guthrie
asked on
Clone/Copying system disk; problem.
I got a new big disk, need to move to it.
Did H/W install as secondary disk, BIOS auto-detect size (LBA).
I then partitioned and formatted (From W95), did full copy of each disk; by explorer/options/show_all_
-- I think this copies everything, xcopy won't
Then did format/copy_system_files to the new primary partition.
From here, booted to the old disk with the new as secondary, everything looks and works fine.
H/W swap disks (i.e. change primary/secondary drive jumpers)
Boot to floppy, use fdisk to set primary partition active.
Reboot
-- BIOS detect and config for new disk config
-- fails, not a system disk.
reboot to floppy,
do:: sys d: c: (old to new)
Reboot;
goes into W95, startup logo, goes through autoexec.bat,
then falls into a DOS prompt.
-- ??Why??
-- typing win from there, fails,
"VFAT initialization failed
a device or resource required by VFAT is not present or is unavailable. VFAT cannot continue loading.
System halted."
-- what is missing here???
I've done this before (I thought!) successfully.
This is W95a SR1, new disk is 5G WD caviar, setup into 5 1G partitions. I can flip jumpers and go back to the old config, it still works, and can see all the new disk fine; just can't seem to boot from it.
Did H/W install as secondary disk, BIOS auto-detect size (LBA).
I then partitioned and formatted (From W95), did full copy of each disk; by explorer/options/show_all_
-- I think this copies everything, xcopy won't
Then did format/copy_system_files to the new primary partition.
From here, booted to the old disk with the new as secondary, everything looks and works fine.
H/W swap disks (i.e. change primary/secondary drive jumpers)
Boot to floppy, use fdisk to set primary partition active.
Reboot
-- BIOS detect and config for new disk config
-- fails, not a system disk.
reboot to floppy,
do:: sys d: c: (old to new)
Reboot;
goes into W95, startup logo, goes through autoexec.bat,
then falls into a DOS prompt.
-- ??Why??
-- typing win from there, fails,
"VFAT initialization failed
a device or resource required by VFAT is not present or is unavailable. VFAT cannot continue loading.
System halted."
-- what is missing here???
I've done this before (I thought!) successfully.
This is W95a SR1, new disk is 5G WD caviar, setup into 5 1G partitions. I can flip jumpers and go back to the old config, it still works, and can see all the new disk fine; just can't seem to boot from it.
ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION
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ASKER
Well, there is a simple way, as per my earlier note.
http://nw3.nai.net/~luna/hrddrvupgrd.htm
The only additional point, which I missed, is that one has to use xcopy from a windows DOS box; I had booted from DOS, and then it does not support the required options.
Greg
http://nw3.nai.net/~luna/hrddrvupgrd.htm
The only additional point, which I missed, is that one has to use xcopy from a windows DOS box; I had booted from DOS, and then it does not support the required options.
Greg
Microsoft doesn't support cloning across MULTIPLE systems, because Windows is already set-up and expects the hardware in the Old PC to be in the new one. Win 95 can usually handle the difference because of Plug and Play, but NT won't work unless you have an identical PC with an identical HW configuration.
ASKER
Hmm,
interesting, are you sure?
I looked at their site, and the document on cloning (actually via a reference from Norton Ghost), and they said that they DO support cloning for all systems except W95.
Of course, what I was doing is not cloning, singe the targett disk was for the same system.
Anyway, the bottom line for my situation, is that Xcopy works fine.
(I got the trial ghost, had (fixable) problems with file dates, and others (non-fixable) with disk copy errors. It complained about non-readable disk sectors on the source. MSoft scnadisk reads fine, and the WD partition cloning utility (~= free "ghost" !) also worked fine).
interesting, are you sure?
I looked at their site, and the document on cloning (actually via a reference from Norton Ghost), and they said that they DO support cloning for all systems except W95.
Of course, what I was doing is not cloning, singe the targett disk was for the same system.
Anyway, the bottom line for my situation, is that Xcopy works fine.
(I got the trial ghost, had (fixable) problems with file dates, and others (non-fixable) with disk copy errors. It complained about non-readable disk sectors on the source. MSoft scnadisk reads fine, and the WD partition cloning utility (~= free "ghost" !) also worked fine).
ASKER
Why won't my approach work, it seems logical :-)
what doesn't get copied?
I also saw a description of a similar method, at:http://nw3.nai.net/~luna/hrddrvupgrd.htm
"Instructions to replace boot drive using Win 95/98"
Stay in the Dos box and type C:\windows\command\xcopy c: d: /s/e/c/r/h/k -Everything from your c drive will now be
copied to your new (D) drive, excluding the swap file which will be recreated upon booting up Win 95/98. Long file names will
be preserved using this version of Xcopy (Xcopy32 will be invoked with this command).
(For those of you who want to know what the above commands do-/C Ignores errors. /E Copies all sub directories, even if
they are empty, /H Copies files with the hidden and system file attributes, /K Copies attributes, /R Copies over read-only files.
/S Copies directories and sub directories, unless they are empty.)
-- but my xcopy doesn't have the options /crhk
-- odd, should it?
I'll go lookup the trialware you mention.
Rather unfortunate if/that Windows doesn't suport something so simple!
(Note; Msoft warns against cloning across systems (on W95), but none of their concerns apply for this disk upgrade scenario).
Greg