emmajean
asked on
CREATING A BACKUP
I NEED TO BACKUP SOME FILES IN ORDER TO DO A FULL RESTORE FROM MY D DRIVE. I WANT TO START OVER WITH A FULL RESTORE. MICROSOFT BACKUP WILL ONLY BACKUP TO DRIVE A AND GIVES NO OPTIONS (CD DRIVE IS READ ONLY). USING FLOPPIES IS AT BEST IMPRACTICAL BUT IN REAL TERMS INSANE. CAN I USE AN EXTERNAL HARD DRIVE (MAXTOR ONE TOUCH 4) CONNECTED TO THE USB 1.1 PORT? DO I HAVE ANY OPTIONS BUT FLOPPIES?
You can backup to any drive you can write to without special software (You need special software to write to a CD or DVD).
So an external hard drive, a flash drive, a second internal hard drive, they should all work. That said, if you intend to use the NTBackup utility - or anything else that backs up to a large file, you will need to have your backup device formatted as NTFS or you will have problems - FAT32 supports a maximum file size of slightly below 4 GB - if you have more than 4 GB of data, this would cause a problem and the backup would fail.
So an external hard drive, a flash drive, a second internal hard drive, they should all work. That said, if you intend to use the NTBackup utility - or anything else that backs up to a large file, you will need to have your backup device formatted as NTFS or you will have problems - FAT32 supports a maximum file size of slightly below 4 GB - if you have more than 4 GB of data, this would cause a problem and the backup would fail.
ASKER
I WOULD LIKE TO MAKE SURE I CORRECTLY UNDERSTAND THESE ISSUES. USB 2 DEVICES ARE BACKWARD COMPATIBLE TO USB 1.1 PORTS? THE ONLY SOFTWARE I WOULD NEED IS THAT WHICH COMES WITH THE MAXTOR EXTERNAL HARD DRIVE? MY FILES ARE FAT32. IF I KEEP THE BACKUP WELL UNDER 4 GB THE BACKUP WILL BE SUCCESSFUL? MAXTOR STATES THAT A 500MHz PROCESSOR IS REQUIRED. MY PROCESSOR IS 366MHz. WILL THIS STILL WORK BUT JUST AT SLOWER SPEEDS WHICH ARE ALREADY SLOWED BY MY USB 1.1 PORT? I NEED THIS DEVICE, IN ANY CASE, FOR MY NEWER LAPTOPS. I'M HESITANT TO DOWNLOAD ANY OF THE BACKUP PROGRAMS LISTED BECAUSE I HAVE NO IDEA HOW THEY WORK (IE COMPUTER TO COMPUTER ETC.) AND I CAN'T FIND ANY INFORMATION AT THE VARIOUS WEBSITES.
ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION
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you must check for any usb device if you have the windows98 driver, otherwise it won't work
you can try this generic one too : http://www.technical-assistance.co.uk/drivers/nusb31e.exe
your backup can be any size, if it is not in 1 file (which i don't recommend)
if you use a program for backup, be sure it makes the backup in a generally known format like **.zip in case of problems
you can try this generic one too : http://www.technical-assistance.co.uk/drivers/nusb31e.exe
your backup can be any size, if it is not in 1 file (which i don't recommend)
if you use a program for backup, be sure it makes the backup in a generally known format like **.zip in case of problems
EmmaJean
What type of drive is the D: Drive you are referring to?
If it is a 2nd hard drive or a 2nd partition of your existing Windows hard drive, if it is formatted as FAT32 and is large enough to hold a full system backup file created with Windows 98 Backup Utility, then you SHOULD be able to create your backup file (*.qic) to that drive and later restore it during a fresh install that runs pretty much automated.
The tools you need are on the Win98SE setup CD (assuming it is a standard one and not an OEM "Recovery" CD) in the folder:
CD:\tools\sysrec\
Instructions are in the file "recover.txt", and are also here:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/q187325/
Basically what happens is that you boot your computer to a standard Windows 98 Boot Floppy (choosing "With CD-Rom Support), and type in the command to run the batch file that same "sysrec" folder of the CD. It performs a semi-automated setup of Windows, taking instructions from the file "MSBatch.inf" in that same folder of the CD, and launches the program file "SRW.EXE" (System Recovery Wizard). This then leads you through the process of importing your backup file from the 2nd hard drive partition into the basic and unconfigured Windows that has just been installed.
It's all very well explained with screenshots here:
http://articles.techrepublic.com.com/5100-6313_11-5035252.html
So, creating your *.QIC backup file (named from the old "Quarter Inch Cartridge" tape backup medium) to your 2nd hard drive or partition is perfectly feasible, and no special drivers in DOS or Windows are needed for the Systtem Recovery Wizard and Backup to restore from that hard drive partition.
Other pages:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/q187526/
http://www.helpwithwindows.com/windows98/start-1451.html
http://pcwin.homestead.com/PrintRestore98G.html
Issues with Windows 98 Backup:
http://free-backup.info/using-windows-backup-software.html
http://thesource.ofallevil.com/technet/archive/win98/support/recreg.mspx
http://www.helpwithwindows.com/windows98/backup.html
Other good info here, although older content:
http://www.wellesley.edu/Computing/Backup/backup-win98.html
There ARE much better disk imaging or cloning utilities available, and I'm sure are much better than what Windows 98 offered, but I've had pretty successful system restores using the Windows 98 "system recovery" method.
One thing is certain though. DO NOT rely solely on a utility to backup and restore irreplaceable files. Archive them in ZIP files and burn to CD's while Windows is running, and test their integrity before sticking the CD's in their sleeves and assuming they are OK.
Also clear out all your temporary and junk files before running any backup or disk imaging/cloning utilities. You don't want all the crud restored again.
I remembered one of our experts (guessing it would have been callrs, nobus, coral47 or blue_zee) mentioning a long while ago that he "cloned" his entire Windows 98 C: Drive to a 2nd D: Drive using the free XXCOPY program run with the /clone switch. XXCopy is a very much improved alternative to Windows 98's XCOPY, but the version that runs in full DOS doesn't preserve long file names. There is a workaround, but not always successful.
http://www.xxcopy.com/xxcopy10.htm
You could, if you temporarily connected a 2nd formatted hard drive, clone your full Win98 drive (using xxcopy run from within Windows) to the other drive. You could then shut down and swap the drives around to boot off the cloned drive, format the original as long as the cloned drive all works OK, and then clone the Windows drive back to the original one again. If Windows starts playing up and it looks like you may have to format the drive and reinstall Windows and all your programs from scratch again, then this may be a viable alternative.
Just another option to consider, but I'm not necessarily recommending this way.
What type of drive is the D: Drive you are referring to?
If it is a 2nd hard drive or a 2nd partition of your existing Windows hard drive, if it is formatted as FAT32 and is large enough to hold a full system backup file created with Windows 98 Backup Utility, then you SHOULD be able to create your backup file (*.qic) to that drive and later restore it during a fresh install that runs pretty much automated.
The tools you need are on the Win98SE setup CD (assuming it is a standard one and not an OEM "Recovery" CD) in the folder:
CD:\tools\sysrec\
Instructions are in the file "recover.txt", and are also here:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/q187325/
Basically what happens is that you boot your computer to a standard Windows 98 Boot Floppy (choosing "With CD-Rom Support), and type in the command to run the batch file that same "sysrec" folder of the CD. It performs a semi-automated setup of Windows, taking instructions from the file "MSBatch.inf" in that same folder of the CD, and launches the program file "SRW.EXE" (System Recovery Wizard). This then leads you through the process of importing your backup file from the 2nd hard drive partition into the basic and unconfigured Windows that has just been installed.
It's all very well explained with screenshots here:
http://articles.techrepublic.com.com/5100-6313_11-5035252.html
So, creating your *.QIC backup file (named from the old "Quarter Inch Cartridge" tape backup medium) to your 2nd hard drive or partition is perfectly feasible, and no special drivers in DOS or Windows are needed for the Systtem Recovery Wizard and Backup to restore from that hard drive partition.
Other pages:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/q187526/
http://www.helpwithwindows.com/windows98/start-1451.html
http://pcwin.homestead.com/PrintRestore98G.html
Issues with Windows 98 Backup:
http://free-backup.info/using-windows-backup-software.html
http://thesource.ofallevil.com/technet/archive/win98/support/recreg.mspx
http://www.helpwithwindows.com/windows98/backup.html
Other good info here, although older content:
http://www.wellesley.edu/Computing/Backup/backup-win98.html
There ARE much better disk imaging or cloning utilities available, and I'm sure are much better than what Windows 98 offered, but I've had pretty successful system restores using the Windows 98 "system recovery" method.
One thing is certain though. DO NOT rely solely on a utility to backup and restore irreplaceable files. Archive them in ZIP files and burn to CD's while Windows is running, and test their integrity before sticking the CD's in their sleeves and assuming they are OK.
Also clear out all your temporary and junk files before running any backup or disk imaging/cloning utilities. You don't want all the crud restored again.
I remembered one of our experts (guessing it would have been callrs, nobus, coral47 or blue_zee) mentioning a long while ago that he "cloned" his entire Windows 98 C: Drive to a 2nd D: Drive using the free XXCOPY program run with the /clone switch. XXCopy is a very much improved alternative to Windows 98's XCOPY, but the version that runs in full DOS doesn't preserve long file names. There is a workaround, but not always successful.
http://www.xxcopy.com/xxcopy10.htm
You could, if you temporarily connected a 2nd formatted hard drive, clone your full Win98 drive (using xxcopy run from within Windows) to the other drive. You could then shut down and swap the drives around to boot off the cloned drive, format the original as long as the cloned drive all works OK, and then clone the Windows drive back to the original one again. If Windows starts playing up and it looks like you may have to format the drive and reinstall Windows and all your programs from scratch again, then this may be a viable alternative.
Just another option to consider, but I'm not necessarily recommending this way.
ASKER
i certainly was not yelling by typing in all caps. vision difficulties make it necessary so that i can read what i type
ASKER
my sincere thanks to all who responded to my question. i have not resolved the issue completely but am sure the supplied information will lead to success. ALL of the information was and is extremely helpful, concise and well written
thank you
emmajean
thank you
emmajean
You likely don't actually need to reformat your C: drive to reinstall Windows (I assume that's the ultimate goal. You might want to review this web page I put together, detailing a procedure for XP that should fundamentally work the same for 98. http://www.lwcomputing.com/tips/static/freshnoformat.asp
http://www.download.com/Backup-SafeKeeper/3000-2242_4-10760045.html?tag=lst-0-6
http://www.download.com/Everyday-Auto-Backup/3000-2242_4-10514373.html?tag=lst-0-1
http://www.download.com/RX2-Master-Backup/3000-2242_4-10344535.html?tag=lst-0-9
http://www.download.com/Cobian-Backup/3000-2242_4-10071828.html?tag=lst-0-5
http://www.download.com/AKGBackup/3000-2242_4-10395884.html?tag=lst-0-3
http://www.download.com/AnyBackup-Free-Edition/3000-2242_4-10386432.html?tag=lst-0-1
To mention only a few FREE tools...
Good luck.
Zee