TiVo Community Forums Archives - Win2K reinstall - Preserving Personal Preferences

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Win2K reinstall - Preserving Personal Preferences
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Posted by: ericd121

My PC's system Hard Disk is failing (bad sectors, random BSODs) - it's a Maxtor 40Gb HDD - What are the odds on that!?

I'm going to install Windows 2000 onto a Western Digital 200Gb arriving tomorrow.

How much of my current set up can I copy into the new installation?

At the mo', I have Windows 2000 on Drive C, Applications on Drive D, and Data on Drive E.

I was thinking of copying the entire Documents and Settings directory.
What else should I be looking at?
Should I copy the registry?
Should I NOT copy the registry?

Or should I use some drive imaging software and image Drives C & D straight to the new HDD?

Any advice very gratefully received.

Posted by: pgogborn

Personally, I would not copy the registry. Reinstalling from scratch is a good excuse for giving it a spring clean, especially if you have downloaded demo programs etc. which you no longer use.

I am not 100% what you have got covered by the "Documents and Settings directory". I would want to make sure I safely copied browser bookmarks, emails and email account settings. Also any other account log ons which have been automated (e.g. access to the Internet or any other network)

Posted by: sanderton

Does that XP Settings transfer wizard work for W2k?

Documents & Settings will pick up most things if the prgrams you use are properly written and you didn't override anything.

Posted by: cyril

I've used the WinXP settings transfer Wizard - seems to work OK from 2000 to Xp, but not the other way round!

Posted by: ericd121

quote:
Originally posted by pgogborn
I am not 100% what you have got covered by the "Documents and Settings directory". I would want to make sure I safely copied browser bookmarks, emails and email account settings. Also any other account log ons which have been automated (e.g. access to the Internet or any other network)

Thanks for that timely reminder!
I remember the last time I reinstalled Windows, I forgot about my Opera Bookmarks - I was well p'ed off.

Does anyone have any opinions about the drive imaging route?
Wouldn't that save me having to re-install all my progs?
Any downsides?

I see in my PartitionMagic 8 there is a Copy Partition wizard which states
"The copy is the same size and file type and contains the same data as the original partition."
How does this differ from drive imaging?
Is it that the process is different, but the end result is the same?

Posted by: iankb

I usually use Norton's Ghost to backup and restore drive images, and Partition Magic to resize and move partitions. I can't see why you couldn't use Partition Magic to both copy the partitions and, once copied, move and resize them.

Although I always use the excuse of reinstalling the operating system as a way to speed it up, I always find something missing that I can't reinstall.

Posted by: pgogborn

Having had more time to think about it, I would also make sure that I had my browser cookies copied (only important if you have previously logged on to web-sites serving personalised information selecting a 'remember me' option).

Posted by: Ian_m

1. Insert new drive as slave to just act as storage space. Format NTFS.
2. Use NTBACKUP to backup old system to a file on new disks.
3. Rearrange to make new disk the primary master ie new boot disks,
4. Install 2000 on this new disk (do not format leave alone), add drivers etc etc.
5. Restore the backup onto this new installation.

All restored with browser settings, encryptions keys etc etc etc.

Also if doing multiple drives ensure the new drive is partioned so that the drive letters of the multiple drives match the drive letters of the new partitions. A lot of software is not very happy having its drive letters switched behind its back.

One way round this if you wish to go back to "one large disk for everything" is to create tiny non C: NTFS partitions (ie 50Mb) and use junction points to point to the actual files on C:. ie using linkd.exe from resource kit:-

md e:\MyAudioFiles
md c:\MyAudioFilesOnE
linkd e:\MyAudioFiles c:\MyAudioFilesOnE

Then applications just go accessing e:\MyAudioFiles that is actually located on C:. I have done this with development systems (actually C: to E:) that create multiple Gb databases in a directory on drive C:, linking that to a separate fast SCSI drive running on a different backup rotation than the main drive C:.

Posted by: cyril

With the growth of Internet Explorer parasites, I always perform a full re-install from scratch, as that seems the only way to completely get rid of the b****rs!

Posted by: ericd121

Thank you Ians and everyone else.

I have given this a good think.

I am now leaning away from the Copy my current system option and towards the Kill 'em all and let God decide option, i.e. a fresh install.
It would be nice to have a cleaner installation, patched and service packed up to date, then create an image of that, then install all my apps, and image that.

I'm also quite tempted by GoBack.
Does anyone have any experience with it, or know of any alternatives?

Posted by: Fatbloke

As well as bookmarks, email and cookies - as previously mentioned. Don't forget such items as:

- Install / patch files that you downloaded for that application a few months ago.
- All your data (mp3s vids photos letters etc)
- Your Address book
- Game 'savegame' files
- Any text files holding things like application serial IDs etc (I tend to put them into the install folder but have forgotten them in the past then have to go back to the manufacturer for a key when I need to re-install).
- Device drivers that you might have needed.

These are the bits that I've fallen foul of when reinstalling in the past... hope you don't make the same mistakes :)

Posted by: ericd121

quote:
Originally posted by Fatbloke
These are the bits that I've fallen foul of when reinstalling in the past... hope you don't make the same mistakes :)

No, just lots of new ones! ;)

quote:
Originally posted by Fatbloke
As well as bookmarks, email and cookies - as previously mentioned. Don't forget such items as:

- Install / patch files that you downloaded for that application a few months ago.
- All your data (mp3s vids photos letters etc)
- Your Address book
- Game 'savegame' files
- Any text files holding things like application serial IDs etc (I tend to put them into the install folder but have forgotten them in the past then have to go back to the manufacturer for a key when I need to re-install).
- Device drivers that you might have needed.

I wisely burnt a CD with all my install files, as well as all my Mozilla Mail (although this is kept on my second 80Gb HDD; I just wanted to make sure!), some Opera config files and all my Mozilla config files.
For a while now, I've been saving all my install files under their own hierarchy, and none of my Mozilla Mail (Address book, etc) is under C:\
You can point Mozilla Mail at any directory, which is nice. :cool:
Also, most of my data was on the 80Gb HDD, which made things a bit safer.

So now I have a stable, agile system, which is starting to resemble my old one.

One Thing I've learnt
There is a 136Gb limit in the default installation of Windows 2000 i.e. it can't access more than 136Gb of any HDD. Service Pack 3 cures this.
This is so close to the 137Gb limit that we have in TiVo that it must be related.
Very cursory research pointed to BIOS limitations.
Amazingly (to me), Windows XP also had this limit, which is apparently fixed by SP1.

Posted by: Ian_m

quote:
Amazingly (to me), Windows XP also had this limit, which is apparently fixed by SP1

Nothing to do with OS, but a limitation of standard IDE. LBA48 (48 bit addressing) has been available for ages, that gets around the 137Gb limit but your OS (98, 2000, XP, Linux etc) will of course need updated IDE drivers.

Yes XP SP1 shipped with LBA48 IDE drivers, though I have a feeling there was a registry key to turn it on pre-sp1 in XP.

Posted by: ericd121

quote:
Originally posted by Ian_m
Nothing to do with OS, but a limitation of standard IDE. LBA48 (48 bit addressing) has been available for ages, that gets around the 137Gb limit but your OS (98, 2000, XP, Linux etc) will of course need updated IDE drivers.

Yes XP SP1 shipped with LBA48 IDE drivers, though I have a feeling there was a registry key to turn it on pre-sp1 in XP.

That makes sense. Now I remember, the Microsoft site detailed instructions (which I followed) to set up a new Registry key.