

Shall I have reformatted the disk prior to booting from the Drive Image CD?

Drive Image works fine. It creates images, and I can restore individual files. But when I had to replace the hard disk I could not reboot from the disk.

My wonder is that we know that hard disks fail frequently. We have known this for years. Why isn't there a simple way to replace the hard disk and restore from the image on the external?
Click to expand...

Restoring from external disk drives has been done from years. Drive
Image was one of the first to support the use of external SCSI drives.
It could be started from a floppy disk drive which loaded an operating
system into memory and the executable file to clone the new partition
from the image file stored on the external drive. Ghost is another that
had this capability. AFAIK, almost all of the current disk imaging apps
have the capability of self-booting or running from a rudimentary OS
just for the purpose of cloning and, depending on the setup, some other
options. It is about as simple as it can get...practically routine.
 
The Drive Image CD was bootable. I booted from this CD, and did the restore. It seemed to go fine. "Reboot after restore". I checked yes. The reboot failed.
Restoring from external disk drives has been done from years. Drive
Image was one of the first to support the use of external SCSI drives.
It could be started from a floppy disk drive which loaded an operating
system into memory and the executable file to clone the new partition
from the image file stored on the external drive. Ghost is another that
had this capability. AFAIK, almost all of the current disk imaging apps
have the capability of self-booting or running from a rudimentary OS
just for the purpose of cloning and, depending on the setup, some other
options. It is about as simple as it can get...practically routine.
Click to expand...

You did not answer my questions.

1. Should I have ran Drive Image prior to the Windows restore CD?

2. If I run Drive Image on a just formatted hard disk, and try to restore the system from the image on the external hard disk, how can the computer see the external disk if Windows was not
installed?
 
Replied in-line:

Just as I thought...someone did not read the DriveImage manual.
It had to be copied from the DriveImage cdrom or from the website
if it had been downloaded. And it would have helped had these 2
questions been directly asked right from the outset.
You did not answer my questions.

1. Should I have ran Drive Image prior to the Windows restore CD?
Click to expand...

Yes. The Windows restore CD is not necessary if the DriveImage image
file had superseded it. The Windows restore CD from Dell is just the
disk image of the factory version. The Drive Image image file contains
the version of Windows as the user had configured it, at the time the
image was made.

You could have figured that out by the answer given by Mistoffolees,
when he wrote that the Dell technician was just doing his/her job.
2. If I run Drive Image on a just formatted hard disk, and try to restore the system from the image on the external hard disk, how can the computer see the external disk if Windows was not
installed?
Click to expand...

The Windows operating system is not needed to restore from an external
source. The Windows operating system, in fact, may hinder just such a
recovery, in order to protect itself from having working system files
over-written. Mistoffolees, again, gave the answer. Most self-booting
disk cloning or recovery programs have all the commands built-in for
partitioning, sizing, formatting and the sector-by-sector extraction
of the image file and copying to the hard drive, just as they do for
building the sector-by-sector imaging of the hard drive to a file.

DriveImage is somewhat dated. It boots into a runtime version of DR DOS
and, more recently, into its descendent version (? Culebra). If the
computer cannot natively identify the external drive (because it or its
bios is too ancient), then one must also re-write the autoexec.bat and
config.sys file, and add the system drivers to the boot disc. Nor, IIRC,
can DriveImage 7.0 restore from USB. (External SCSI, yes; internal HD,
yes.) Current versions of Ghost and True Image, among others, are OK
(and this is cominh from a Drive Image user when it was programmed by
PowerQuest.)
 
Dave A said:
Got dragged away........ and as pointed out by John most of these full
feature programs span multiple CDs or DVDs and often the program CD is
also
bootable to allow restores of images wherever they are and it should
contain
a method (Norton has Ghost Walker I think) of viewing the image to see
what
is in it. Finally of course when these programs create images they
usually
give an option to verify the image. This takes twice as long but it
sometimes saves a lot of heartache!

In any case sometimes images are not the "best" backup since they recreate
any problems that have developed. Why not (also) use a back-up program to
decide which folders/files to back-up to another disk and then in the
event
of a disaster you have "good" back-up files? I use free (donation if you
wish) Cobian backup which will put the files almost anywhere (USB,
Firewire,
internal etc drives) including FTP transfer if you have GBs of webspace
(except CD or DVD but you can use another program to burn the files if you
wish). It does it all on timed jobs and you can have full, differential,
incremental backups (multiple jobs can be run to create different types of
back-ups) as you prefer. It will also run either as a service or as a
program with a GUI.
Click to expand...

Verification takes just slightly over 33% beyond the imaging time on
DriveImage 7.0, my experiences.
 
Don't understand. More details involved in the recovery. Did you
click/check any options prior to the recovery to start? For instance boot
signature and/or mbr. Did you verify the the image file(s) during the
imaging process?
Are you recovering to the same computer, including same identical hardware
and so forth?
 
Sanford Aranoff said:
The Drive Image CD was bootable. I booted from this CD, and did the
restore. It seemed to go fine. "Reboot after restore". I checked yes. The
reboot failed.

Shall I have reformatted the disk prior to booting from the Drive Image
CD?

Drive Image works fine. It creates images, and I can restore individual
files. But when I had to replace the hard disk I could not reboot from the
disk.

My wonder is that we know that hard disks fail frequently. We have known
this for years. Why isn't there a simple way to replace the hard disk and
restore from the image on the external?
Click to expand...

Using the DI 7.0 installation/recovery boot CD, it recovers the data as
saved. That's why there's a verification option during the imaging process
that can be elected. Faulty, the image will not save to disk. There will
be nothing to recover as a result. If faulty, and the verification is NOT
elected, and the image file is internally corrupt, the resulting image is no
good for recovery.

Assuming the recovery image file is okay, all DI needs is adequate
blank/unused hard drive space to write the partition and its contents. If
you want that recovered partition bootable, and there's another bootable
partition on that hard drive, that's another question you've not asked if
true.
 
DriveImage is somewhat dated. It boots into a runtime version of DR DOS
and, more recently, into its descendent version (? Culebra). If the
computer cannot natively identify the external drive (because it or its
bios is too ancient), then one must also re-write the autoexec.bat and
config.sys file, and add the system drivers to the boot disc. Nor, IIRC,
can DriveImage 7.0 restore from USB. (External SCSI, yes; internal HD,
yes.) Current versions of Ghost and True Image, among others, are OK
(and this is cominh from a Drive Image user when it was programmed by
PowerQuest.)
Click to expand...

Okay, I got it. I'll get Acronis. This will allow me to create an image of the hard disk on the external drive (USB). In case of a crash, I replace the hard disk, format it, put in the Acronis
bootable disk, and restore from the external.

Is this correct? If so, I'll get the Acronis product right away.

Thanks a lot.
 
Back
Top