The Crap Shooter

[oldwrench]

I'll be there too.
I hope people will e back to posting again soon. I know they have been busy. I just don't know where Zera is, the boy worries me.

I just found out my old hack of a computer doesn't recognize more than 137g on the new hard drive, because the old xp disc doesn't have sp1 on it. I guess I could just install on the 137g partition, install xp, then sp1 and sp3, then it should recognize the rest of the drive so I can make it another partition. Orrrr....... I could use the external enclosure to hook it to this computer, partition it, then install windows. Computers are such fun.

[Sakura]

I recommend to install XP on a 60 gb partition which is enough for all your applications and then some. Create a D:\ drive for your data, in this case a reinstall only affects Windows and the installed data.
You can use a tool e.g. the Microsoft TweakUI, to relocate all your personal files and settings to drive D:\ (Usually whatever is in C:\Documents and Settings\<yourname>\ )
If you chose to do that all your program settings are preserved (Office, Firefox bookmarks and passwords) when you reinstall.
However patching a Windows XP SPzero can take a while... I recommend you get the Service Pack 3 CD from M$ and burn it to CD at home. Do NOT go online with SP zero without having a router and/or firewall attached.

Edit: You also have two options: You can chose to encrypt your personal data with a password (e.g. letters, customer data, invoices, whatever is in your personal directory). And/or you can use a tool like Norton Ghost to clone your c:\ hard disk to drive D:\ so when problems arrive in the future you can "reinstall" within half an hour.

[oldwrench]

That sounds good to me. I mostly did that with this computer, except I didn't think about moving the My documents folder. I'll have to do that. It would be nice not to have to reinstall the 160g of alldata files if widows poops out. Now I have to get a program like ghost. I already have a cd made with sp3 so I have xp0, sp1 and sp3 all ready to go. Thanks Kitten.

[Dechant]

I strongly advice against Norton Ghost, Acronis True Image is what you're looking for. Trust me. :)

[Dechant]

Oh and if you want to/can test a newer (promising) program: Storagecraft Shadowprotect.

[Sakura]

He actually needs something that works reliably. "Trust me" means: "I have no reasons for or against a software but you should use it anyways"

Oldwrench -> PM

[Dechant]

Well if Norton Ghost (and Norton's support) doesn't work as expected, he'll know at least two alternatives now.


'Trust me' coupled with seductive eyes and alluring voice works better than any reasons!

[Sakura]

I suggest Macrium Reflect or the UBCD 4.0 which also contains freeware hdd clone tools.

[oldwrench]

Well, I've got this thing going again. I have all the updates, and updates for the updates, and updates for those updates........ ad nauseum....... from micro squash. Now I just have to reinstall all my applications. Oh joy.

[oldwrench]

I spent most the day installing my applications, trying to find the registration numbers, searching for and downloading the things I want to use, and finally installing al the alldata dvd's. That's 15 Dvd's full of data to load onto the drive, takes a long time.

Thanks for the image software, I may be using it, but I found a freeware imaging utility, Paragon Technologies, DB9-express. It got a good review in pc-world, not as many functions as Ghost and other commercial software, but they say it's easy to use and makes a good copy, even has a utility to boot from a usb flash drive to restor your image file. I'll see if that works.