HELP MR. WIZARD! HELP!

[like2be]

I've almost built up the courage to upgrade and install a new HD but i'm not really sure what to back up from the existing disk which I may or may not remove, and I'm sorta stuck... I'm not planning to change from win98se( or should I ),so do I just copy everything from the old drive to the new disk? If so how do I do it?
When I go to the backup utility in windows it gets pretty confusing, please help. By the way I'm equipped with either a CD-R, CD-RW or an LS120
"floppy", which one do you think I should use?? Thank for any assistance.

[Paleo Pete]

consider looking at it from the other angle. What don't you need? FIgure that out, and uninstall anything unnecessary, then add the new drive as Master, the old one as Slave, and use the new drive's installation software to copy the data on the old drive to the new one during the installation process. Most drive manufacturers have an installation floppy that offers that option, and it usually works quite well, and transfers a working Operating System too.

For backup purposes I like tape best, but whether you use CD or LS-120 would basically depend on what type of data you want to back up and how large the files are. Small documents and drivers I would put on the LS-120 and large programs and games on CD.

Then again, CD is normally permanent, so you could also combine all your drivers and small applications into folders, and burn them onto CD, they would be there for good. CD's are great for long term, for things that change often, the LS-120 comes in handy.

------------------
My hairdresser charges me a finder's fee!!

Please post your questions on the forums, not in my email.

Computer Information Links (http://www.geocities.com/paleopete/)

[xor_chad]

Hi
The one thing i ALWAYS forget to back up is my mail and bookmarks.
Dont fotget them.

As for what to backup... the question isnt as hard as you make it seem.

Back up anything you need and cant reproduce easily or at all.

Things like stuff you downloaded(music, movies, pics, etc) and things you created(spreadsheets, source code, documents, etc).

Just dont overkill. Like say you want to save your mail from outlook. Dont save the entire outlook directory. Just get the files that contain the msgs. Got it? LAters...


------------------
Chad Wilson
C++/ASM Programmer
PC Support Technician

[2NDDAN]

HEY THERE LIKE2BE,
* :-(SHOULD COPY THIS TEXT AND PASTE INTO A NOTEPAD OR WORD AND PRINT OUT FOR FUTURE USE)*
IF YOU ARE LOOKING TO UPGRADE YOUR HARDDRIVE AND YOU ARE GOING TO TRANSFER IT YOURSELF THEN HERE IS A QUICK EASY AND PAINLESS WAY TO DO IT WITH HAVING TO SAVE ANYTHING.... JUST FOLLOW THESE FEW EASY STEPS..
FIRST OF ALL YOU MUST ANSWER THIS QUESTION??? DOES YOUR SYSTEM CURRENTLY RUN OK, WITHOUT ERRORS AND ARE YOU HAPPY WITH THE WAY IT IS RUNNING? IF THE ANSWER IS YES THEN TERRIFIC, IF IT IS NO THEN I WOULD SUGGEST YOU GO FOR PETES WAY AND BACKING EVERYTHING UP THEN RE-INSTALLING AND COPYING. SO IF YOU ARE HAPPY WITH THE SYSTEM, THEN I WOULD SUGGEST THERE IS NO NEED TO UPGRADE, WIN98 IS GREAT AND NOWHERE OUT OF DATE YET.
1) INSTALL YOUR NEW HARDDRIVE IN YOUR SYSTEM TO YOUR OLD HARDDRIVE AND MAKE YOUR NEW DRIVE THE SLAVE.
2) BOOT YOUR MACHINE AND WHEN YOUR FIRST POST BOOT SCREEN COMES UP PRESS YOUR DEL BUTTON OR F1 KEY(WHICH EVER IS THE SEQUENCE TO ENTER THE CMOS)
3) ONCE HERE GO TO THE SECTION THAT SAYS "AUTOMATICALLY DETECT DRIVES" ONCE IN HERE IT SHOULD COME UP IN ORDER, 1=MASTER DRIVE(YOUR OLD DRIVE) 2=MASTER SLAVE(YOUR NEW DRIVE) 3=SECONDRY MASTER (THIS SHOULD BE NONE) 4=SECONDARY SLAVE (THIS SHOULD BE NONE) AS THESE COME UP IT WILL ASK Y OR N IF EACH ARE RIGHT PRESS Y AND ENTER.... IF ALL IS WELL THEN THIS WILL TAKE YOU BACK TO CMOS SETTINGS.
4) ONCE FINISHED GO TO YOUR SETTING CALLED "EXIT AND SAVE CMOS SETTINGS" CLICK THIS ONCE, A MESSAGE WILL APPEAR ASKING TO SAVE AND EXIT, PRESS Y AND ENTER.
ONCE YOU DO THIS THE MACHINE WILL REBOOT, OK WE ARE ON OUR WAY NOW THE COMPUTER WILL BOOT AS NORMAL FOM YOUR ORIGINAL DRIVE.
ONCE LOADED, CHECK YOUR WINDOWS EXPLORER TO BE SURE YOUR SLAVE DRIVE IS SHOWING, IT SHOULD NOW BE DRIVE D: IF IT IS THERE THEN WE ARE READY TO START TRANSFER: SO WE COPY ALL CONTENTS FROM YOUR C TO D DRIVES, YES JUST COPY AND PASTE AS EASY AS THAT....OK ONLY 6 STEPS TO TRANSFER....FIRST THING TO DO IS MAKE SURE ALL FILES ARE SHOWING, GO INTO WINDOWS EXPLORER, GO TO YOUR VIEW MENU, SCROLL TO BOTTOM AND CLICK 'FOLDER OPTIONS', THEN CLICK THE VIEW TAB AND IN THE LIST SELECT "SHOW ALL FILES" FOLLOW THESE STEPS BELOW:-
1) WHILE IN YOUR EXPLORER, CLICK ON C: DRIVE TO SHOW ALL FILES IN YOUR WINDOW, THEN SELECT ALL YOUR FILES AND FOLDERS, ONCE DONE PRESS CTRL KEY AND HOLD - THEN WITH YOUR MOUSE DE SELECT WINDOWS FOLDER, THAT IS LEFT CLICK OR HOVER ON IT(DEPENDING ON HOW YOUR WINDOWS IS CONFIGURED) NOW COPY EVERYTHING ELSE SELECTED.
2) GOTO YOUR D: DRIVE THEN PASTE, THIS WILL COPY EVERYTHING FROM C: TO D http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/frown.gifDEPENDING ON HOW MANY FILES YOU HAVE AS TO HOW LONG THIS WILL TAKE.
2a) ONCE THIS IS DONE, STILL N D: DRIVE CREATE A NEW FOLDER CALLED WINDOWS(OR WHATEVER YOUR WINDOWS FOLDER IS)
3) NOW GO BACK AND OPEN YOUR WINDOWS FOLDER IN C: DRIVE, AND SELECT ALL FILES. ONCE SELECTED, SCROLL DOWN THE LIST TILL YOU FIND A FILE CALLED WIN386.SWP-REASON FOR THIS IS BECAUSE THE FILE IS A WINDOWS SYSTEM FILE & CAN NOT BE COPIED!!!!!, NOW DESELECT THIS FILE AS WE DID BEFORE WITH THE WINDOWS FOLDER. NEXT WE COPY ALL THE OTHER SELECTED FILES.
3a) OPEN D: DRIVE AGAIN THEN OPEN YOUR WINDOWS FOLDER IN D:, THEN PASTE AGAIN.
4) ONCE YOU HAVE DONE ALL THIS - YOU HAVE COPIED EVERYTHING YOU NEED. THE NEXT THING IS TO COPY YOUR SYSTEM TO YOUR NEW DRIVE... http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/biggrin.gif THIS IS NOT AS BAD AS IT SEEMS..'LOL' SO NOW CLOSE EXPLORER AND GO TO YOUR START MENU, SHUTDOWN AND RESTART IN MSDOS MODE.
5) ONCE STARTED IN DOS MODE, IT WILL START AT A DOS PROMPT LIKE C:\>WINDOWS DOS WILL START IN YOUR WINDOWS FOLDER, NOW WE WANT TO GOTO C:\ SO AT THE PROMPT TYPE WHAT IS IN THE BRACKETS EG(CD ..) THEN PRESS ENTER, OK SO AT THE PROMPT: C:\>WINDOWS>TYPE(CD ..) THEN ENTER
WE ARE AT THE C:\> PROMPT.
6) FINAL STEP, NOW TYPE AT THE C:\>(SYS D http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/smile.gif THEN ENTER
THIS WILL COPY ALL YOUR SYSTEM SETTINGS FROM C: TO YOUR D: DRIVE. IT IS NOW SET LIKE YOUR C: WITH EVERYTHING YOU HAD BEFORE. NOW ALL YOU DO IS CLOSE DOWN THE COMPUTER, UNHOOK YOUR HARD DRIVES, RESET YOUR NEW HARD DRIVE AS THE MASTER HARD DRIVE. THEN TURN ON COMPUTER AGAIN, GO INTO YOUR CMOS SETTINGS AGAIN AND "AUTOMATICALLY DETECT DRIVES" DETECT YOUR NEW HARD DRIVE SHOULD BE 1=MASTER (WHATEVER SIZE)
ONCE DONE GOTO "EXIT AND SAVE CMOS SETTINGS" PRESS Y AND ENTER. YOUR MACHINE WILL BOOT AND IF ALL IS WELL AND YOU GOT EVERYTHING IT WILL BOOT JUST LIKE IT USE TO BEFORE BUT WITH A NEW DRIVE. THIS WILL NOW BE C: AND ALL YOUR FILES ARE BACK. I KNOW THIS SOUNDS LIKE A LOT BECAUSE IT IS STEP BY STEP, BUT I HAVE DONE THIS WITH SEVERAL MACHINES AS WELL AS SEVERAL TIMES MYSELF - NEVER WITH A MISHAP.
HOPE THIS HELPS, SEE YA ALL LATER... http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/wink.gif

------------------
2NDDAN - EVERY STEP IS A STEP TOWARDS ENLIGHTENMENT.. HA, FOOLED YA HEY!!!

[This message has been edited by 2NDDAN (edited 01-05-2001).]

[Paleo Pete]

OK, after taking 15 minutes to decipher all that I fail to see the reasoning behind going through a complicated 2 hour process just to do the same thing the drive installation software is designed to do in about 10 minutes...and certainly more reliably.

Actually, backing everything up really wouldn't be critical, since you would be copying all data from the existing drive to the new one during the installation process, except from the "what if it has problems" point of view, which of course should be considered.

I've used the drive installation software to copy drive to drive several times, and never had any problems, it usually takes 3-4 minutes to copy 2 GB of data. And it's way less complicated than the procedure outlined in a barely readable fashion above. (no insult intended, all caps is difficult to read...) The drive installation software only requires pressing the [Enter] key once, the rest is automatic. Can't get more simple than that, any 8 year old that can read can do it.

My advice is forget any such complicated and involved procedure and use the copy option included in the drive installation software, that's what it's for, it works perfect, and you only have to physically install or swap the drives once. I see no reason whatsoever to make it a complicated, drawn out ordeal.

If, on the other hand, you are having trouble with the present system, format and reinstall to start with, and back up anything you want to keep.

I'm not sure if the Windows Back up utility will use CD ROM, if it will it's basically a matter of choice. If not, the LS-120 will have to do. Using it isn't as difficult as it may seem, check the files you want to backup in the right hand pane, and click start. Checking through the help files might be a good idea.

With CD ROM you might be better off to use the software that came with it to burn CD's, and you can copy just about anything you want to keep. Many applications will have to be reinstalled, since backups don't copy registry entries, changes to system.ini or win.ini, or shared files they may use that are stored in a separate folder from the rest of the programs.

------------------
My hairdresser charges me a finder's fee!!

Please post your questions on the forums, not in my email.

Computer Information Links (http://www.geocities.com/paleopete/)