"Hell Week" - why not just backup data?

[TMan]

I have a rather old laptop that has been around the world several times. These things don't last forever. With this knowledge in tow, earlier in the year I bought a new Toshiba laptop with all the bells and whistles and started installing software that I use - it wouldn't run on Window's 7 only on XP. Microsoft's solution was to pay them an additional $85 for the key to upgrade to Windows 7 Professional and then I could download a virtual XP version that would run under Window's 7.

I did so, but never did get it to work. So I have been very careful to back up my data to Flash drives and to a network server i.e. always more than one backup of my data.

The stuff I regularly run is quite complex with ODBC linkages to multiple SQL databases, and I wasn't smart enough to document how I set it up when I did so years ago. So, I've known that if this laptop fails, I'd be in a world of hurt.

Last week I turned the machine on, the Window's XP splash came up, and then the "blue screen of death":fatal system error. Oh crap!!! Well, I knew if I had a real XP machine, with some time and luck (luck? what is that - _uck!!!), I could get running again.

After running around all over the metroplex and being told: "No we only have laptops running Window's 7". I did locate an older HP with XP on it. They had reduced it by $170, and it had the Window's 7 professional disks in the box if I wanted to install it.

I won't go into all the details, but what I really wanted was the old Toshiba running again. Using the XP disks from the HP I created a "BART PE" CD, which I then booted on the old Toshiba. It worked, and I ran CHKDSK, which reported bad sectors on the hard drive. Ahhh, one of the bad sectors must have been on one of the crucial Window's startup files.

It was S.W.A.G. time. Since the Toshiba is XP home SP2 and the HP is XP Professional SP3, I deemed copying files from the HP system to the Toshiba wouldn't be wise. So, I "expanded" modules in the c:\WINDOWS\i386 directory and started copying them into the SYSTEM32 directory. It took awhile, but it finally worked.

I bought a WD Passport USB drive and I now have a complete image of the system on it. So, if I have another failure, or when I have another failure is more like it, I can just format the hard-drive and restore from the image.

Moral of the story: BACK UP THE WHOLE SYSTEM!!!!

As a side note: there should be a class action suit against Microsoft for putting out crap like Vista and Windows 7.

[5ontarget]

Sept 29, 2010 17:40:05 GMT -5 TMan said:

As a side note: there should be a class action suit against Microsoft for putting out crap like Vista and Windows 7.

I couldn't agree more. windows 7 isn't anything new or great, just vista that works far better than the original pile of manure that was the initial offering of vista. I've used microsoft OS for many years (pre windows), but when vista came out, I bought a mac, set up a virtual machine on it and ran XP and the Mac OS. Wife was happy, she had her mac, and I had a PC that worked.
Admittedly, I'm not very computer or electronics savvy. I like hearing how people can solve their own problems or find work-around solutions. I built my own desktop earlier this year, the hardware portion of it went very smoothly. I know I spent much more more time getting the software configured properly.

[TMan]

5OT, you are a much more brave man than I - I wouldn't think of trying to build my own desktop. The problem, as I'm sure you are aware, is getting the right drivers to work with whatever version of Windows you are using.

As an update: I tried creating a image of the Toshiba today on the Network server. After a couple of hours the router crashed. I'm not too fond of this Netgear router. I ended up doing it on the WD Passport.

I also partitioned the drive on the XP. My next step is to restore the XP Home edition, the one on the Toshiba, to the new partition so I will have a hardware backup with no setup needed.

My shooting buddy, Ed, did the same thing that you did with the Mac. His wife has a really expensive sewing machine (we are talking top end Les Baer or Wilson Combat in money), and the software has to run on XP.

Guns are so simple. ;D

[MLB]

I'm still running XP on all of the various boxes I have at home and at work. My ancient home computer came with Win98, and I quickly upgraded it to XP. It's nearly dead now, running very slow after I've allowed current software to update and demand more and more of it's limited resources.

It had a stroke last Friday. No response to the power button at all. Thought it was finally gone, but after cracking it open and cleaning out all of the dust bunnies, it started kicking again. That thing's like a cat.

I don't have a full image, but all data of even marginal importance is backed up on a usb drive. Glad to hear that you managed to coax your Toshiba back into fighting shape.

[TMan]

Last night I had a stroke of genius (well overdue). Using "Partition Commander 10", on the HP laptop, I carved out a partition large enough to hold the image from the old Toshiba. So the plan is to restore the most recent image (yesterday's) of the old Toshiba onto the new partition on the HP. Then I'll be able to boot from it and everything will look like it was on the Toshiba.

I also created a small 10GB (by today's standards) partition that I'm going to unstall Linux on. I will use it for web browsing and e-mail. I've been infected with trojans before, but only once did I get a virus and I got that from a floppy disk I'd used at a place I was working. However, the trojans have to be coming via e-mail. I think they have come via PowerPoint presentations that I've received and viewed.

[Callahan]

Oct 1, 2010 6:26:31 GMT -5 TMan said:

Last night I had a stroke of genius (well overdue). Using "Partition Commander 10", on the HP laptop, I carved out a partition large enough to hold the image from the old Toshiba. So the plan is to restore the most recent image (yesterday's) of the old Toshiba onto the new partition on the HP. Then I'll be able to boot from it and everything will look like it was on the Toshiba.

I also created a small 10GB (by today's standards) partition that I'm going to unstall Linux on. I will use it for web browsing and e-mail. I've been infected with trojans before, but only once did I get a virus and I got that from a floppy disk I'd used at a place I was working. However, the trojans have to be coming via e-mail. I think they have come via PowerPoint presentations that I've received and viewed.

Tman,
My wife and I are looking for a new washer after a lightning strike fried the circuit boards on ours. Wanting to get a front-loader for the water savings. So far, LG does look like the best out there.