ASR, Backups, Lowlevel formatting

[xlodo]

Hi guys, I have some questions:

(1)for back up purposes, what good options do I have in XP?
(2)where do I create the floppys for ASR?
(3)if I'm formatting a very problematic HD, is using the XP cd enough, or should I use a boot floppy? What is low level formatting?


Thanks a lot.

 

[nach]

Low level formatting in the old days was a method where the format replaces the cylindrical tracks around the disk surface. This is to allow for wear and tear in the head mechanism.

Nowadays its taken a new meaning and it means zero level format, a zero is written to all sectors on the entire disk surface eliminating all data beyond recovery including partition tables and indexes.

Newer disks have the controller built into the electronics on the disk unit itself and not on the Mobo IDE like most presume and this controls the cylinder patterns and cannot be low level formatted like the old technology could be. The slow format function in XP does not do a low level zero but just writes and reads back to each sector in turn, to make sure its not damaged.

Several methods exist for the backup routine and there are some good programs if you care to search. I use whats there in XP but its not that user friendly for replacing the OS itself, much because of XP's inherant built in security. Depending on the setup a repair reinstallation can be done after a full backup restore, unless you use "system restore" which can do the repair job sufficiently.

There are several methods and you should be able to find one you are comfortable with.

 

[jlanka]

see <A HREF="http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/home/using/productdoc/en/default.asp?url=/windowsxp/home/using/productdoc/en/recovery_automatic_sr.asp" target="_new">this MS site </A>for more info on ASR

<i>It's always the one thing you never suspected.</i>