| Home | “In between backups, I copy any files that I create or update to a floppy disk.” |
“There are two kinds of hard drives in the world: those that
have crashed and those that are going to crash.”
What do you do after you’ve experienced the trauma and misfortune
of a hard drive crash, or a malicious virus’s destroying it?
Without a suitable backup, a lot of time may be lost. This type of
problem is definitely the source of a great deal of lost
productivity.
My backup medium of choice is CD-R. This results in a relatively inexpensive “permanent” copy of my hard drive which can be saved indefinitely, and is therefore also very suitable for archival purposes.
I tried to copy all of the files on my laptop computer’s hard drive to the hard drive of a computer which I use to create and to copy CD-ROMs (my CD-RW computer). I used a “LapLink” cable and the Windows ’95 “Direct Cable Connection” software. The problem that I ran into was that the copying process was rudely interrupted by the message “Cannot copy WIN386: There has been a sharing violation. The source or destination file may be in use.”! No opportunity to continue with the copy was provided! What ever happened to “Abort, retry or ignore?” Is this concept too esoteric for the Microsoft systems programmers to fathom, or are they simply sadistic?
If I recall correctly, “Abort, retry or ignore?” was there in DOS 1.0, but, of course, the original version of DOS was not written by Microsoft, but was purchased from another company!
Anyway, an even more appropriate option would have been “Skip,” or better yet, “Skip all.”
Assuming that you finally do succeed in getting all of the files on your laptop’s hard drive copied to CD-ROMs under Windows ’95, what happens when you go to restore it? At the very least, you will have to go through the trouble of reinstalling Windows! Another problem is that all of the files copied from a CD-ROM are read-only! This will cause most programs to no longer work. Some files are supposed to be read-only, so entering a command which turns off all of the read-only flags is not a good idea either.
Another problem is that if you try to do the backup and restore under DOS, you will lose all of your long file names! You could try and get around the long file name problem by using the “Lfnbk.exe” program that comes with Windows ’95, but when I tried this, my attempt to copy all of my hard drive files using the LapLink 5 software was again rudely interrupted, this time by the message, “Path has too many characters” while Netscape Navigator 4.08 was being copied. Again, I was the victim of programmers who are either morons or sadists, and was not given any opportunity to continue! As I later discovered, this problem can be gotten around by uninstalling Netscape Navigator, and then reinstalling it, this time in a folder called “C:\Netscape,” instead of the default folder: “C:\Program Files\Netscape\Communicator.” (Why do they use a folder called “Communicator,” rather than the obvious choice of “Navigator?”)
Here is a backup/restore procedure for a laptop computer (or any other computer) which works very well, does not require that any software, including Windows, be reinstalled, and solves all of the above mentioned problems. I’ve used this method numerous times, and have had no problems with it.
However, there are a couple of restrictions:
1. The hard drive being backed up must have 16,000 or fewer files. This is a limitation of PKZIP and PKUNZIP 2.50.
2. The compressed version of the hard drive being backed up (one very large “.zip” file) must fit on one CD-R disk (650M).
Although variations of my backup procedure could be done with two, or even one computer, the exact, step-by-step backup and restore procedure, as described below, assumes 3 separate computers:
1. My main laptop.
2. My backup laptop, which is identical to my main laptop, except that it doesn’t have as much RAM.
3. My CD-RW computer, which has free hard drive space that is more than double the size of my main laptop’s entire hard drive.
Here is a summary of how I backup my main laptop’s hard drive in 10
easy steps:
1. I first eliminate all of the long file names (temporarily) on my main laptop’s hard drive.
2. I then copy all of my hard drive’s files to an empty folder on my CD-RW computer using a “LapLink” cable.
3. I next restore all of the long file names on my main laptop’s hard drive. (The main laptop is now free to be used as usual.)
4. On the CD-RW computer, I compress all of the newly copied files into one big “.zip” file.
5. Next, I write the .zip file to a CD-ROM.
6. I then delete all of the files on my backup laptop’s hard drive.
7. Next, I restore the .zip file onto my backup laptop’s hard drive.
8. Then, I boot up off of my backup laptop’s newly restored hard drive, and restore all of the long file names.
9. Then I use TWEAKUI to fix the Windows’ Font folder on the backup laptop.
10. Then I swap hard drives between my main laptop and my backup laptop. (optional)
More details of the above 9 steps are given under “DETAILED BACKUP AND RESTORE PROCEDURE.” (See below.)
My backup/restore procedure requires the following six
programs:
1. PKZIP.EXE Version 2.50 (ftp://ftp.simtel.net/pub/simtelnet/msdos/arcers/pk250dos.exe).
2. PKUNZIP.EXE Version 2.50.
3. LFNBK.EXE (Available on your Windows installation CD-ROM: D:\ADMIN\APPTOOLS\LFNBACK\LFNBK.EXE).
4. Volkov Commander 4.05 (http://members.xoom.com/egner/dl/vc405ger.zip).
5. LapLink 5.0.
6. Tweak UI ( http://www.microsoft.com/ntworkstation/downloads/PowerToys/Networking/NTTweakUI.asp).
I copied the first three programs to the root directory of my main laptop’s hard drive (Drive C:), and numbers four and five to each of my two “Windows Startup Diskettes.” To save space, I only copied the following files (See the “Windows Startup Diskette” directory listing below):
1. Volkov Commander: vc.com, vc.ext, vc.hlp, and vc.ini.
2. LapLink 5: ll5.exe, ll5.hlp, tsi.ini, tsi.pbk, and tsi.pwd.
Tweak UI must be installed under Windows by right clicking the “tweakui.inf” file, and then clicking install. It’s icon then appears in the Control Panel.
I also created the following four batch files:
1. LFN-BKUP.BAT:
if exist c:\lfnbk.dat del c:\lfnbk.dat c:\lfnbk /b |
2. LFN-RSTR.BAT:
c:\lfnbk /r |
3. BACKUP.BAT:
c: cd\m a:\pkzip -rp -whs c:\mybackup.zip *.* |
4. RESTORE.BAT:
c: cd\ a:\pkunzip -d -Jhrs d:\mybackup.zip |
I created the first three batch files in the root directory of my
main laptop’s hard drive, and the last one on each of my two
“Windows Startup Diskettes.”
In order for this procedure to work, I needed to modify my two “Windows Startup Diskettes” so as to enable access to my PCMCIA CD-ROM drive (see the config.sys listing below), and I needed to copy Volkov Commander 4.5, Laplink 5, and RESTORE.BAT to it.
Some of the following steps must be executed from within Windows after booting up off of drive C:, and some must be executed after booting up off of the floppy drive using the “Windows Startup Diskette.” The difference is indicated by (W) and (A) respectively.
1. (W) First, I eliminate all long file names (temporarily) on my main laptop’s hard drive using “Lfn-bkup.bat” by double clicking on it’s icon.
2. (A) After booting up off of my two copies of the “Windows Startup Diskette” on my main laptop and on my CD-RW computer, I execute LapLink 5 on both computers by typing “\ll5\ll5” at both computer’s “A:\>” prompt. I then copy all of my hard drive’s files to an empty folder called “M” on my CD-RW computer’s hard drive using a “LapLink” cable connected to each computer’s parallel port. (Make sure that LapLink 5 is configured to display hidden and system files.)
3. (W) I next restore all of the long file names on my main laptop’s hard drive by double clicking on the “Lfn-rstr.bat” icon. (Now my main laptop is free to use in any way that I wish, while the rest of the backup procedure is being executed. Since one copy of all of it’s files has already been made, I can now “breath a sigh of relief.”)
4. (W) On the CD-RW computer, I then compress all of the files in the “M” folder into one big “Zip” file called mybackup.zip by double clicking on the Backup.bat icon. There now exists two backup copies of my laptop’s hard drive!
5. (W) Then, I write mybackup.zip to a CD-ROM using Adaptec “Easy CD Creator.” Now there are three backup copies of my laptop, two on my CD-RW computer, and one on a CD-R disk!
6. (A) Next, I boot up the backup computer using one of the Windows Startup Diskettes. Then I delete all of the files on my backup laptop’s hard drive, including “COMMAND.COM” and all of the system and hidden files, using VC.COM. (It would be quicker to use “format c:/s,” but I cannot do this, because my laptops have “DriveSpace 3” compressed hard drives.)
7. (A) After using Volkov Commander to modify the Windows Starup Diskette’s config.sys file as described in the APPENDIX section below, I reboot. Then I restore d:\mybackup.zip onto the backup laptop’s drive C: by typing “restore” at the A:\> prompt. Now there are four backup copies of my laptop’s entire hard drive!
8. (W) Removing the floppy disk, I then boot up off of my backup laptop’s newly restored hard drive. So, far, without fail (knock on wood), it always boots up in Windows, just like the main computer does. Then I restore all of the long file names by double clicking the “Lfn-rstr.bat” icon.
9. (W) Now the backup laptop should look, feel, and work exactly like the main laptop, except for one thing: The Windows “Fonts” folder is no longer special, and I can no longer add new fonts! To correct this, I execute the “Tweak UI” program in the Control Panel, and use it’s “Repair Font Folder” function, to fix the problem.
10. For an added measure of security, and in order to give my main laptop’s hard drive a well deserved rest, I might even swap hard drives between my main laptop and my backup laptop.
Now that my CD-ROM backup has been created and verified, I am free to delete the other three copies of my laptop’s hard drive so that my CD-RW computer, and my backup laptop may now be used for other purposes.
In between backups, I copy any files that I create or update to a
floppy disk. Then, if my hard drive ever crashes, I can simply
follow steps 5, 6, and 7 above, and then copy the new and modified
files from the floppy disk to the newly restored hard drive.
Here is a listing the config.sys file which is on my “Windows Starup Diskette” (configured for using LapLink 5):
DEVICE=\DOS\HIMEM.SYS REM *** Use the following line only for LL5.EXE (LapLink version 5.0): DEVICE=\DOS\EMM386.EXE REM *** Use the following line only for PKUNZIP.EXE (Version 2.50): rem DEVICE=\DOS\EMM386.EXE NOEMS I=B000-B7FF X=D000-D4FF DOS=HIGH DOS=UMB REM *** Compaq PCMCIA Driver: DEVICE=\CPQDOS\PCMSMIX.EXE REM *** Exp CD-ROM Driver: DEVICE=\CDROM\EXPCDI.EXE /P:1 /I:15 /D:MSCD001 |
Please note that a different EMM386.EXE configuration is used for
PKUNZIP.EXE, otherwise an “Insufficient memory” error may
result.
The autoexec.bat file is as follows:
\DOS\MSCDEX.EXE /D:MSCD001 /M:4 |
The following is a directory listing of one of my “Windows Startup
Diskettes”:
Volume in drive A has no label
Volume Serial Number is 0BF8-2A34
Directory of A:\
DRVSPACE BIN 65,271 08-24-96 11:11a
COMMAND COM 93,812 08-24-96 11:11a
FORMAT COM 49,543 05-01-97 12:14p
SYS COM 18,967 08-24-96 11:11a
CONFIG SYS 372 11-22-00 12:27p
FDISK EXE 63,116 08-24-96 11:11a
LL5 <DIR> 10-08-00 12:54a
LL5 BAT 12 10-28-00 2:06p
RESTORE BAT 46 11-22-00 11:35a
VC HLP 68,836 06-16-00 4:05a
CHKDSK EXE 28,096 08-24-96 11:11a
CDROM <DIR> 09-01-00 2:20a
CPQDOS <DIR> 09-01-00 2:20a
AUTOEXEC BAT 33 09-01-00 8:42p
PKUNZIP EXE 34,583 03-01-99 2:50a
VC COM 65,090 06-16-00 4:05a
VC EXT 94 06-16-00 4:05a
VC INI 511 06-16-00 4:05a
DOS <DIR> 09-01-00 4:59a
PKZIP EXE 50,663 03-01-99 2:50a
DISKCOPY COM 21,975 08-24-96 11:11a
17 file(s) 561,020 bytes
4 dir(s) 1,024 bytes free |
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