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chances of catastrophic failure in an old ME system? - 100% over time!
hardware WILL die eventually. what would happen when (not if!) it happens? - possibly you'll get lucky and be able to transfer your HD to a new motherboard and pull the data off, but it's also possible that the HD will be the failure point, and you'll lose everything permanently unless you backed it up. -- Noel Paton CrashFixPC Nil Carborundum Illegitemi www.crashfixpc.co.uk "Justin" wrote in message ... But what are the chances of that and what would happen if it did get messed up "Mart" wrote: Hmm... Well, you've just opened a whole new can of worms. Seems your system is already "messed up". No System Restore? That really needs fixing for a start. Have you tried Start / Programs / Accessories / System Tools / System Restore ? It *might* even be something simple like you never having done any of the MS WinMe updates. (There is a known bug with SR which requires an MS update to fix it). But if you cant find it in System Tools, you need to search for a file called rstrui.exe Getting back to trying to clone your HD - unless you try to do it as I previously described, i.e cloning to a new HDD, then you're in for a lot of messy (spanning CD's, finding suitable DOS drivers for your memory stick etc.) and probably unsuccessful work. I'd suggest you go down the "BootIt Next Generation" route from TeraByte. http://www.terabyteunlimited.com/index.htm But your on your own then. However, if you only want to back-up your critical (personal) data and files, (which you should always do as a matter of course, anyway) then just copy and paste all your data files to a memory stick. Otherwise, in the event of a 'catastrophic failure', i.e. totally "messed up" system then you'll probably find it far simpler to wipe your HDD and do a fresh, clean install of WinMe (and whatever other programs you have installed) and then simply restore your backed-up data. Just a thought, I "guess" your WinMe pc is beginning to get a bit long in the tooth - 10 years+? - and the fact that you've only got a 4.02 Gb HDD (now obsolete and no longer manufactured) suggests that your HDD might be reaching its twilight days. Not to mention that WinMe ceased to be supported in 2006 and MS now really want you off it. Whether you wish to throw good money (and more importantly - effort) at an old, obsolete and unsupported pc is your choice, but my strategy would be to back-up all critical data to a memory stick and save my money to invest in a brand new pc when your WinMe kit finally "catastrophically fails" - as it surely will. Your backed-up data can easily be transferred to a new Operating System and your memory stick is still good for your new pc too. Mart "Justin" wrote in message ... BUT system restore has not worked for a while and for some reason it will not come back and i have serched for it in the system and it is like it is just gone well i might be able to find it do you know the name of the system restore file in the system32 folder. oohh and i am cloning the hd it only holds 4.02GB so i was going to burn it to a cd or do you think my best bet is to just use a flashdrive "Mart" wrote: No, not if you're careful and stick to my advice of setting a restore point BEFORE you start work. However, you WILL need to install a software "burning" utility before you can "burn" your CD's, its not just as simple as substituting the cd drive only. Naturally, that will add a new program to your pc and in turn will modify your Registry - but it wouldn't (shouldn't) get you "messed up". Once you've finished with the "temporary" cd burner, you can 'uninstall' the software "burning" utility, which will remove the previous Registry modifications and then replace the original cd drive. Then, unless you've done something wrong, there would (should) be no need for you to revert back to your original SR point - BUT there would be no harm done in doing so, if you wanted to. If, for any reason you do get "messed up" then System Restore is your insurance policy. That's why MS introduced and included it in WinMe - the first OS to use SR. BTW - If you're still not happy, you could always 'burn' your back-up data to a USB memory stick. Remember, a CD will only hold about 700Mb of data, whereas a memory stick can hold many Gb's of data. And, no software utility is necessary. But, in your original post, you mentioned "a backup of the whole system" - it is assumed that you mean a backup of ALL of your *data* and NOT a complete copy (clone) of the actual Hard Drive (C: Drive). If you really mean a copy of the C: drive, then that's a completely different ball game and your simplest approach would be to get a second hard drive and use the drive manufacturer's own software utilities to copy or clone your original C: drive to your new second drive. These utilities can be downloaded from the manufacturer's web site. Note that none of the above approaches would (should) "mess up the system" - if you do it properly - plus!, you've still got SR if you do go wrong. Mart "Justin" wrote in message ... so there is a small posibality it could get messed up ps nothing is wrong with the cd crive i just need to use a burner "Mart" wrote: Without asking what is wrong with your existing "cd drive" and assuming the following :- #1 :- Existing "cd drive" is a CD burner. #2 :- Replacement "cd drive" is a CD burner. #3 :- You have a 'burning' software utility - e.g Nero, etc., then all should work fine - however, just to be doubly sure (belt & braces), you should set a System Restore point BEFORE you start the work. That way, you can always replace the 'different (replacement) cd drive' with the 'original cd drive' if all goes pear-shaped and recall the previous SR point back to where you were before you started the work. Mart "Justin" wrote in message ... Would it mess up the system if i temporally put in a different cd drive to burn a backup of the whole system . . |
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Justin asked :-
But what are the chances of that and what would happen if it did get messed up Noel replied :- chances of catastrophic failure in an old ME system? - 100% over time! hardware WILL die eventually. what would happen when (not if!) it happens? - possibly you'll get lucky and be able to transfer your HD to a new motherboard and pull the data off, but it's also possible that the HD will be the failure point, and you'll lose everything permanently unless you backed it up. Seems a fair conclusion to me - nothing really to add. Mart |
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Ok thanks Every one I think that i will just wait till i get another
flashdrive to turn it on and back up THANK YOU VERY MUCH "Mart" wrote: Justin asked :- But what are the chances of that and what would happen if it did get messed up Noel replied :- chances of catastrophic failure in an old ME system? - 100% over time! hardware WILL die eventually. what would happen when (not if!) it happens? - possibly you'll get lucky and be able to transfer your HD to a new motherboard and pull the data off, but it's also possible that the HD will be the failure point, and you'll lose everything permanently unless you backed it up. Seems a fair conclusion to me - nothing really to add. Mart . |
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