After working for a week reinstalling everything Win2K and all my apps
(hard disk change problem mentioned in another post), I discovered
that Win2K had graciously allotted me with NTFS clusters of 512 bytes.
Should be easy to change to the more efficient 4096 bytes right?
Luckily I made a Ghost image before I tried PowerQuest Partition Magic
8.01 (the ltest version to my knowledge) to change the cluster size (I
booted into another Win2K installation and ran PM from there, of
course). PM failed miserably on my 20GB partition (a drive letter in
an extended partition). After moving all the data around for 30min,
out pops a little error message: "Too many clusters!" Couldn't they
have figured that out before starting?
So I thought, I'll reformat the partition with 4K clustes, then apply
my Ghost image onto it and it'll be perfect! Wrong. Ghost gave me
the data alright (I hope), but the cluster size went back to 512.

What's the solution to this?

Can't I just copy all the files somewhere else, reformat the
partition, then copy them back? Will I break anything? What?
Can I use the internal backup tool to backup the whole partition,
reformat, then restore it? Will that break anything? What?

Thanks a million...

Habib

Sounds like this was a conversion. http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=140365

--

Regards,

Dave Patrick ....Please no email replies - reply in newsgroup.
Microsoft Certified Professional
Microsoft MVP [Windows]
http://www.microsoft.com/protect

"H. Debs" wrote:
| After working for a week reinstalling everything Win2K and all my apps
| (hard disk change problem mentioned in another post), I discovered
| that Win2K had graciously allotted me with NTFS clusters of 512 bytes.
| Should be easy to change to the more efficient 4096 bytes right?
| Luckily I made a Ghost image before I tried PowerQuest Partition Magic
| 8.01 (the ltest version to my knowledge) to change the cluster size (I
| booted into another Win2K installation and ran PM from there, of
| course). PM failed miserably on my 20GB partition (a drive letter in
| an extended partition). After moving all the data around for 30min,
| out pops a little error message: "Too many clusters!" Couldn't they
| have figured that out before starting?
| So I thought, I'll reformat the partition with 4K clustes, then apply
| my Ghost image onto it and it'll be perfect! Wrong. Ghost gave me
| the data alright (I hope), but the cluster size went back to 512.
|
| What's the solution to this?
|
| Can't I just copy all the files somewhere else, reformat the
| partition, then copy them back? Will I break anything? What?
| Can I use the internal backup tool to backup the whole partition,
| reformat, then restore it? Will that break anything? What?
|
| Thanks a million...
|
| Habib
|
|

"H. Debs" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:OdZk%(E-Mail Removed)...
> After working for a week reinstalling everything Win2K and all my apps
> (hard disk change problem mentioned in another post), I discovered
> that Win2K had graciously allotted me with NTFS clusters of 512 bytes.
> Should be easy to change to the more efficient 4096 bytes right?
> Luckily I made a Ghost image before I tried PowerQuest Partition Magic
> 8.01 (the ltest version to my knowledge) to change the cluster size (I
> booted into another Win2K installation and ran PM from there, of
> course). PM failed miserably on my 20GB partition (a drive letter in
> an extended partition). After moving all the data around for 30min,
> out pops a little error message: "Too many clusters!" Couldn't they
> have figured that out before starting?
> So I thought, I'll reformat the partition with 4K clustes, then apply
> my Ghost image onto it and it'll be perfect! Wrong. Ghost gave me
> the data alright (I hope), but the cluster size went back to 512.
>
> What's the solution to this?
>
> Can't I just copy all the files somewhere else, reformat the
> partition, then copy them back? Will I break anything? What?
> Can I use the internal backup tool to backup the whole partition,
> reformat, then restore it? Will that break anything? What?
>
> Thanks a million...
>
> Habib

I used to use partition managers and imaging tools a lot but
lately I have returned to simple utilities that give me far more
control over things. In your case I would do this:

1. Connect a spare disk as a slave disk.
2. Create a formatted NTFS partition on it of sufficient size.
3. Boot the machine with a Bart PE boot disk, then use
xcopy.exe or xxcopy.exe with the appropriate switches
to copy the current installation to the spare disk, including
system files, hidden files, permissions and attributes.
4. Boot the machine with the spare disk to ensure that
everything is there.
5. Temporarily install the original disk in some other machine
and create a partition with the desired cluster size. Maybe
Bart can do this too - I don't know.
6. Reverse Step 3.

To create a Bart PE boot disk (http://www.nu2.nu/pebuilder/#download)
takes a fair amount of time but I think it's well worth it.
It is a terrific tool!

"Pegasus (MVP)" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
>
> "H. Debs" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:OdZk%(E-Mail Removed)...
> > After working for a week reinstalling everything Win2K and all my
apps
> > (hard disk change problem mentioned in another post), I discovered
> > that Win2K had graciously allotted me with NTFS clusters of 512
bytes.
> > Should be easy to change to the more efficient 4096 bytes right?
> > Luckily I made a Ghost image before I tried PowerQuest Partition
Magic
> > 8.01 (the ltest version to my knowledge) to change the cluster
size (I
> > booted into another Win2K installation and ran PM from there, of
> > course). PM failed miserably on my 20GB partition (a drive letter
in
> > an extended partition). After moving all the data around for
30min,
> > out pops a little error message: "Too many clusters!" Couldn't
they
> > have figured that out before starting?
> > So I thought, I'll reformat the partition with 4K clustes, then
apply
> > my Ghost image onto it and it'll be perfect! Wrong. Ghost gave
me
> > the data alright (I hope), but the cluster size went back to 512.
> >
> > What's the solution to this?
> >
> > Can't I just copy all the files somewhere else, reformat the
> > partition, then copy them back? Will I break anything? What?
> > Can I use the internal backup tool to backup the whole partition,
> > reformat, then restore it? Will that break anything? What?
> >
> > Thanks a million...
> >
> > Habib
>
> I used to use partition managers and imaging tools a lot but
> lately I have returned to simple utilities that give me far more
> control over things. In your case I would do this:
>
> 1. Connect a spare disk as a slave disk.
> 2. Create a formatted NTFS partition on it of sufficient size.
> 3. Boot the machine with a Bart PE boot disk, then use
> xcopy.exe or xxcopy.exe with the appropriate switches
> to copy the current installation to the spare disk, including
> system files, hidden files, permissions and attributes.
> 4. Boot the machine with the spare disk to ensure that
> everything is there.
> 5. Temporarily install the original disk in some other machine
> and create a partition with the desired cluster size. Maybe
> Bart can do this too - I don't know.
> 6. Reverse Step 3.
>
> To create a Bart PE boot disk
(http://www.nu2.nu/pebuilder/#download)
> takes a fair amount of time but I think it's well worth it.
> It is a terrific tool!
>
>

Hi Pegasus,

My system already has enough space to store the data 20 times over.
And I can boot to an extra Win2K installation I created just for
things like this, plus I can boot to MSDOS 7.1 (from Win98SE).
So my question is:
Can I boot to my spare Win2K partition, copy the files over to some
free space on another partition, reformat with 4K clusters, then copy
the files back? Isn't that the same as what you're describing, or does
the xcopy command of Bart PE have any special purpose which the Win2K
copy will not accomplish?


What I'm also worried about is that I don't know if I'll break
anything with a simple copy-format-copyback procedure. In all your
wisdom and experience are you really sure the resulting
installation will be perfect? Can the backup tool (that comes with
windows) be a more sure way to do this copying (perhaps it sets up
some extra things over and above the mere copying)?


Thanks.

Habib

"Dave Patrick" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:%(E-Mail Removed)...
>
> Sounds like this was a conversion.
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=140365
>

Yes and No. It was a brand new disk, and I just happened to format
that partition with FAT32 before the fresh install. But it was totally
empty, and when setup offered to convert it to NTFS, I said, Yeah,
thanks! (Not knowing it would give me 3rd class service...)

Thanks anyway.

Habib

"H. Debs" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
>
> "Pegasus (MVP)" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> >
> > "H. Debs" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> > news:OdZk%(E-Mail Removed)...
> > > After working for a week reinstalling everything Win2K and all my
> apps
> > > (hard disk change problem mentioned in another post), I discovered
> > > that Win2K had graciously allotted me with NTFS clusters of 512
> bytes.
> > > Should be easy to change to the more efficient 4096 bytes right?
> > > Luckily I made a Ghost image before I tried PowerQuest Partition
> Magic
> > > 8.01 (the ltest version to my knowledge) to change the cluster
> size (I
> > > booted into another Win2K installation and ran PM from there, of
> > > course). PM failed miserably on my 20GB partition (a drive letter
> in
> > > an extended partition). After moving all the data around for
> 30min,
> > > out pops a little error message: "Too many clusters!" Couldn't
> they
> > > have figured that out before starting?
> > > So I thought, I'll reformat the partition with 4K clustes, then
> apply
> > > my Ghost image onto it and it'll be perfect! Wrong. Ghost gave
> me
> > > the data alright (I hope), but the cluster size went back to 512.
> > >
> > > What's the solution to this?
> > >
> > > Can't I just copy all the files somewhere else, reformat the
> > > partition, then copy them back? Will I break anything? What?
> > > Can I use the internal backup tool to backup the whole partition,
> > > reformat, then restore it? Will that break anything? What?
> > >
> > > Thanks a million...
> > >
> > > Habib
> >
> > I used to use partition managers and imaging tools a lot but
> > lately I have returned to simple utilities that give me far more
> > control over things. In your case I would do this:
> >
> > 1. Connect a spare disk as a slave disk.
> > 2. Create a formatted NTFS partition on it of sufficient size.
> > 3. Boot the machine with a Bart PE boot disk, then use
> > xcopy.exe or xxcopy.exe with the appropriate switches
> > to copy the current installation to the spare disk, including
> > system files, hidden files, permissions and attributes.
> > 4. Boot the machine with the spare disk to ensure that
> > everything is there.
> > 5. Temporarily install the original disk in some other machine
> > and create a partition with the desired cluster size. Maybe
> > Bart can do this too - I don't know.
> > 6. Reverse Step 3.
> >
> > To create a Bart PE boot disk
> (http://www.nu2.nu/pebuilder/#download)
> > takes a fair amount of time but I think it's well worth it.
> > It is a terrific tool!
> >
> >
>
> Hi Pegasus,
>
> My system already has enough space to store the data 20 times over.
> And I can boot to an extra Win2K installation I created just for
> things like this, plus I can boot to MSDOS 7.1 (from Win98SE).
> So my question is:
> Can I boot to my spare Win2K partition, copy the files over to some
> free space on another partition, reformat with 4K clusters, then copy
> the files back? Isn't that the same as what you're describing, or does
> the xcopy command of Bart PE have any special purpose which the Win2K
> copy will not accomplish?
>
>
> What I'm also worried about is that I don't know if I'll break
> anything with a simple copy-format-copyback procedure. In all your
> wisdom and experience are you really sure the resulting
> installation will be perfect? Can the backup tool (that comes with
> windows) be a more sure way to do this copying (perhaps it sets up
> some extra things over and above the mere copying)?
>
>
> Thanks.
>
> Habib
>

This very morning I copied a whole server disk with my
method, including the OS, Exchange etc. It works perfectly
well, provided that

a) You make sure to copy everything (as mentioned in
my first reply), and
b) You perform the copy action while Windows is not active.

Condition b) can be met in one of two ways:
1. You boot the machine with a Bart PE CD, or
2. You perform the copy action from a different Windows
installation.

Think of it as open heart surgery: You cannot operate on
your heart but your surgeon can, provided that he first
knocks you out.

"Pegasus (MVP)" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
>
> "H. Debs" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> >
> > "Pegasus (MVP)" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> > news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> > >
> > > "H. Debs" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> > > news:OdZk%(E-Mail Removed)...
> > > > After working for a week reinstalling everything Win2K and all
my
> > apps
> > > > (hard disk change problem mentioned in another post), I
discovered
> > > > that Win2K had graciously allotted me with NTFS clusters of
512
> > bytes.
> > > > Should be easy to change to the more efficient 4096 bytes
right?
> > > > Luckily I made a Ghost image before I tried PowerQuest
Partition
> > Magic
> > > > 8.01 (the ltest version to my knowledge) to change the cluster
> > size (I
> > > > booted into another Win2K installation and ran PM from there,
of
> > > > course). PM failed miserably on my 20GB partition (a drive
letter
> > in
> > > > an extended partition). After moving all the data around for
> > 30min,
> > > > out pops a little error message: "Too many clusters!" Couldn't
> > they
> > > > have figured that out before starting?
> > > > So I thought, I'll reformat the partition with 4K clustes,
then
> > apply
> > > > my Ghost image onto it and it'll be perfect! Wrong. Ghost
gave
> > me
> > > > the data alright (I hope), but the cluster size went back to
512.
> > > >
> > > > What's the solution to this?
> > > >
> > > > Can't I just copy all the files somewhere else, reformat the
> > > > partition, then copy them back? Will I break anything? What?
> > > > Can I use the internal backup tool to backup the whole
partition,
> > > > reformat, then restore it? Will that break anything? What?
> > > >
> > > > Thanks a million...
> > > >
> > > > Habib
> > >
> > > I used to use partition managers and imaging tools a lot but
> > > lately I have returned to simple utilities that give me far more
> > > control over things. In your case I would do this:
> > >
> > > 1. Connect a spare disk as a slave disk.
> > > 2. Create a formatted NTFS partition on it of sufficient size.
> > > 3. Boot the machine with a Bart PE boot disk, then use
> > > xcopy.exe or xxcopy.exe with the appropriate switches
> > > to copy the current installation to the spare disk, including
> > > system files, hidden files, permissions and attributes.
> > > 4. Boot the machine with the spare disk to ensure that
> > > everything is there.
> > > 5. Temporarily install the original disk in some other machine
> > > and create a partition with the desired cluster size. Maybe
> > > Bart can do this too - I don't know.
> > > 6. Reverse Step 3.
> > >
> > > To create a Bart PE boot disk
> > (http://www.nu2.nu/pebuilder/#download)
> > > takes a fair amount of time but I think it's well worth it.
> > > It is a terrific tool!
> > >
> > >
> >
> > Hi Pegasus,
> >
> > My system already has enough space to store the data 20 times
over.
> > And I can boot to an extra Win2K installation I created just for
> > things like this, plus I can boot to MSDOS 7.1 (from Win98SE).
> > So my question is:
> > Can I boot to my spare Win2K partition, copy the files over to
some
> > free space on another partition, reformat with 4K clusters, then
copy
> > the files back? Isn't that the same as what you're describing, or
does
> > the xcopy command of Bart PE have any special purpose which the
Win2K
> > copy will not accomplish?
> >
> >
> > What I'm also worried about is that I don't know if I'll break
> > anything with a simple copy-format-copyback procedure. In all
your
> > wisdom and experience are you really sure the resulting
> > installation will be perfect? Can the backup tool (that comes
with
> > windows) be a more sure way to do this copying (perhaps it sets up
> > some extra things over and above the mere copying)?
> >
> >
> > Thanks.
> >
> > Habib
> >
>
> This very morning I copied a whole server disk with my
> method, including the OS, Exchange etc. It works perfectly
> well, provided that
>
> a) You make sure to copy everything (as mentioned in
> my first reply), and
> b) You perform the copy action while Windows is not active.
>
> Condition b) can be met in one of two ways:
> 1. You boot the machine with a Bart PE CD, or
> 2. You perform the copy action from a different Windows
> installation.
>
> Think of it as open heart surgery: You cannot operate on
> your heart but your surgeon can, provided that he first
> knocks you out.
>

I can boot into a separate Win2K installation. No problem.

I'm quoting you here again as this is the other condition you mention:

> > xcopy.exe or xxcopy.exe with the appropriate switches
> > to copy the current installation to the spare disk, including
> > system files, hidden files, permissions and attributes

I'm assuming that doing the copying of *all* files, system, hidden or
otherwise, from that other Win2K install, will also copy the
*permissions* and attributes (that last one is evident I think). Am I
correct?


And regarding my other post, right after this one, have you used
sysprep to solve a hard disk change problem before? (It is supposed to
make WIndows run the Mini-setup on next boot, and cause it
re-enumerate all its hardware). Do you think this would correct my
"corrupt SYSTEM file" error due to change of hard disk and controller?

Thanks again, Pegasus!

Habib

"H. Debs" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:%(E-Mail Removed)...
>
> "Pegasus (MVP)" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> >
> > "H. Debs" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> > news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> > >
> > > "Pegasus (MVP)" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> > > news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> > > >
> > > > "H. Debs" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> > > > news:OdZk%(E-Mail Removed)...
> > > > > After working for a week reinstalling everything Win2K and all
> my
> > > apps
> > > > > (hard disk change problem mentioned in another post), I
> discovered
> > > > > that Win2K had graciously allotted me with NTFS clusters of
> 512
> > > bytes.
> > > > > Should be easy to change to the more efficient 4096 bytes
> right?
> > > > > Luckily I made a Ghost image before I tried PowerQuest
> Partition
> > > Magic
> > > > > 8.01 (the ltest version to my knowledge) to change the cluster
> > > size (I
> > > > > booted into another Win2K installation and ran PM from there,
> of
> > > > > course). PM failed miserably on my 20GB partition (a drive
> letter
> > > in
> > > > > an extended partition). After moving all the data around for
> > > 30min,
> > > > > out pops a little error message: "Too many clusters!" Couldn't
> > > they
> > > > > have figured that out before starting?
> > > > > So I thought, I'll reformat the partition with 4K clustes,
> then
> > > apply
> > > > > my Ghost image onto it and it'll be perfect! Wrong. Ghost
> gave
> > > me
> > > > > the data alright (I hope), but the cluster size went back to
> 512.
> > > > >
> > > > > What's the solution to this?
> > > > >
> > > > > Can't I just copy all the files somewhere else, reformat the
> > > > > partition, then copy them back? Will I break anything? What?
> > > > > Can I use the internal backup tool to backup the whole
> partition,
> > > > > reformat, then restore it? Will that break anything? What?
> > > > >
> > > > > Thanks a million...
> > > > >
> > > > > Habib
> > > >
> > > > I used to use partition managers and imaging tools a lot but
> > > > lately I have returned to simple utilities that give me far more
> > > > control over things. In your case I would do this:
> > > >
> > > > 1. Connect a spare disk as a slave disk.
> > > > 2. Create a formatted NTFS partition on it of sufficient size.
> > > > 3. Boot the machine with a Bart PE boot disk, then use
> > > > xcopy.exe or xxcopy.exe with the appropriate switches
> > > > to copy the current installation to the spare disk, including
> > > > system files, hidden files, permissions and attributes.
> > > > 4. Boot the machine with the spare disk to ensure that
> > > > everything is there.
> > > > 5. Temporarily install the original disk in some other machine
> > > > and create a partition with the desired cluster size. Maybe
> > > > Bart can do this too - I don't know.
> > > > 6. Reverse Step 3.
> > > >
> > > > To create a Bart PE boot disk
> > > (http://www.nu2.nu/pebuilder/#download)
> > > > takes a fair amount of time but I think it's well worth it.
> > > > It is a terrific tool!
> > > >
> > > >
> > >
> > > Hi Pegasus,
> > >
> > > My system already has enough space to store the data 20 times
> over.
> > > And I can boot to an extra Win2K installation I created just for
> > > things like this, plus I can boot to MSDOS 7.1 (from Win98SE).
> > > So my question is:
> > > Can I boot to my spare Win2K partition, copy the files over to
> some
> > > free space on another partition, reformat with 4K clusters, then
> copy
> > > the files back? Isn't that the same as what you're describing, or
> does
> > > the xcopy command of Bart PE have any special purpose which the
> Win2K
> > > copy will not accomplish?
> > >
> > >
> > > What I'm also worried about is that I don't know if I'll break
> > > anything with a simple copy-format-copyback procedure. In all
> your
> > > wisdom and experience are you really sure the resulting
> > > installation will be perfect? Can the backup tool (that comes
> with
> > > windows) be a more sure way to do this copying (perhaps it sets up
> > > some extra things over and above the mere copying)?
> > >
> > >
> > > Thanks.
> > >
> > > Habib
> > >
> >
> > This very morning I copied a whole server disk with my
> > method, including the OS, Exchange etc. It works perfectly
> > well, provided that
> >
> > a) You make sure to copy everything (as mentioned in
> > my first reply), and
> > b) You perform the copy action while Windows is not active.
> >
> > Condition b) can be met in one of two ways:
> > 1. You boot the machine with a Bart PE CD, or
> > 2. You perform the copy action from a different Windows
> > installation.
> >
> > Think of it as open heart surgery: You cannot operate on
> > your heart but your surgeon can, provided that he first
> > knocks you out.
> >
>
> I can boot into a separate Win2K installation. No problem.
>
> I'm quoting you here again as this is the other condition you mention:
>
> > > xcopy.exe or xxcopy.exe with the appropriate switches
> > > to copy the current installation to the spare disk, including
> > > system files, hidden files, permissions and attributes
>
> I'm assuming that doing the copying of *all* files, system, hidden or
> otherwise, from that other Win2K install, will also copy the
> *permissions* and attributes (that last one is evident I think). Am I
> correct?

It depends on you selecting the correct switches for xcopy.exe.


> And regarding my other post, right after this one, have you used
> sysprep to solve a hard disk change problem before? (It is supposed to
> make WIndows run the Mini-setup on next boot, and cause it
> re-enumerate all its hardware). Do you think this would correct my
> "corrupt SYSTEM file" error due to change of hard disk and controller?

No, I have not used it myself but I have seen posts from
other people using it. Check out the links that Dave Patrick
gave you.

> Thanks again, Pegasus!
>
> Habib
>

Yes that's expected behavior. Better to choose NTFS during text mode portion
of setup.

To do a clean install, either boot the Windows 2000 install CD-Rom or setup
disks. The set of four install disks can be created from your Windows 2000
CD-Rom; change to the \bootdisk directory on the CD-Rom and execute
makeboot.exe (from dos) or makebt32.exe (from 32 bit) and follow the
prompts.

Setup inspects your computer's hardware configuration and then begins to
install the Setup and driver files. When the Windows 2000 Professional
screen appears, press ENTER to set up Windows 2000 Professional.

Read the license agreement, and then press the F8 key to accept the terms of
the license agreement and continue the installation.

When the Windows 2000 Professional Setup screen appears, all the existing
partitions and the unpartitioned spaces are listed for each physical hard
disk. Use the ARROW keys to select the partitions Press D to delete an
existing partition, If you press D to delete an existing partition, you must
then press L (or press ENTER, and then press L if it is the System
partition) to confirm that you want to delete the partition. Repeat this
step for each of the existing partitions When all the partitions are deleted
press F3 to exit setup, (to avoid unexpected drive letter assignments with
your new install) then restart the pc then when you get to this point in
setup again select the unpartitioned space, and then press C to create a new
partition and specify the size (if required). Windows will by default use
all available space.

Be sure to apply SP4 and these two below to your new install before
connecting to any network. Internet included. (sasser, msblast)
http://download.microsoft.com/downlo.../W2KSP4_EN.EXE
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/sec.../MS03-043.mspx
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/sec.../MS03-049.mspx

Then

Rollup 1 for Microsoft Windows 2000 Service Pack 4
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/d...displaylang=en

--

Regards,

Dave Patrick ....Please no email replies - reply in newsgroup.
Microsoft Certified Professional
Microsoft MVP [Windows]
http://www.microsoft.com/protect

"H. Debs" wrote:
| Yes and No. It was a brand new disk, and I just happened to format
| that partition with FAT32 before the fresh install. But it was totally
| empty, and when setup offered to convert it to NTFS, I said, Yeah,
| thanks! (Not knowing it would give me 3rd class service...)
|
| Thanks anyway.
|
| Habib
|

"Pegasus (MVP)" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:Ol$(E-Mail Removed)...
>
> "H. Debs" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:%(E-Mail Removed)...
> >
> > I'm assuming that doing the copying of *all* files, system,
> > hidden or otherwise, from that other Win2K install, will
> > also copy the *permissions* and attributes (that last one
> > is evident I think). Am I correct?
>
> It depends on you selecting the correct switches for xcopy.exe.
>

I was actually talking about a simple drag and drop copy from
Explorer. Or Ctr-C, Ctl-V (after revealing all hidden files and system
files, of course). I haven't used xcopy in ages.

OK, I'm assuming my answer is "yes". I'm going for it, as follows:

1) Boot from spare Win2K install on G:
2) Copy *all* files on E: to a spare partition.
3) Reformat E: as FAT32 using
OFORMAT E: /A:8
CVTAREA E:\mft.tmp 500 MB /contig /firstcluster 3 GB
CONVERT E: /fs:ntfs /cvtarea:mft.tmp
(this procedure to obtain contiguous MFT at the 3GB mark, outlined
here:
http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/system...reinstall.mspx
4) Copy back all files to E:
and I should be done.



I'll let you know.


> > And regarding my other post, right after this one, have you used
> > sysprep to solve a hard disk change problem before? (It is
supposed to
> > make WIndows run the Mini-setup on next boot, and cause it
> > re-enumerate all its hardware). Do you think this would correct my
> > "corrupt SYSTEM file" error due to change of hard disk and
controller?
>
> No, I have not used it myself but I have seen posts from
> other people using it. Check out the links that Dave Patrick
> gave you.
>

Thanks. I'll keep you posted.

Habib