Manual backup of OS drive

[Chuck]

I've running Windows XP Home sp1a
I have a lot of HD space. two drives, partitioned into 5 X 20GB partitions.
Total of 100GB.

I like to keep a ready, uncompressed backup of my OS drive (C. I try to
simply create a directory on my F: drive and copy everything on my C: drive
into it, excepting the Recycle Bin, of course. My fixed Permanant Swap File
is on D: drive.

The problem I get is that the copy process comes across a file which denies
access and the whole process aborts. I then try this in Safe mode. Same
problem. I then try this at a command prompt in safe mode and the process
completes, BUT I am not getting copies of many files; The difference between
the volumes of data is 35MB, 71 files and 38 directories. I saw a lot of
"access denied" scroll up my screen during the copy process.

Is there any way that I can drag-and-drop ALL of these files to back them up
without the system balking at certain files and aborting?

If not, is it possible to get them ALL from a SafeMode/Command Prompt?

Thank you
Chuck

 

[Gerry]

Unfortunately, Windows won't just let you do a simple copy
of everything from one drive to another. As windows
operates it keeps files and processes running which in
turn are locked while they are being used, that's why you
get access denied. If you want to simply copy from one
drive to another you need an imaging program. Norton's
Ghost is one that will make an exact copy. I'm sure there
are others out there as well. Good luck.

 

[R. C. White]

Hi, Chuck.

If all those 20 GB partitions are formatted FAT32, just boot from a MS-DOS
floppy and use Xcopy.exe from there. Since WinXP will not actually be
running, none of the files will be in use. But this won't work on NTFS, of
course, because true MS-DOS can't handle NTFS.

From a WinXP "DOS" window, the old MS-DOS program Xcopy.exe will do what you
want - ALMOST. Or you can use the dual-boot method to copy all of WinXP.

In a "DOS" window, type xcopy /? to see a mini-help file listing all the
switches available. For a full backup, I like to use something like:
xcopy x:\ y:\ /c /h /e /r /k

This backs up everything, including hidden and system files, preserving the
directory structure. It even continues in spite of errors.

The ALMOST means that it will not copy the Registry itself, and these might
be the most important files of all.

I like to install a second copy of WinXP (or Win2K or Win2K3 Server) into a
different volume and dual-boot to that when I need to do serious maintenance
on my main WinXP. When I'm booted into the second WinXP, the "boot folder"
for my main WinXP is "just another folder" and can be copied completely to
wherever I want, using Xcopy or the GUI or some other method. In your
specific system, you might want to boot from the WinXP CD-ROM and install
WinXP again, this time into F:. WinXP Setup will install it there, creating
a dual-boot menu in C:\boot.ini in the process. (You will want to edit
this, because it will simply list WinXP twice; you can edit the labels
within the quotes to say "WinXP (C)" and "WinXP (F)", for example, so that
YOU can tell them apart.) Then, in addition to all the second set of
Windows files in F:\Windows, you can create a folder with a name like
F:\CBackup. Then boot into "WinXP (F)" and drag'n'drop all you want, or
Xcopy everything:
xcopy C:\ F:\CBackup /c /h /e /r /k

This way, you should get all the files, including the Registry, from C:.

RC

 

[Chuck]

This sounds like a great Idea, and I would like to try it, but I was
wondering how Microsoft responds to the "Register" and "Activate"
requirements for the second install.

Thank you for you help.
Chuck

 

[mrtee]

That is why you should use an imaging program. When you restore the image it will already be activated.

www.acronis.com TrueImage is what I use. Also now does incremental images.

--
Just my 2¢ worth
Jeff
__________in response to__________
| This sounds like a great Idea, and I would like to try it, but I was
| wondering how Microsoft responds to the "Register" and "Activate"
| requirements for the second install.
|
| Thank you for you help.
| Chuck

 

[R. C. White]

Hi, Chuck.

Neither Register (which gives MS your name and address - and is optional)
nor Activate (which ties THIS copy of WinXP to THIS single computer) should
give you any headache. We can install WinXP on the same computer (CPU, HD,
etc.) an unlimited number of times. For details on Activation, see this
website:
Microsoft Product Activation
http://www.microsoft.com/piracy/basics/activation/

The EULA says: "Under the Windows XP End-User License Agreement (EULA), you
may install one licensed copy of Windows XP on one computer."
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/pro/howtobuy/pricingretail.asp

Some have interpreted this to mean that you can't have two installations of
the same licensed copy of WinXP simultaneously on a single computer, but I'm
not convinced that it says that. It often helps to have a second
installation of the same OS available for troubleshooting, as I said. And,
there's no chance that both copies will be booted at the same time. Note
that the MVP designation does not give me any authority to speak for
Microsoft, so my interpretation of the EULA is not official.

RC

 

[Kent W. England [MVP]]

This sounds like a great Idea, and I would like to try it, but I was
wondering how Microsoft responds to the "Register" and "Activate"
requirements for the second install.

xcopy has known problems with short file names. It can't be trusted to
backup an entire disk. mrtee is correct, use an imaging program to get
all the files and the boot sector and MBR.

If you can get over the learning curve, BING (www.terabyteunlimited.com)
can manage your partitions, your booting, and it can copy/image/compress
partitions. I love it. In your case, you would create a duplicate boot
item to boot your partition copy and you would copy your current
partition to your backup whenever you like.