Re: OT: Windows "brain transplant" redux

[J R FOX <jr_fox@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi Paul,

I'm finally ready to try this, but may need that Avira

NTFSDOS that you mentioned . . .  unless I can find

that FreeDOS boot disc (which might be a CD), hoping

that it is similarly equipped for NTFS access.

Let me see if I've got this procedure right:

1. First, set the BIOS to permit booting from a USB

    floppy drive.  (And hope that that works.)  With

    any of the computers in question, that is a *different*

    setting than allowing for optical drive boot, or USB

    optical drive or flashdrive boot.  With some of these

    computers, some of those choices will be obeyed, and

    some will just be ignored.

2. Assuming it's gotten that far, use the NTFSDOS diskette.

3. Use the W98 boot floppy to run FDISK /MBR.  (?)

I've already cloned the subject HDD, and can re-clone it

as necessary.  Also going to try the Macrium Reflect restore-

to-different-hardware facility.  Hopefully one of these things

will work.

  Jordan

On Monday, February 10, 2020, 5:39:08 AM PST, Paul Breeze <dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Dear Jordan

Thank link may be useful.  I have used Virtual Floppy Drive in the past
but it does not seem to work with 64 bit windows, or at least I have not
been able to get it to work.

Regarding the boot disc, you need a real floppy disc drive and a real
floppy disc.  I have used a usb floppy drive and that was fine.  To key
to the trick is that you are overwriting the master boot record of the
system drive and this is protected if you boot from it.  However if you
boot from a floppy you can carry out this operation.  If you are running
a virtual pc with XP then you can simply boot from the image, but if you
want to rebuild a real system you need the real hardware.  I used to do
this regularly when I ran a system based on XP.

Paul


On 09/02/2020 17:06, J R FOX wrote:
Hi Paul,

I still have an external (USB powered) floppy drive. Since we're all
about the by now fairly obscure here
on this List, for reference sake I will mention a diskette
imaging program that I used successfully, back in the
day, from a French software developer.

    ARDI | VETUSWARE.COM - the biggest free abandonware collection in the
universe <https://vetusware.com/manufacturer/ARDI/?author=1176>

   


On Saturday, February 8, 2020, 10:11:12 AM PST, Paul Breeze
<dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:


Dear Jordan

It is a 3.5 inch DOS floppy boot disc (image) so it is no size atall.
That is what you need for this trick.  You have to be able to boot into
DOS from the floppy disc and then use the dos utility.  I have always
used a Win98 floppy boot disk but it will probably work with earlier
versions of DOS if you have one that you can boot with.  If you would
like a copy of the one I have, I can send it to you privately.

Paul



On Friday, February 7, 2020, 5:47:40 AM PST, Paul Breeze
<dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <mailto:dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
<mailto:dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx

<mailto:dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>>> wrote:



PS.  There is an old trick, that your probably already know, for when
Windows XP will not boot after copying to a new drive or restoring. Boot
from a Windows 98 boot disk and then command FDISK /MBR.  This
overwrites the master boot record, forcing XP to recreate it.  In case
you should be interested I also have a copy of AVIRA's NTFSDOS which
allows you access to a hard drive formatted with NTFS from DOS.