Question about the Emergency Repair Disk - Windows 2000

[Stan Shankman]

Greetings all,

I have a Question:

Is there any benefit to periodically remaking the Emergency Repair Disk?

In other words, if I make significant changes to the system, and I use
Backup to create a backup copy of the system files, should I also remake the
ERD? Or is will its contents remain unchanged?

Thanks all,

- Stan Shankman

 

[Dave Patrick]

Yes always keep it up to date and backup often.

--

Regards,

Dave Patrick ....Please no email replies - reply in newsgroup.
Microsoft Certified Professional
Microsoft MVP [Windows]
http://www.microsoft.com/protect

:
| Greetings all,
|
| I have a Question:
|
| Is there any benefit to periodically remaking the Emergency Repair Disk?
|
| In other words, if I make significant changes to the system, and I use
| Backup to create a backup copy of the system files, should I also remake
the
| ERD? Or is will its contents remain unchanged?
|
| Thanks all,
|
| - Stan Shankman
|
|

 

[Gary Smith]

My ERD contains only three files: setup.log, autoexec.nt, and config.nt.
The first is created when Windows is installed and never changes after
that. The other two will chnage only if you explicitly edit them. I'd
say making a new ERD any time you make a system change is pointless,
although it doesn't take very long to do so and you can use the same
floppy over and over.

Greetings all,

I have a Question:

Is there any benefit to periodically remaking the Emergency Repair Disk?

In other words, if I make significant changes to the system, and I use
Backup to create a backup copy of the system files, should I also remake the
ERD? Or is will its contents remain unchanged?

 

[John John]

Yes indeed the actual ERD files don't seem to change and they keep the
same time stamp as when Windows 2000 was installed. However, when you
create an ERD you are also offered th option to back up the registry to
C:\WINNT\repair\RegBack and these files do change. Should the registry
be damaged and should you need to reload hives or do repairs the files
in C:\WINNT\repair\RegBack are the ones you would first try to recover.
One might think that making new ERD's is pointless but keeping a
current backup of the registry is far from pointless and trying to
repair a 2 or 3 year old Windows 2000 registry breakdown with 3 year old
registry files could very well be pointless!

So I vote with Dave, keep it up to date and backup (the Registry) often.

John

 

[Dave Patrick]

Not True! Irregardless of the files on the ERD You can run
Programs|Accessories|System Tools|Backup, then choose ERD, then
if you check the box for "Also backup....", then the reg will also be backed
up to
%windir%\repair\RegBack
leaving the
%windir%\repair\
directory files intact as original installation.

--

Regards,

Dave Patrick ....Please no email replies - reply in newsgroup.
Microsoft Certified Professional
Microsoft MVP [Windows]
http://www.microsoft.com/protect

:
| My ERD contains only three files: setup.log, autoexec.nt, and config.nt.
| The first is created when Windows is installed and never changes after
| that. The other two will chnage only if you explicitly edit them. I'd
| say making a new ERD any time you make a system change is pointless,
| although it doesn't take very long to do so and you can use the same
| floppy over and over.

 

[Gary Smith]

You're arguing against something I never said. I fully agree that backing
up the registry regularly is essential. What I said is that the ERD
itself doesn't change, and it doesn't much matter whether you make a new
one each time or not.

Not True! Irregardless of the files on the ERD You can run
Programs|Accessories|System Tools|Backup, then choose ERD, then
if you check the box for "Also backup....", then the reg will also be backed
up to
%windir%\repair\RegBack
leaving the
%windir%\repair\
directory files intact as original installation.

:
| My ERD contains only three files: setup.log, autoexec.nt, and config.nt.
| The first is created when Windows is installed and never changes after
| that. The other two will chnage only if you explicitly edit them. I'd
| say making a new ERD any time you make a system change is pointless,
| although it doesn't take very long to do so and you can use the same
| floppy over and over.

 

[Dave Patrick]

The OP's question;

"Is there any benefit to periodically remaking the Emergency Repair Disk?"

to which you answered pointless. The benefit is that the registry also is
backed up each time you do it. If you were talking specifics about the 3.5"
square black piece of plastic then you should have mentioned it. I think
your answer was misleading and not correct.

--

Regards,

Dave Patrick ....Please no email replies - reply in newsgroup.
Microsoft Certified Professional
Microsoft MVP [Windows]
http://www.microsoft.com/protect

:
| You're arguing against something I never said. I fully agree that backing
| up the registry regularly is essential. What I said is that the ERD
| itself doesn't change, and it doesn't much matter whether you make a new
| one each time or not.

 

[Gary Smith]

It's best to read the entrie question. The part you didn't quote said,
"In other words, if I make significant changes to the system, and I use
Backup to create a backup copy of the system files, should I also remake
the ERD? Or is will its contents remain unchanged?"

In other words, the 3.5" square black piece of plastic was precisely the
question, and it was to that explicit question that I directed my answer,
which I stand behind. Recreating the Emergeny Repair DISK each time you
do a registry backup is pointless.

The OP's question;

"Is there any benefit to periodically remaking the Emergency Repair Disk?"

to which you answered pointless. The benefit is that the registry also is
backed up each time you do it. If you were talking specifics about the 3.5"
square black piece of plastic then you should have mentioned it. I think
your answer was misleading and not correct.

:
| You're arguing against something I never said. I fully agree that
backing
| up the registry regularly is essential. What I said is that the ERD
| itself doesn't change, and it doesn't much matter whether you make a new
| one each time or not.

 

[Dave Patrick]

Actually I did read the entire question. I guess the difference is I wasn't
100% sure that the OP was backing up the registry hence the reason I chose
lean on the safe side of things. If you would have said "making a new ERD
any time you make a system change is pointless as long as you're backing up
the registry by some other means" then I probably would not have commented.

--

Regards,

Dave Patrick ....Please no email replies - reply in newsgroup.
Microsoft Certified Professional
Microsoft MVP [Windows]
http://www.microsoft.com/protect

:
| It's best to read the entrie question. The part you didn't quote said,
| "In other words, if I make significant changes to the system, and I use
| Backup to create a backup copy of the system files, should I also remake
| the ERD? Or is will its contents remain unchanged?"
|
| In other words, the 3.5" square black piece of plastic was precisely the
| question, and it was to that explicit question that I directed my answer,
| which I stand behind. Recreating the Emergeny Repair DISK each time you
| do a registry backup is pointless.

 

[Stan Shankman]

Hello again,



I guess the best thing is to simply go ahead and remake the ERD periodically
by selecting from the Backup|Tool menu "Create an Emergency Repair Disk".
(Which is what I have been doing - I just haven't been sure if I was being
redundant by overwriting my ERD again and again - but then I don't really
see any option from within Backup to avoid ERD creation anyway. - I'm sure I
could just go ahead and manually copy the files each time, but that's beside
the point.)



And of course one should always check the checkbox: "Also backup Registry".

The disturbing thing is that the checkbox is not already checked by default.



After all, under what circumstances would one not wish to check it?



It would seem far better to have the Repair-and-Backup-Process run like
this:

From the Tool menu find: "Create Safety Copies of the Registry and also make
an Emergency Repair Diskette" - and the checkbox (assuming it has a
legitimate use) should read: "Don't Replace the Registy Safety Copies." -
But then again, one wonders why anyone would have need to check it.



Another thing that bugs me during the ERD creation process is Backup's
request, or should I say demand, that you insert a *blank* formatted
diskette. - I have found that one can simply reuse the old ERD each time -
even though, obviously, it is not "blank".

I don't think it's right for software to make pronouncements like that which
are not entirely true.



Anyway, guys, thanks for all the feedback.



- Stan Shankman

 

[Dave Patrick]

If a floppy is not present when you;
System Tools|Backup, then choose ERD, check the box for "Also backup...."
the registry backup will still take place. You can check the date stamp on
the files in the;
%windir%\repair\RegBack
folder.

--

Regards,

Dave Patrick ....Please no email replies - reply in newsgroup.
Microsoft Certified Professional
Microsoft MVP [Windows]
http://www.microsoft.com/protect

:
| Hello again,
|
|
|
| I guess the best thing is to simply go ahead and remake the ERD
periodically
| by selecting from the Backup|Tool menu "Create an Emergency Repair Disk".
| (Which is what I have been doing - I just haven't been sure if I was being
| redundant by overwriting my ERD again and again - but then I don't really
| see any option from within Backup to avoid ERD creation anyway. - I'm sure
I
| could just go ahead and manually copy the files each time, but that's
beside
| the point.)
|
|
|
| And of course one should always check the checkbox: "Also backup
Registry".
|
| The disturbing thing is that the checkbox is not already checked by
default.
|
|
|
| After all, under what circumstances would one not wish to check it?
|
|
|
| It would seem far better to have the Repair-and-Backup-Process run like
| this:
|
| From the Tool menu find: "Create Safety Copies of the Registry and also
make
| an Emergency Repair Diskette" - and the checkbox (assuming it has a
| legitimate use) should read: "Don't Replace the Registy Safety Copies." -
| But then again, one wonders why anyone would have need to check it.
|
|
|
| Another thing that bugs me during the ERD creation process is Backup's
| request, or should I say demand, that you insert a *blank* formatted
| diskette. - I have found that one can simply reuse the old ERD each time -
| even though, obviously, it is not "blank".
|
| I don't think it's right for software to make pronouncements like that
which
| are not entirely true.
|
|
|
| Anyway, guys, thanks for all the feedback.
|
|
|
| - Stan Shankman
|
|
|
| | > Greetings all,
| >
| > I have a Question:
| >
| > Is there any benefit to periodically remaking the Emergency Repair Disk?
| >
| > In other words, if I make significant changes to the system, and I use
| > Backup to create a backup copy of the system files, should I also remake
| the
| > ERD? Or is will its contents remain unchanged?
| >
| > Thanks all,
| >
| > - Stan Shankman
| >
| >
|
|