How to Restore Backups

[Guest]

I made a backup of a system prior to converting the disk from FAT32, to NTFS
under XP SP2. I'm a little unclear now, if I blow away everything on this
system, re-partition and format the hard drive, how will I connect to the
backup.

When I made the backup, I used a tape drive on another computer. I shared
the entire C: drive of the computer to be saved, giving the Everyone group
full control, and mapped the share as a drive on the tape machine. Then I
told Backup on the tape computer to backup (and verify) that entire mapped
drive. This did save everything on the first computer, right?

So how will I re-connect to the tape computer once everything's blown away.
Do I make some kind of bootable floppy or something that will let the tape
computer map the drive again for a Restore? I can't just re-install Windows,
since I only have an Upgrade CD, not the full version, and upgrade won't run
without a Windows OS already present.

Other question, since the backup was made while the first computer was still
FAT32, do I have to format the new partition as FAT32, or can I use NTFS and
save the later conversion step?

 

[DL]

Whether the backup was an Image backup that would enable a full system
restore or simply a file backup might depend on the backup app you used, and
or the options selected for the process.
For a full system image backup that you can restore to a 'blank' PC a
dedicated Imaging App is better, eg TrueImage or Ghost etc
TrueImage, which I use, can restore an Image using the bootable TrueImage cd
It doesnt make any difference with FAT / NTFS

Presumably you are replacing the hd?

 

[Guest]

Actually no, I was planning to wipe out the disk because there are weird
problems and I was thinking of restoring from a time before they occurred.
Isn't there a way within Windows itself for doing this? BTW, I realize that
I should have simply used the C$ adminstrative share. Sharing the C: drive
myself with a new share name didn't back up the hidden system files, did it?
Either way, I'd still like to know how to do a restore, since 3 machines
depend on this one tape drive.

-Leon

 

[DL]

System Restore is I assume not an option?

I believe the method of restoring a 'complete system' from an external Tape
Backup is dependent on the backup software used.

 

[Guest]

Thinking it out, if I did have a good, verified and complete backup of the C$
share on a remote tape drive, I could re-partition, format, and install XP.
My concern was that I only have the Upgrade CD, which needs to detect the
prior prescence of an OS. Fortunately, I later realize that two of my
Microsoft certification textbooks provided a 120-day evaluation versions of
XP Pro SP2. I am assume I could use that, the time limiting code will get
overwritten by the restored files. I hope.

Or maybe I could put the 120 day OS on a small partition of its own near the
top of the available space. say 1GB out of the available 20GB. After
everything's back safe and sound, I could leave well enough alone, or use
Partition Magic to reclaim that extra GB.

Can I use the Recovery Console on the CD to do this?

Any comments?

 

[DL]

Its not neccessary to install the earlier version, you just need the cd to
point to when the upgrade complains that it cannot find a qualifying version