XP Wont boot. Need to transfer files from C to D in DOS ? 2

[kwunder]

Hi

Suddenly, XP Pro won't boot on my machine. It goes through the motions for a while after recognizing the devices then through the Windows XP screen with the progress bar, but then it clicks and reboots.
I've tried the recovery console but it does nothing.
I do have a few files on the C drive that I'd like to transfer to my second HDD before I have to re-install XP, but I haven't a clue about DOS.

Can anyone advise please ?
Cheers

 

[kwunder]

Thanks Linney

GVN

Affraid that DOS line is still double dutch to me

I have got backups of my important stuff. What it was, I have all my digital photos from the last couple of years in my "My Documents/My Pictures" folder. As I add more photos, I add them to this folder, and once every couple of weeks, back them up to DVD. This problem occured in the middle of that 2 week stretch, and only last week I took some pictures at a family gathering that hadn't yet made it to the DVD backup stage.

So... for future reference, taking my situation into account, what would be the DOS command I'd need to type in order to copy C:\My Documents\My Pictures to D:\ ?

(Incidentally, I noticed that when I was using recovery console, my slave drive (D) had become the C drive ???

I didn't know how to list the drives connected to my PC in DOS either, so I unplugged the slave drive, and then my system drive reverted to C.


Many Thanks

 

[gpalmer711]

For backing your pics to your D: I would recommend SyncBack from

http://www.2brightsparks.com/syncback/syncback-hub.html

They are still offering a free version of the software which works great and allows you to schedule backups.

The dos command would be

XCOPY C:\"documents and settings"\YourUserName\"My Documents"\"My Pictures"\*.* D:\ /S /D /E /C /H /K


Greg Palmer
Freeware Utilities for Windows Administrators.

http://www.palmersoft.co.uk

 

[kwunder]

Cheers Greg

I'll certainly have a look at SyncBack.
Always wondered how these programs work given how easy it is to copy and paste stuff from one place to another - or am I missing something ? (Almost a certainty that I am !)

 

[gpalmer711]

Well essentially the way software like this works is just a series of copy and paste actions. However Microsoft give programmers access to parts of the operating system through something called API's.

The software will make use of these API's to do the copy and paste functions.

SyncBack also has other functions, like the ability to compress the files you are backing up and to be able to backup to a FTP site.

Greg Palmer
Freeware Utilities for Windows Administrators.

http://www.palmersoft.co.uk

 

[GVN]

Create a blank text document with Notepad and type:

XCOPY "C:\Documents and Settings\%USERNAME%\My Documents\My Pictures\*.*" D:\ /S /D /E /C /H /K

in that text document. Then, rename that txt file as C:\BACKUPS.BAT. Next, add it as a Scheduled Task to run nightly. That should cover you for any future problems, plus allow you to edit the BACKUPS.BAT file to add more directories in the future if ever needed.

GVN

 

[MikeMoss]

Hi

As a photographer I would suggest that you get an external hard drive.

I have a Maxtor 300 gig firewire drive.

I save all my images on my second internal drive, not the one that Windows is installed on. If it has to be formatted I don't lose any of my data.

Then every thing that is really important, like all my image files, billing, and job files are saved to both my second hard drive and my external drive.

In addition I have used Norton Ghost to make a complete backup of drive C: in case of a Windows crash. This is also saved on my external drive.

External hard drives are quite inexpensive now and well worth the price just for the security. It has save my *** on several occasions over the years. If your computer doesn’t have a firewire port the drives also run USB but much slower, a firewire card is easy to install and not expensive.

Mike

 

[GVN]

MikeMoss, your solution has no redundancy built into it; what if the external drive dies? No second copy anywhere...

 

[LWComputingMVP]

If you're using XP with NTFS (as you should be) and have to recover files off the drive, the Recovery Console won't help you. You'll need to either do a parallel install, yank the drive and put it as a slave in another system, or create a boot CD using Linux (like Knoppix, for example) or the Ultimate Boot CD for Windows). All of these solutions will get you access to the files. The recovery console will not provide access outside of a few select system folders and sub folders.

 

[gpalmer711]

It is possible to access the whole drive if you have the correct settings in place before you need the recovery console - which is normally not the case.

Take a look at

http://articles.techrepublic.com.com/5100-10877_11-5884844.html

Greg Palmer
Freeware Utilities for Windows Administrators.

http://www.palmersoft.co.uk

 

[linney]

Likewise these MSKB.

How to add more power to Recovery Console by using Group Policy in Windows XP Professional

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=310497#appliesto

 

[LWComputingMVP]

good to know - but as you point out - most systems are not configured for this and when you have to recover, you could easily be stuck without alternate tools such as those I mentioned.

 

[MikeMoss]

Hi

The redundancy is that all the info is saved on two drives, my internal secondary hard drive and my external hard drive. I don’t save any data on my C: drive, the only drive I have ever been forced to format in 15 years working on computers.

These are separate drives not partitions.

In addition if Windows crashes I can access all of my files from drive C: through the Ghost recovery utility that boots on it's own from a CD. I can access the backed up files and copy them to wherever I want even when Windows is not bootable.

In the unlikely event that both hard drives fail at the same time I still have my external drive which has all the data from both of my internal drives. I do save every job to a CD or DVD (depending on size) when it is complete, with one copy going to the client or printer and one going in my file.

But prior to job completion I still have the files saved in two places.
One inside the computer and one outside, just in case it blows up. LOL

Mike