Re: Disk crash - Trying to install Ghosted backup -- PCTECH

"I thought ghosting the boot drive would have prevented all of this but I
guess I was wrong."

There's the lesson for the community. With both PCs and midrange systems,
we need to test/restore our backups on occasion.

While not done as a restore test per se I've validated my ability to restore
systems from my Windows Home Server a few times as part of hard drive
upgrades. I had also taken a Windows box, installed Linux over it, and used
the recovery CD to revert back to the prior Windows install. The only
'gotcha' I've found so far is it won't restore to a smaller drive, most
likely due to the nature of using VSS to track file/disk changes. When I
went to an SSD on my desktop I had to resize my partition to what would fit
on the SSD, do a fresh backup, swap drives, then do the restore.

A free & easy option for backup if you don't mind reinstalling the OS & apps
is to use Windows Easy Transfer (built in to Vista & 7 under Accessories -
System Tools; free for XP at
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=2B6F1631-973A-45C7-A4EC-4928FA173266&displaylang=en)
to back up your files, user settings, Outlook mailbox, Favorites, etc.
WET's purpose is to transfer your stuff to a new PC but it can also be used
for basic data backup. It creates a series of 2GB files that hold all of
your stuff sans OS & apps. Put those files on a thumb drive, USB HD,
network location, or wherever. Once you've reinstalled or upgraded Windows,
run WET again to restore. Largest downsides are it isn't very fast at
backing up and there are no incremental/differential backups of user data;
just full.

Final note: After restoring, if your HD setup has been changed, don't be
surprised if Windows wants to be validated again.

On Wed, Apr 28, 2010 at 7:24 AM, <Rick.Chevalier@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Last night I tried a couple of different things.

First I tried Lucas suggestion of using a Win 7 disk to repair the install.
Unfortunately my win 7 disk is for my 64 bit laptop and it won't load using
my 32 bit desktop.

Next I tried creating a WinXP boot disk using a product called nLite.
Using the directions I found on the web I created a CD with the SATA
drivers integrated onto it, well, I thought I did. When I tried to boot
using the new CD it blew right past the boot from CD option and went
straight into loading windows. I'm going to try to build it again today.
If that doesn't work I guess it's going to the shop. :-(

I thought ghosting the boot drive would have prevented all of this but I
guess I was wrong.

Rick

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