«

Chris <> wrote in
news: s.com:

> Hi
> I see Dell have a special on at the moment for the above which makes
> it look quite good price wise but I was wondering if Dell supply a
> Windows XP CD or just the Recovery CD that I have been told about. I
> did email Dell last night but their special runs out tomorrow so
> though I'd ask here.
>
> Basically I'd like to reformat, partition the disk and then make my
> own image.
>
> Would also be interested in any first (or second) hand accounts for
> this model or any usefull url's to reviews.
>
> TIA
>

The Dell arrived yesterday. Tried to use QT Parted on a Knoppix CD but
found that it wouldn't work the way I wanted due, to, I assume, some
sectors of the HDD having "non movable" folders 'n files written to them.
Used QT Parted to delete the original partition and make new ones.

The "Dell" Windows XP CD seemed to perform like a real Windows one, though
it did have a "$OEM$" folder. The Dell system disk contained all the
drivers (this dumps the unzipped drivers into the "Dell" folder on c:\

The Microsoft Bluetooth K/B and Mouse proved a bit of a problem to get
working yesterday but managed it using both the MS Bluetooth "dongle" and
the built in Dell Bluetooth.

I also found the Dell forum's are quite usefull for getting info.

Also managed to get a free carry case which wasn't part of the promotion at
the time (was limited to 64 MB Vid and 256 MB to 512 MB RAM upgrade and
free freight.

Well, I supose I'd better check to see if I need any Windows updates <sic>

--
Chris

"Two men walk into a bar. You'd think the second one would've ducked..."

In article <40f72aa0$>, says...
> Chris <> wrote in
> news: s.com:
>
> > Hi
> > I see Dell have a special on at the moment for the above which makes
> > it look quite good price wise but I was wondering if Dell supply a
> > Windows XP CD or just the Recovery CD that I have been told about. I
> > did email Dell last night but their special runs out tomorrow so
> > though I'd ask here.
> >
> > Basically I'd like to reformat, partition the disk and then make my
> > own image.
> >
> > Would also be interested in any first (or second) hand accounts for
> > this model or any usefull url's to reviews.
> >
> > TIA
> >
>
> The Dell arrived yesterday. Tried to use QT Parted on a Knoppix CD but
> found that it wouldn't work the way I wanted due, to, I assume, some
> sectors of the HDD having "non movable" folders 'n files written to them.
> Used QT Parted to delete the original partition and make new ones.

If you want to make a Windows/DOS partition you should be using a
Windows/DOS tool. This is a basic rule that I see repeated everywhere,
use Linux tools to do Linux partitions, use Windows/DOS tool to do
Windows/DOS partitions.

Patrick Dunford <> wrote in
news:. nz:

> In article <40f72aa0$>, says...
>> Chris <> wrote in
>> news: s.com:
>>
>> > Hi
>> > I see Dell have a special on at the moment for the above which
>> > makes it look quite good price wise but I was wondering if Dell
>> > supply a Windows XP CD or just the Recovery CD that I have been
>> > told about. I did email Dell last night but their special runs out
>> > tomorrow so though I'd ask here.
>> >
>> > Basically I'd like to reformat, partition the disk and then make my
>> > own image.
>> >
>> > Would also be interested in any first (or second) hand accounts for
>> > this model or any usefull url's to reviews.
>> >
>> > TIA
>> >
>>
>> The Dell arrived yesterday. Tried to use QT Parted on a Knoppix CD
>> but found that it wouldn't work the way I wanted due, to, I assume,
>> some sectors of the HDD having "non movable" folders 'n files written
>> to them. Used QT Parted to delete the original partition and make
>> new ones.
>
> If you want to make a Windows/DOS partition you should be using a
> Windows/DOS tool. This is a basic rule that I see repeated everywhere,
> use Linux tools to do Linux partitions, use Windows/DOS tool to do
> Windows/DOS partitions.
>
>

Yes, I would normally do that, but I didn't know at the time, that you can
do that with the windows XP install CD (never installed windows XP before).
I though I'd give QT Parted a go since I had Knoppix running to say a bit
of time. Having said that, it seems to have worked. I have actually been
looking at putting together a windows XP boot CD with such tools, but no
luck getting anything yet. The only thing I came up with generated a *.img
image and I can only burn *.iso so if anybody can point me in the right
direct, i'd appreciate it.

--
Chris

"Two men walk into a bar. You'd think the second one would've ducked..."

In article <>, says...
> Patrick Dunford <> wrote in
> news:. nz:
>
> > In article <40f72aa0$>, says...
> >> Chris <> wrote in
> >> news: s.com:
> >>
> >> > Hi
> >> > I see Dell have a special on at the moment for the above which
> >> > makes it look quite good price wise but I was wondering if Dell
> >> > supply a Windows XP CD or just the Recovery CD that I have been
> >> > told about. I did email Dell last night but their special runs out
> >> > tomorrow so though I'd ask here.
> >> >
> >> > Basically I'd like to reformat, partition the disk and then make my
> >> > own image.
> >> >
> >> > Would also be interested in any first (or second) hand accounts for
> >> > this model or any usefull url's to reviews.
> >> >
> >> > TIA
> >> >
> >>
> >> The Dell arrived yesterday. Tried to use QT Parted on a Knoppix CD
> >> but found that it wouldn't work the way I wanted due, to, I assume,
> >> some sectors of the HDD having "non movable" folders 'n files written
> >> to them. Used QT Parted to delete the original partition and make
> >> new ones.
> >
> > If you want to make a Windows/DOS partition you should be using a
> > Windows/DOS tool. This is a basic rule that I see repeated everywhere,
> > use Linux tools to do Linux partitions, use Windows/DOS tool to do
> > Windows/DOS partitions.
> >
> >
>
> Yes, I would normally do that, but I didn't know at the time, that you can
> do that with the windows XP install CD (never installed windows XP before).
> I though I'd give QT Parted a go since I had Knoppix running to say a bit
> of time. Having said that, it seems to have worked. I have actually been
> looking at putting together a windows XP boot CD with such tools, but no
> luck getting anything yet. The only thing I came up with generated a *.img
> image and I can only burn *.iso so if anybody can point me in the right
> direct, i'd appreciate it.

The Microsoft Corporation.img file is the boot image (generated by
ISOBuster I presume)

This needs to be incorporated into your iso file before you burn it. If
you are running Nero Express or some other program that won't let you
make an ISO separately with this file, get the Windows version of mkisofs
and make the ISO that way.

I use the CDRfe front end to make ISOs using the mkisofs win32 port
running under cygwin. You can also run mkisofs in a win32 command window.

Download from http://www.demosten.com/

Patrick Dunford <> wrote in
news:. nz:

> In article <>, says...
>> Patrick Dunford <> wrote in
>> news:. nz:
>>
>> > In article <40f72aa0$>, says...
>> >> Chris <> wrote in
>> >> news: s.com:
>> >>
>> >> > Hi
>> >> > I see Dell have a special on at the moment for the above which
>> >> > makes it look quite good price wise but I was wondering if Dell
>> >> > supply a Windows XP CD or just the Recovery CD that I have been
>> >> > told about. I did email Dell last night but their special runs
>> >> > out tomorrow so though I'd ask here.
>> >> >
>> >> > Basically I'd like to reformat, partition the disk and then make
>> >> > my own image.
>> >> >
>> >> > Would also be interested in any first (or second) hand accounts
>> >> > for this model or any usefull url's to reviews.
>> >> >
>> >> > TIA
>> >> >
>> >>
>> >> The Dell arrived yesterday. Tried to use QT Parted on a Knoppix
>> >> CD but found that it wouldn't work the way I wanted due, to, I
>> >> assume, some sectors of the HDD having "non movable" folders 'n
>> >> files written to them. Used QT Parted to delete the original
>> >> partition and make new ones.
>> >
>> > If you want to make a Windows/DOS partition you should be using a
>> > Windows/DOS tool. This is a basic rule that I see repeated
>> > everywhere, use Linux tools to do Linux partitions, use Windows/DOS
>> > tool to do Windows/DOS partitions.
>> >
>> >
>>
>> Yes, I would normally do that, but I didn't know at the time, that
>> you can do that with the windows XP install CD (never installed
>> windows XP before). I though I'd give QT Parted a go since I had
>> Knoppix running to say a bit of time. Having said that, it seems to
>> have worked. I have actually been looking at putting together a
>> windows XP boot CD with such tools, but no luck getting anything yet.
>> The only thing I came up with generated a *.img image and I can only
>> burn *.iso so if anybody can point me in the right direct, i'd
>> appreciate it.
>
> The Microsoft Corporation.img file is the boot image (generated by
> ISOBuster I presume)
No, I went here: http://www.nu2.nu/bootcd/ which sets out a way to make a
boot disk image that you can include your own tools (using a batch file so
the file properities don't get changed as they would if you draged the file
to the CD). Have looked at the above, much reading to do I think.
>
> This needs to be incorporated into your iso file before you burn it.
> If you are running Nero Express or some other program that won't let
> you make an ISO separately with this file, get the Windows version of
> mkisofs and make the ISO that way.
>
I have since found that the Sonic CD burning s/ware that comes with the
Dell will burn an *.img file (though the resulting boot CD didn't work, due
to my misconfiguration of the batch file I think).

> I use the CDRfe front end to make ISOs using the mkisofs win32 port
> running under cygwin. You can also run mkisofs in a win32 command
> window.
>
> Download from http://www.demosten.com/
>

The above sounds pretty complicated to me, but it looks like another way of
doing the same thing I was trying to do via my url above (which seems to
have gone offline now). I did go to the url, more reading required I
think.

I also tried booting the Dell via a USB Flash drive with the contents of my
win98 boot disk (after changing back the file properities) to see what
would happen - nothing other than a "file error" (no other information
given).

Basically all I want to do is to be able to boot the Dell into DOS so I can
use an old copy of Ghost to make an image of C:\ I have had a look at some
of the new shareware to image disks and I don't think it's as good as
Ghost, which I have come to understand (with all the switches). Ghost also
seems to be ale to compress the image the best out of all the other
programs I have tried.

There doesn't seem to be an "easy" solution to what I want to do, which
seems a bit odd. I shall continue reading up on this.

Thanks for your susgestions.

--
Chris

"Two men walk into a bar. You'd think the second one would've ducked..."

In article <>, says...

> I also tried booting the Dell via a USB Flash drive with the contents of my
> win98 boot disk (after changing back the file properities) to see what
> would happen - nothing other than a "file error" (no other information
> given).
>
> Basically all I want to do is to be able to boot the Dell into DOS so I can
> use an old copy of Ghost to make an image of C:\ I have had a look at some
> of the new shareware to image disks and I don't think it's as good as
> Ghost, which I have come to understand (with all the switches). Ghost also
> seems to be ale to compress the image the best out of all the other
> programs I have tried.

Are you not able to use the Ghost bootdisk wizard to make a boot disk or
does that not come with your version of Ghost?

What shareware products can be used to image drives?

Bart's Boot Disk (same link as you quoted above) can make boot floppies
that are Ghost compatible. I've never tried them - always use Ghost boot
disks.

Patrick Dunford <> wrote in
news:. nz:

> In article <>, says...
>
>> I also tried booting the Dell via a USB Flash drive with the contents
>> of my win98 boot disk (after changing back the file properities) to
>> see what would happen - nothing other than a "file error" (no other
>> information given).
>>
>> Basically all I want to do is to be able to boot the Dell into DOS so
>> I can use an old copy of Ghost to make an image of C:\ I have had a
>> look at some of the new shareware to image disks and I don't think
>> it's as good as Ghost, which I have come to understand (with all the
>> switches). Ghost also seems to be ale to compress the image the best
>> out of all the other programs I have tried.
>
> Are you not able to use the Ghost bootdisk wizard to make a boot disk
> or does that not come with your version of Ghost?
>
I'm using version 5.1d and have always used the win98 boot disk with
Ghost.exe included on it. I tried to make a bootable CD from this disk but
when booting the Dell it came up with the error that the OS was missing.

I have also tried installing Ghost on the Dell from the Norton Installer
but got the error that it needed to be installed on a win 95 or 98 machine
(My copy of Ghost will work with NTFS). I was able to install it using the
Gohst setup.exe file from within the Ghost folder on the Norton CD. It was
not possible to run it under a comand prompt, came up with error 8023 -
Ghost can not run on Windows NT.... run under DOS...

> What shareware products can be used to image drives?

http://www.acronis.com
http://www.drivesnapshot.de/en/index.htm
http://www.drive-image.com/
http://www.snapfiles.com/get/adiskimage.html

I'm not sure I'd want to compare all of them to Ghost though....
>
> Bart's Boot Disk (same link as you quoted above) can make boot
> floppies that are Ghost compatible. I've never tried them - always use
> Ghost boot disks.
>

I have used boot disk's from there in the past OK, problem I have now is no
Floppy Drive. I did go buy a USB Flash but didn't have any luck with that
either - just gave me a "disk error". I also checked to see if you can
formatt the USB drive, which you can, but not make it a boot disk.

I am assuming that it should be possible to boot the Dell to DOS AND use
the DOS version of Ghost I have (which the manual says can handle NTFS file
systems)

I think my options are:
1. Buy an external Floppy Drive
2. Figure out how to build the image that incorporates Ghost so I have a
bootable CD with Ghost. Of course this would assume that I can store the
Ghost files on another partition on the same HDD. If I needed the CD drive
for image files then I'd need to make the Flash drive bootable (I also have
a built in smart card reader - but haven't looked into using that as a
means to boot the Dell)

So, which did come first ?, the chicken or the egg ?

--
Chris

"Two men walk into a bar. You'd think the second one would've ducked..."

Chris <> wrote in news::


>> What shareware products can be used to image drives?
>
> http://www.acronis.com
> http://www.drivesnapshot.de/en/index.htm
> http://www.drive-image.com/
> http://www.snapfiles.com/get/adiskimage.html
>
> I'm not sure I'd want to compare all of them to Ghost though....
>>


Correction, they arn't shareware.

--
Chris

"Two men walk into a bar. You'd think the second one would've ducked..."