H/D info please

[CB]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.basics (More info?)

Hopefully, I'm not posting in the wrong newsgroup with this.

I have 2 hard drives and I'd like to reformat (wipe all info off) my slave
drive, then transfer my system info & important things from the primary
drive to the slave for backup if needed. I imagine I'll need Ghost, or
another program to achieve this.
I installed the slave (a WD) after buying the computer & no program was
included to transfer data & their Data Lifeguard program I d/l won't work
for some reason. I've contacted WD, but no answer to this question.

My question is: I have a Dell pc and there is a CD with the operating
system, etc that was included. Before I start that up, will it give me a
choice of hard drives to reformat, or should I try to reformat the slave
without it (if so, how)? I'm afraid to insert this CD fearing the unknown.
I've reformatted a Win98 pc, but never Win XP Home.

Thank you

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.basics (More info?)

Hi, CB.

Have you found Disk Management yet? Many users have not, nearly 5 years
after it first appeared in Windows 2000.

In MS-DOS and Win9x/ME (and earlier Windows, back to the beginning), we
booted from a DOS boot floppy and used FDISK and Format.com to create
partitions and format them. And in Win9x/ME, we used the Device Manager to
reassign "drive" letters. In Win2K/XP, Disk Management handles all these
jobs. One quick way to find Disk Management is to type at the Run prompt:
diskmgmt.msc

In Disk Management, first make it Full Screen and click View to set it up to
give you a clear picture of your hard drives (and CD/DVD drives, "thumb"
drives, etc.). My preference is to see the Volume List at the top of the
screen and the Graphical View at the bottom, but the choice is yours. Also,
check out the Help file from here; it tells us a lot about hard disks and
partitions.

As you can see, it is a simple matter to use Disk Management to create one
or more partitions on your new HD and format them. You can delete existing
partitions and create new ones in the freed space. You may want to reassign
the default letter(s) assigned to fit your own organization scheme.

Then you can use the familiar drag'n'drop commands in the GUI, or Copy and
Xcopy in the "DOS" window, to copy files from one drive to another. The
only files that should give you a problem are the Registry files; these
require special treatment.

I don't know the details of your Dell CD, but you probably don't need that
for this project. Others here are familiar with Dell and can advise you on
that.

RC
--
R. C. White, CPA
San Marcos, TX
rc@corridor.net
Microsoft Windows MVP

"CB" <croy14@noaddress.com> wrote in message
news:ftOdncyGKfGRwhLcRVn-sQ@comcast.com...
> Hopefully, I'm not posting in the wrong newsgroup with this.
>
> I have 2 hard drives and I'd like to reformat (wipe all info off) my slave
> drive, then transfer my system info & important things from the primary
> drive to the slave for backup if needed. I imagine I'll need Ghost, or
> another program to achieve this.
> I installed the slave (a WD) after buying the computer & no program was
> included to transfer data & their Data Lifeguard program I d/l won't work
> for some reason. I've contacted WD, but no answer to this question.
>
> My question is: I have a Dell pc and there is a CD with the operating
> system, etc that was included. Before I start that up, will it give me a
> choice of hard drives to reformat, or should I try to reformat the slave
> without it (if so, how)? I'm afraid to insert this CD fearing the
> unknown.
> I've reformatted a Win98 pc, but never Win XP Home.
>
> Thank you

 

[CB]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.basics (More info?)

Thanks, RC! I've printed out your instructions & will go there now. I
appreciate your help


"R. C. White" <rc@corridor.net> wrote in message
news:u4RL3RbxEHA.2996@TK2MSFTNGP10.phx.gbl...
> Hi, CB.
>
> Have you found Disk Management yet? Many users have not, nearly 5 years
> after it first appeared in Windows 2000.
>
> In MS-DOS and Win9x/ME (and earlier Windows, back to the beginning), we
> booted from a DOS boot floppy and used FDISK and Format.com to create
> partitions and format them. And in Win9x/ME, we used the Device Manager
to
> reassign "drive" letters. In Win2K/XP, Disk Management handles all these
> jobs. One quick way to find Disk Management is to type at the Run prompt:
> diskmgmt.msc
>
> In Disk Management, first make it Full Screen and click View to set it up
to
> give you a clear picture of your hard drives (and CD/DVD drives, "thumb"
> drives, etc.). My preference is to see the Volume List at the top of the
> screen and the Graphical View at the bottom, but the choice is yours.
Also,
> check out the Help file from here; it tells us a lot about hard disks and
> partitions.
>
> As you can see, it is a simple matter to use Disk Management to create one
> or more partitions on your new HD and format them. You can delete
existing
> partitions and create new ones in the freed space. You may want to
reassign
> the default letter(s) assigned to fit your own organization scheme.
>
> Then you can use the familiar drag'n'drop commands in the GUI, or Copy and
> Xcopy in the "DOS" window, to copy files from one drive to another. The
> only files that should give you a problem are the Registry files; these
> require special treatment.
>
> I don't know the details of your Dell CD, but you probably don't need that
> for this project. Others here are familiar with Dell and can advise you
on
> that.
>
> RC
> --
> R. C. White, CPA
> San Marcos, TX
> rc@corridor.net
> Microsoft Windows MVP
>
> "CB" <croy14@noaddress.com> wrote in message
> news:ftOdncyGKfGRwhLcRVn-sQ@comcast.com...
> > Hopefully, I'm not posting in the wrong newsgroup with this.
> >
> > I have 2 hard drives and I'd like to reformat (wipe all info off) my
slave
> > drive, then transfer my system info & important things from the primary
> > drive to the slave for backup if needed. I imagine I'll need Ghost, or
> > another program to achieve this.
> > I installed the slave (a WD) after buying the computer & no program was
> > included to transfer data & their Data Lifeguard program I d/l won't
work
> > for some reason. I've contacted WD, but no answer to this question.
> >
> > My question is: I have a Dell pc and there is a CD with the operating
> > system, etc that was included. Before I start that up, will it give me
a
> > choice of hard drives to reformat, or should I try to reformat the slave
> > without it (if so, how)? I'm afraid to insert this CD fearing the
> > unknown.
> > I've reformatted a Win98 pc, but never Win XP Home.
> >
> > Thank you
>

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.basics (More info?)

You do not need to reformat the second hard drive in order to store backup
files there. You cannot just make the second hard drive a clone of the
first as though you could alternate between them. You can, however, follow
any number of backup plans that will involove storing backup files or images
that you can then transfer back (restore) to the system drive in the event
of a hard drive failure.

"CB" <croy14@noaddress.com> wrote in message
news:ftOdncyGKfGRwhLcRVn-sQ@comcast.com...
> Hopefully, I'm not posting in the wrong newsgroup with this.
>
> I have 2 hard drives and I'd like to reformat (wipe all info off) my slave
> drive, then transfer my system info & important things from the primary
> drive to the slave for backup if needed. I imagine I'll need Ghost, or
> another program to achieve this.
> I installed the slave (a WD) after buying the computer & no program was
> included to transfer data & their Data Lifeguard program I d/l won't work
> for some reason. I've contacted WD, but no answer to this question.
>
> My question is: I have a Dell pc and there is a CD with the operating
> system, etc that was included. Before I start that up, will it give me a
> choice of hard drives to reformat, or should I try to reformat the slave
> without it (if so, how)? I'm afraid to insert this CD fearing the
> unknown.
> I've reformatted a Win98 pc, but never Win XP Home.
>
> Thank you
>
>

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.basics (More info?)

In news:eX6$DDdxEHA.2620@TK2MSFTNGP10.phx.gbl,
Colin Barnhorst <colinbarharst(nojunk)@msn.com> typed:

> You do not need to reformat the second hard drive in order to
> store
> backup files there. You cannot just make the second hard drive
> a
> clone of the first as though you could alternate between them.
> You
> can, however, follow any number of backup plans that will
> involove
> storing backup files or images that you can then transfer back
> (restore) to the system drive in the event of a hard drive
> failure.


I'd like to also caution the OP that his backup strategy would
let him recover only in the event of a hard drive failure. But
hard drive failures are only one of many dangers to your data.
Backing up to a non-removable hard drive permanently mounted in
the computer still leaves you vulnerable to things like virus
attacks, severe power glitches such as nearby lightning strikes,
even theft of the computer.

If you're serious about backup, you might want to rethink that
backup strategy. Secure backup needs to be stored externally for
the computer. if you're *really* serious about backup (for
example if the life of your business depends on your data) there
should be multiple generations of backup, with at least one of
those generations stored off site.

--
Ken Blake - Microsoft MVP Windows: Shell/User
Please reply to the newsgroup


> "CB" <croy14@noaddress.com> wrote in message
> news:ftOdncyGKfGRwhLcRVn-sQ@comcast.com...
>> Hopefully, I'm not posting in the wrong newsgroup with this.
>>
>> I have 2 hard drives and I'd like to reformat (wipe all info
>> off) my
>> slave drive, then transfer my system info & important things
>> from
>> the primary drive to the slave for backup if needed. I
>> imagine I'll
>> need Ghost, or another program to achieve this.
>> I installed the slave (a WD) after buying the computer & no
>> program
>> was included to transfer data & their Data Lifeguard program I
>> d/l
>> won't work for some reason. I've contacted WD, but no answer
>> to
>> this question.
>> My question is: I have a Dell pc and there is a CD with the
>> operating system, etc that was included. Before I start that
>> up,
>> will it give me a choice of hard drives to reformat, or should
>> I try
>> to reformat the slave without it (if so, how)? I'm afraid to
>> insert
>> this CD fearing the unknown.
>> I've reformatted a Win98 pc, but never Win XP Home.
>>
>> Thank you

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.basics (More info?)

I use USB2 external hard drives and dvd rw drives for backups. I am very
happy with the results and have had one situation where an entire box got
fried and I would not have recovered from any internal backup solution.

"Ken Blake" <kblake@this.is.an.invalid.domain> wrote in message
news:uPPk1QdxEHA.3976@TK2MSFTNGP09.phx.gbl...
> In news:eX6$DDdxEHA.2620@TK2MSFTNGP10.phx.gbl,
> Colin Barnhorst <colinbarharst(nojunk)@msn.com> typed:
>
>> You do not need to reformat the second hard drive in order to store
>> backup files there. You cannot just make the second hard drive a
>> clone of the first as though you could alternate between them. You
>> can, however, follow any number of backup plans that will involove
>> storing backup files or images that you can then transfer back
>> (restore) to the system drive in the event of a hard drive failure.
>
>
> I'd like to also caution the OP that his backup strategy would let him
> recover only in the event of a hard drive failure. But hard drive failures
> are only one of many dangers to your data. Backing up to a non-removable
> hard drive permanently mounted in the computer still leaves you vulnerable
> to things like virus attacks, severe power glitches such as nearby
> lightning strikes, even theft of the computer.
>
> If you're serious about backup, you might want to rethink that backup
> strategy. Secure backup needs to be stored externally for the computer. if
> you're *really* serious about backup (for example if the life of your
> business depends on your data) there should be multiple generations of
> backup, with at least one of those generations stored off site.
>
> --
> Ken Blake - Microsoft MVP Windows: Shell/User
> Please reply to the newsgroup
>
>
>> "CB" <croy14@noaddress.com> wrote in message
>> news:ftOdncyGKfGRwhLcRVn-sQ@comcast.com...
>>> Hopefully, I'm not posting in the wrong newsgroup with this.
>>>
>>> I have 2 hard drives and I'd like to reformat (wipe all info off) my
>>> slave drive, then transfer my system info & important things from
>>> the primary drive to the slave for backup if needed. I imagine I'll
>>> need Ghost, or another program to achieve this.
>>> I installed the slave (a WD) after buying the computer & no program
>>> was included to transfer data & their Data Lifeguard program I d/l
>>> won't work for some reason. I've contacted WD, but no answer to
>>> this question.
>>> My question is: I have a Dell pc and there is a CD with the
>>> operating system, etc that was included. Before I start that up,
>>> will it give me a choice of hard drives to reformat, or should I try
>>> to reformat the slave without it (if so, how)? I'm afraid to insert
>>> this CD fearing the unknown.
>>> I've reformatted a Win98 pc, but never Win XP Home.
>>>
>>> Thank you
>
>