Doing disk image - what will it keep?

[HappyStitcher]

I have some kind of puter glitch in that when I restarted my desktop, it now
goes into a virtual loop of resetting itself. I have taken out the master
drive, put it into another PC, and ran diagnostics/virus scans/worm
checks/etc., all coming up negative. But no matter what I've done (won't go
into safe mode, won't do last known configuration, etc.) it still resets
itself. I've now started the task of taking off all of my files & data so I
can send the PC back to be fixed (unless someone has a good idea of what to
try next). My concern lies in the registry/win.ini files that "tell" the PC
how I want/have my files & programs. If I make a disk image of the drive,
will that "reset" my settings when my PC is returned? I hope I'm making
some sense. I don't want to have to reinstall everything and redo all my
settings, etc. (I-Tunes, MS Office, Alcohol/Nero, etc.). Or will that
potentially cause
it to have the same problem over again?

Talking to tech support, they seem to think it may be a hardware problem,
and not really the drive at all, but stated that they will reformat the
drive anyway, so I need to get everything off that I want. Any suggestions
appreciated. I use it a LOT!

 

[DL]

If its not a hw problem, any image restore will allmost certainly leave you
with the same problem.
Do you have winxp installation cd or only a retore cd?

 

[Shenan Stanley]

I have some kind of puter glitch in that when I restarted my desktop,
it now goes into a virtual loop of resetting itself. I have taken
out the master drive, put it into another PC, and ran
diagnostics/virus scans/worm checks/etc., all coming up negative. But no
matter what I've done (won't go into safe mode, won't do last
known configuration, etc.) it still resets itself. I've now started
the task of taking off all of my files & data so I can send the PC
back to be fixed (unless someone has a good idea of what to try
next). My concern lies in the registry/win.ini files that "tell" the
PC how I want/have my files & programs. If I make a disk image of
the drive, will that "reset" my settings when my PC is returned? I
hope I'm making some sense. I don't want to have to reinstall
everything and redo all my settings, etc. (I-Tunes, MS Office,
Alcohol/Nero, etc.). Or will that potentially cause it to have the same
problem over again?

Talking to tech support, they seem to think it may be a hardware
problem, and not really the drive at all, but stated that they will
reformat the drive anyway, so I need to get everything off that I
want. Any suggestions appreciated. I use it a LOT!

Why'd you ask this twice?

If you had made a disk image before it stopped working - yes - everything
would work fine.
Making a disk image now would make a disk image of a non-working system..
Doesn't do you any good likely.. But it might.

Unless you are really handy (and have an inordinate amount of time on your
hands - certainly more than it would actually take to reinstall and setup
things the way you want) - I would just worry about the actual important
stuff (Your files, your contacts, your emails, your pictures, your
documents, your databases, your spreadsheets, etc..) and plan on
reinstalling.

And from that point on - start making periodic backups (disk images) of your
system and keeping at least two back at any given time - so you are sure to
have one in case something happens like this again.

Do it anyway - at worst you will have to redo things - but you have a full
image of everything on your system before to reference and certainly are
less likely to miss anything that way. Best case - you apply that image
when you get everything back and continue on with life.

 

[HappyStitcher]

Why'd you ask this twice?

If you had made a disk image before it stopped working - yes - everything
would work fine.
Making a disk image now would make a disk image of a non-working system..
Doesn't do you any good likely.. But it might.

Unless you are really handy (and have an inordinate amount of time on your
hands - certainly more than it would actually take to reinstall and setup
things the way you want) - I would just worry about the actual important
stuff (Your files, your contacts, your emails, your pictures, your
documents, your databases, your spreadsheets, etc..) and plan on
reinstalling.

And from that point on - start making periodic backups (disk images) of
your
system and keeping at least two back at any given time - so you are sure
to
have one in case something happens like this again.

Do it anyway - at worst you will have to redo things - but you have a full
image of everything on your system before to reference and certainly are
less likely to miss anything that way. Best case - you apply that image
when you get everything back and continue on with life.

Thanks. I didn't realize I asked it twice, sorry. I'm not that great with
newsgroups, yet! The disk seems to work fine, just can't boot from it, but
not sure it's the disk that's the problem, that's why I thought maybe I'd be
safe in doing an image and having it reloaded when it's returned from
factory. Thanks for your response. Jamie

 

[HappyStitcher]

I have a full Win XP install disk, and a recovery disk from the CPU
manufacturer. I'm copying off all my docs, photos, etc., but
wasn't sure about my settings, etc. Jamie