Re: XyWrite & Windows 2000

["Robert Holmgren" holmgren@xxxxxxxx]

** Reply to message from Harry Binswanger  on Tue, 01 Oct 2002
12:59:38 -0400

Harry:

> Robert wrote:

>> If you have a choice, *never* put a program on the same drive
>> as the OpSys. This way, if you have to reinstall/replace the OpSys,
>> you don't lose your programming.

> Sounds good, but doesn't the installation process of most programs
> require putting stuff in windows\system and suchlike directories? I
> take it the goal is to be able to re-install the OS without having
> to re- install the apps, but how is that accomplished, given the app's
> installation of stuff in the \windows directory?

Well, I make backups -- believe it or not. You've heard of them, right?
To CDs that I burn fairly regularly (maybe every two months, or after a
major re-jig of the OpSys).

First, I backup the Registry to the Bootdrive (do NOT "Export" it from
REGEDIT, that doesn't work right) -- grabbing the Registry is very
important! -- ERUNT is a good free util that does this (look for it on
Google). (The Registry isn't just one file, it's a bunch of files [called
a "Hive"], and you need them all.)

Then I just back the Win2K BootDrive up to as many CDs as necessary.  I
wrote a Rexx CMDfile that does this automatically, breaking the list of
files down into chunks (configurable size, depending on capacity of your
CD blanks) that will fit on CDs. It writes the files in the order they
appear on the BootDrive (including PAGEFILE.SYS), so you don't lose your
boot order. Since the list is plain text, you can modify it to exclude
individual files or whole directories, if you want to get rid of them. It
works with (copyleft freeware) MKISOFS and CDRECORD. A second CMDfile
does the actual imagefile creation and then copies to CD, after I've set
up the disk structure with the first CMDfile. (If you want these two
files, I'll ZIP them up & post them, but you probably need a "real" copy
of Rexx, not just a runtime.) The only downside is that it takes time to
burn the CDs, usually at 1x speed -- maybe 50+ minutes each, and you
shouldn't use your computer while burning because any interruption in the
data stream supplied to the burner *will* crash the burn. IOW, best done
while otherwise engaged.

If you need to restore, reformat the Bootdrive from any maintenance
installation (it must be able to read your BootDrive file system), and
just XCOPY off the CDs, then restore the Registry with ERUNT (ERDNT).

Be sure when you XCOPY that you grab the hidden|system files, recreate the
directory structure, and verify: switches /H /E /V...

What I get is a 100% free backup system. Hey, it's a lot better than
reinstallation, which is starting over from scratch -- real work. And
you do *not* have to reinstall your programs, because they're elsewhere.
It works for me, but YMMV. (Obviously, offered at your own risk, solely!)

-----------------------------
Robert Holmgren
holmgren@xxxxxxxx
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