P
Paul
Winzip, works above the file system level, and doesn't care where the
files are coming from. If you're zipping up D:\boot.ini , it doesn't matter
whether D is FAT32 or NTFS, Winzip just uses an API that gets the file for it.
Presumably there is some purpose in selecting those two particular directories.
There may be some other locations or files worth backing up. Look at the root
level of the partition for example.
I try to back up the whole thing, as that takes less thinking. For my C: partition,
I probably have at least four sector-by-sector images captured on another disk.
Some other partitions, aren't backed up at all (Linux LiveCD ISO9660 files)
In terms of "bang for buck", rotating hard drives are cheaper per GB than flash.
You can do way more backups, and be more extravagant in your backup style, by
using an external hard drive. And the best way to do that, is buy a raw
drive mechanism, and the enclosure of your choice, and put that together
with a screwdriver.
Now, a consideration when doing things like that, is whether any of the files
being backed up are "busy". For example, I have Win2K and WinXP on two separate
hard drives. If I want to back up WinXP, I boot Win2K and do the backup operation
from there. If I want to back up Win2K, I boot WinXP and do the backup from
there. That avoids any issues with busy files. I presume things like the pagefile,
could not be zipped by Winzip, if that pagefile is currently in usage (not that
you'd want to zip up the pagefile, that's just an illustration of a busy file).
In your case, I don't think Win98 typically works with NTFS. You can check that.
If you're in Win98, your NTFS partition should not be accessible. I don't know
if anyone makes a third party NTFS driver for Win98 or not. (You could try
asking in the Win98 group.)
If I had your config, I probably would have set up both Win98 and WinXP on FAT32
partitions, for better maintenance options. (By that, I means the ability for
you to use either OS, to access any files.) For example, then Win98 could see
all the files on the WinXP partition. The disadvantage of FAT32, is the 4GB maximum
individual file size. I've had one download ruined by such a limitation (download
stopped when 4GB point was reached, Knoppix 5.3.1 DVD download). So FAT32 isn't
always the best choice. But I keep separate, data only partitions as NTFS for that
purpose (storage of large files, storage of backup images).
Paul