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Number : 210 Date : 2001-06-16 Author : Dan Anderson Subject : Re: restoring from full CD backup Size(KB) : 11
Hi Greggann, As some initial input, my understanding is that you will need to re-install WIN98 as well as your various programs because, when backing up to CDs using xxcopy, important information regarding the match between long file names and short file names would not have been retained. Kan can point out the specific technical note that addresses this issue. You could recover your various data-only files just by xxcopying back onto your hard drive after you have completed your re-installations. If you had backed up your information using xxcopy to another hard drive then you could go through a process of re-establishing your operating system and programs without re-installing all your programs (see below). If you want to burn a recoverable backup to CDs then you would need to use utilities such as GHOST (in Norton System Works) or Drive Image. I've also attached below two earlier items (one from Kenneth Ives and one from Kan) that relate to your question. I haven't seen any further comments regarding the use of Doslfnbk in combination with using xxcopy nor whether the application is generic enough that it could be incorporated into a future enhancement of xxcopy. Regards, ...Dan ===== ITEM 1 ======== ----- Original Message ----- From: Kenneth Ives To: Sent: Wednesday, May 16, 2001 8:49 PM Subject: RE: [xxcopy] Re: backup to CDR retaining LFN There is an inexpensive utility which is well worth mentioning here. I use a DOS utility, I got from D. Murdoch called Doslfnbk at http://www8.pair.com/dmurdoch/programs/doslfnbk.htm . Current version is 2.5 for $10. When you boot to DOS, you run this in the root directory and it saves all the long file names to a file. Then do your full backup to an external storage device. After you do a full restore, run this utility with a /r switch to update the file allocation table with the long file names again. I have never had a problem with a full restore using this utility. To boot from DOS with Windows ME, create a startup disk thru the Windows control panel, System. This will allow you to boot directly to a DOS prompt and have access to the CD drive. You may have to add a couple of drivers to get the CD-Writer to work, but that should be in the user's guide for the CD-Writer. Kenneth Ives mailto:kenaso@h... ==== ITEM 2 ========== From: Kan Yabumoto To: Sent: Sunday, June 03, 2001 7:30 PM Subject: [xxcopy] Restoring Win9x System disk (C:) from its backup (D:) Here, let me briefly discuss the techniques in restoring the system disk (C:) from a backup volume elsewhere (D:). There are two broad cases related to this problem. 1) When the system drive (C:) is to be restored from a backup directory while you are currently running Win9x on C:. 2) When the starting point does not have a running Win9x. That is, one way or another, when you need to start from scratch (formatting volume C:, etc.), you do not have an immediate access to the Win9x environment. -------------------------------------------------------------- In case (1), you can use XXCOPY.EXE (32-bit version) which can handle the long filename (LFN) correctly. But, you will encounter a number of file-copy failures. Actually, there are many executable files (.EXE and .DLL) which are running at any given moment when you are in Win9x. An application like XXCOPY cannot open these files for an overwrite operation. -------------------------------------------------------- The fact XXCOPY /CLONE works so well is because these files can be accessed in read-only mode. The article, http://www.xxcopy.com/xxcopy/xxcopy10.htm talks about the /CLONE operation only from C:\ to D:\, not in the other direction and it is not as easy. -------------------------------------------------------- So, when you perform a system restore operation using XXCOPY form a backup directory (D:) to the system drive (C:), you will always find a number of files that fails to be copied. Currently, there is no automated scheme in XXCOPY to save the list of failed files so that they can be restored in real-mode (DOS) later. But you may perform this manually. The best approach is to let XXCOPY save a log file (/ON) which lists the failed files, and then using a text editor, create a batch file based on the log list and execute the batch file from DOS. If you are not sure how to convert a list file into a batch file, this method is probably not for you. ------- Case (2) involves the situation where you have to start the restore operation from DOS (FDISK and FORMAT). First thing you want to do is to create a bootable disk (for this, Win ME makes it very difficult and I'm not going to get into this --- I question Microsoft's wisdom in making ME what it is). The standard Emergency Boot Disk created by Control-Panel > Add/Remove Programs > Startup Disk will be handy. Make sure that you copy XXCOPY16.EXE (and possibly XXCOPY.EXE) to the diskette. First, make the C: drive bootable (the C: partition is set as an Active Primary DOS Partition using FDISK and run FORMAT C: /S. This makes the drive at least bootable to "DOS 7.x" environment. The next step is to make it bootup into a temporary win9x environment where you can launch XXCOPY.EXE. The following operation is in a form of batch file assuming D:\ contains the backup copy of the system disk. RESTORE.BAT -------------------------------------------------------- XXCOPY16 /H/R/KS/Y D:\ C:\ XXCOPY16 /H/R/KS/Y D:\WINDOWS\ C:\WINDOWS\ XXCOPY16 /H/R/KS/Y D:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\ C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\ XXCOPY16 /H/R/KS/Y D:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\IOSUBSYS\ C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\IOSUBSYS\ XXCOPY16 /H/R/KS/Y D:\WINDOWS\FONTS\ C:\WINDOWS\FONTS\ XXCOPY16 /H/R/KS/Y D:\WINDOWS\INF\ C:\WINDOWS\INF\ Note that none of the above operations use the /S or /E switches. This reduces the copying of unnecessary directories at this point. Actually, practically all files in these directories are with filenames in the 8.3 format. Here, /R or /Y are not needed if it was to be run only once. But, with them, it could be run multiple times. The important thing is that all of the essential files (including the most critical files: SYSTEM.INI, WIN.INI, SYSTEM.DAT, USER.DAT) are copied by this method. along with many key EXE and DLL files. -------------------------------------------------- Tip: Before you run the RESTORE.BAT (or similar steps), make sure that you have SMARTDRV (which then require HIMEM.SYS which then needs the CONFIG.SYS file in A:\ with a line device=a:\himem.sys Then, run SMARTDRV.EXE in DOS so that the disk accesses are cached. The difference could be 10 min vs. over 1 hour!!! -------------------------------------------------- After copying the key windows files using XXCOPY16 in DOS, you are ready to plunge into Win9x. When you find yourself in the temporary Win9x environment, first thing you will notice is that the Desktop will have funny names such as MYDOCU~1. That is normal. Now you need to make all shortname-only files that you have copied in the preliminary copy operation (described in RESTORE.BAT) to their respective long name: XXCOPY D:\ C:\ /S /NL This step invokes the special XXCOPY renaming operation which first identifies a matching pair of files between the source directory (D:\ in this case) and in the destination (C:\) using the shortname (SFN) and then renames the SFN in the destination using the LFN that is the real name in the source. Immediately after this operation, you will notice that the the desktop's funny names such as MYDOCU~1 will be magically restored with the right name like "My Documents". Then, you should run the real XXCOPY restore operation: XXCOPY D:\ C:\ /CLONE /Z0 /BB Here, /Z0 tells that whatever new files that have been created in the new C:\ drive are tolerated. (For example, When you boot into Win9x, the system always create "C:\Program Files" directory.) The /BB switch avoids overwriting files that have already been restored in the temporary restore using XXCOPY16 (and possibly with a few new files that were created by the new session of Win9x). I suggest one more reboot after this since many files were not in place when the temporary Win9x environment was brought in at the initial bootup. I suppose this step outline here should be made a more fool-proof switch. But, XXCOPY's /CLONE and other system restore operation was never originally designed goal. XXCOPY's main focus remains as an IT professionals system management tool. Everything else is a side show. Disclaimer: I have run a number of cases like this. But, I did not confirm the steps outlined in here in step-by step fashion on enough machines to ascertain the accuracy and success ratio of the method. I wrote this all out of my memory and I might have missed one or two items. Please make whatever necessary adjustments as needed. That is, you are on your own. Don't erase the backup copy of the (in your D:) until you are sure that everything is in place. But, the key elements in this technique should be on a reasonably solid ground. That is, the two XXCOPY invocations XXCOPY D:\ C:\ /S /NL XXCOPY D:\ C:\ /CLONE /Z0 /BB should make the full system restore possible after a temporary restore using only XXCOPY16 (or any other DOS file copy tools) in the first place. The good thing is that Win9x can be brought to life all with SFN-only files. When you see a funny file/directory names which are not converted correctly (by examining the backup copy and the one in C:), make manual correction as needed. --------------------------------------------------------- I hope this article contains sufficiently novel technique that most people do not use. And therefore, this should be a basis for a new technical article which could help many users. I hope many of you who have extra disk drive and machines to experiment to try to see how well you can reproduce what I wrote here. Once this technique is well debugged on many machines, we can probably add a more convenient switch to consolidate this into a special function (e.g., /RESTORE). ---------------------------------------------------------- Kan Yabumoto ======================================== ======================================== ----- Original Message ----- From: greggann sweeney To: Sent: Friday, June 15, 2001 6:37 PM Subject: [xxcopy] restoring from full CD backup > As I am new to the group, this question may have been > answered many times. In any case what should one do > to restore the C:\ drive given the following: > 1) I have a mirror image of the C:\ drive on 3 CD's > thanks to xxcopy. > 2) The C:\ drive obtained a virus and must be > re-formatted and F-disked. > > What is the best way to get back to where I was before > the virus hit without reloading from the WIN-98 start- > up CD but utilizing the mirror image I have on the 3 > CD's > Thanks for any ideas anyone might have > > __________________________________________________ > Do You Yahoo!? > Spot the hottest trends in music, movies, and more. > http://buzz.yahoo.com/ > > > > Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/ > >
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