Re: XyWrite/NB with BartPE

[Michael Norman michael.norman@xxxxxxxx]

At 10:41 AM 5/28/2007, Norman wrote:
> > I did not, repeat did not, have to use the I386 method.
> > I borrowed a clean unencumbered XP Pro SP2 install disk instead

Robert Holmgren:
> You make that sound like the easier, preferred way to build
> BartPE. Actually, an SP1+ \I386 dir is by far the simplest way
> to go -- and the fastest.
I can see that now. All one wants is a simple WIN environment, and as
I reread the site, I can see how I went to Cleveland from
Philadelphia to get to New York.
> > I used my BartPe disk last month. I'd deleted a
> > registry entry that prevented the computer from
> > initializing XP. I'd backed up the registry with ERUNT,
> > but for the life of me couldn't figure out how
> > to get to NTFS C:\, my only partition, to a DOS
> > prompt on the HD to run ERDNT on the hard drive.
>
> Seems to me that one of the main attractions of BartPE is native
> access to NTFS. I've always formatted the BootDrive as FAT32 so
> that a DOS-based (Win98) rescue disk can address it (Lars
> Hederer makes a huge point of this in his docs to ERUNT).

Yes, as I discovered the hard way. (See earlier posts on this.)
>  Also, I simply can't understand why anybody would not partition their
> disk! To throw all your eggs in one basket makes no sense to
> me. And the backup/restore times are insane!
I understand the logic of partitioning, though not how it provides
greater security. Perhaps it's the basket metaphor that I'm reading
wrong. If you have partitions and the disk fails, fails irreparably,
how does partitioning help? Either you'd have to get a new disk or a
new machine and rebuild your setup anyway. Your point about back-up
times is well taken. That I can see being a real burden. I'm using
only 13 gigs of an 80-gig disk. I make two images a week, verify each
from a boot disk and mount each to double check. Takes 8 minutes to
make the image, 7 minutes to verify it, two minutes to mount the
image and spot check the files. I also use Second Copy to backup
selected data folders/directories -- everything on an external HD.
Once a month or so I also burn my most important data to a CD. So
twenty minutes overall twice a week to back up. I'm sure with a
better strategy, and partitioning, I could cut that at least in half.
The biggest weakness in my scheme, such as it is, is the lack of a
redundant external HD.
Michael Norman