Replacing the c: drive

[Ray K]

Due to the various problems described in my post of a few minutes ago, I'm
ready to replace my c: drive.

My system consists of a primary master drive partitioned as C, E and F, and
a primary slave drive partitioned as D and G. My plan is to remove both
these drives and install a new primary master, again partitioned as C, E,
and F. Once I reinstall w2k and sp4, I'll put the old C/E/F drive in the
primary slave position and copy the data from the E and F partitions onto
the new E and F partitions. (There are no programs on the E and F
partitions; just data I've created.) Then I'll reinstall all my programs on
the new C drive and wherever possible copy their various settings from the
corresponding folder locations on the old drive to the new one.

(I realize that with the old drive moved to the slave position, the old C
partition will become D, the old E will become G, and the old F will become
H.)

Once I'm done with this, I'll remove the old C/E/F drive and replace it
with the old primary slave D and G.

As an alternative, I could disconnect one of the two cd burners in the
secondary channel and put the old C/E/F drive there; that way I don't have
to remove the D/G drive from its primary slave position.

Any ideas for simplifying this nightmare?

Many thanks,

Ray

 

[Dave Patrick]

You might review this one.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/234048



--

Regards,

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

 

[DL]

Why not simply delete the partition & clean install on your origonal C ?
You may have problems with the drive letter, as your current drive
designations seem a little odd

 

[Ray K]

Why not simply delete the partition & clean install on your origonal C ?

Won't that destroy the data I've saved on the drive? I haven't been able to
save that data because I can't boot. Besides, how do I delete the partition
if I can't boot? (Perhaps one of the dos programs, like fdisk, that I could
run from the floppy.)

 

[DL]

Only on the C partition & I believe you said data was on other parttions,
besides which if C is infected you may 'recover' any infection if you copy
files from C to elsewhere

 

[Ray K]

Only on the C partition & I believe you said data was on other parttions,
besides which if C is infected you may 'recover' any infection if you copy
files from C to elsewhere

The data that I want to preserve are mainly these file types: jpg, doc,
browser address book, bookmarks, emails (they are all in a single slt
SeaMonkey/Netsecape file). A couple of Excel and Access files that I created
are saved on C. I think these files are safe.I haven't imported any macros
(or created any of my own).

My plan is to make a backup image of the problem C to another partition or
drive, and then after reinstalling W2K Pro, copy just the above file types
back.

The challenge is being able to boot to the dos prompt. Can't get there even
if I select Safe Mode with DOS prompt. The resulting screen is black with
just the words Safe Mode in the four corners.

Whoops, during the six or minutes it's taken to write this, I just got the
prompt. Ran chkdsk on all five partitions on both drives. No bad sectors or
other problems.

It turns out that G has 83GB available, and C uses only about 21GB for
everything. So I'll just make a folder on G, call it C Backup, and use Xcopy
to copy everything from C to C Backup. Then I can format c: and reinstall
W2K. No need to remove one drive, or create partitions and later delete
them. Sound OK?

Thanks,

Ray

 

[Ray K]

When using Xcopy, I'll use the /E switch to copy subfolders, even empty ones
(although maybe I better off using /S and not copying the empty ones), and
the /K switch to copy attributes. I won't use /H because that would copy
hidden and system files also, which I assume will be reloaded during
reinstall.

Ray

 

[DL]

sounds about right

The data that I want to preserve are mainly these file types: jpg, doc,
browser address book, bookmarks, emails (they are all in a single slt
SeaMonkey/Netsecape file). A couple of Excel and Access files that I
created
are saved on C. I think these files are safe.I haven't imported any macros
(or created any of my own).

My plan is to make a backup image of the problem C to another partition or
drive, and then after reinstalling W2K Pro, copy just the above file types
back.

The challenge is being able to boot to the dos prompt. Can't get there
even
if I select Safe Mode with DOS prompt. The resulting screen is black with
just the words Safe Mode in the four corners.

Whoops, during the six or minutes it's taken to write this, I just got the
prompt. Ran chkdsk on all five partitions on both drives. No bad sectors
or
other problems.

It turns out that G has 83GB available, and C uses only about 21GB for
everything. So I'll just make a folder on G, call it C Backup, and use
Xcopy
to copy everything from C to C Backup. Then I can format c: and reinstall
W2K. No need to remove one drive, or create partitions and later delete
them. Sound OK?

Thanks,

Ray

 

[Ray K]

Thanks for the prompt reply. I'm off and running with the copying.

Ray