backing up windows?

[mwebsurfer]

I'm planning to replace my motherboard, processor and memory
on my pc which runs XP Pro. I have slipstreamed SP2 on the
XP Pro disk. Can I backup the windows folder to a DVD and
show hidden files? Just what is mandatory to backup when
doing this? By the way, my XP Pro is not an OEM disk. Any
advice will be appreciated. I don't want to do a full reinstall
but do a repair.

 

[mwebsurfer]

I'm planning to replace my motherboard, processor and memory
on my pc which runs XP Pro. I have slipstreamed SP2 on the
XP Pro disk. Can I backup the windows folder to a DVD and
show hidden files? Just what is mandatory to backup when
doing this? By the way, my XP Pro is not an OEM disk. Any
advice will be appreciated. I don't want to do a full reinstall
but do a repair.
BTW:I have four sata hard drives in this machine and the main

drive with windows on it is partitioned into two parts.

 

[Jerry]

If you swap the items mentioned and use your exisiting hard drives and
CD/DVD drives then a repair install can be accomplished by booting from the
XP CD and opting for a repair. See
http://www.windowsreinstall.com/winxppro/installxpcdrepair/indexfullpage.htm

You say you slipstreamed SP2 and made an XP w/SP2 disk but have you
investigated the RyanVM Integrator? Using it you can integrate many
updates/patches/hotfixes/etc that were released after SP2. It can be used
to burn an XP w/SP2 that includes many addons too. Go to these forums for
more info: http://siginetsoftware.com/forum/ and
http://www.ryanvm.net/forum/

AutoPatcher is also a pretty good 'update' program. Go here:
http://www.autopatcher.com/forums/

 

[PD43]

I'm planning to replace my motherboard, processor and memory
on my pc which runs XP Pro. I have slipstreamed SP2 on the
XP Pro disk. Can I backup the windows folder to a DVD and
show hidden files? Just what is mandatory to backup when
doing this?

Backup the whole shebang, not just specific folders.

What good would a partial backup be?

 

[Patrick Keenan]

I'm planning to replace my motherboard, processor and memory
on my pc which runs XP Pro. I have slipstreamed SP2 on the
XP Pro disk. Can I backup the windows folder to a DVD and
show hidden files? Just what is mandatory to backup when
doing this? By the way, my XP Pro is not an OEM disk. Any
advice will be appreciated. I don't want to do a full reinstall
but do a repair.

I would suggest that you back up your data, not the Windows folders.

Your data is almost entirely under Documents and Settings\<account name>.
If you are logged into the account, there will be some files that will not
copy as they are in use. Otherwise, you can just do raw copies.

And since this is XP Pro, and if you even think you have invoked encryption,
this would be a very appropriate time to re-export the account credentials.

Clear out the temp and content.ie5 folders first, or just run ccleaner to do
this; that often reduces the file size by a few hundred megabytes or more.

HTH
-pk