«

Enkidu wrote:
> ~misfit~ wrote:
>
>>
>> Also, I need a freeware mirroring program. It gets tedious backing up
>> my folders to the drive each time, either over-writing the whole
>> folder or just doing an eye-ball comparison and copying the files
>> selectively. It would be reall nice to just plug it in and run a
>> program that just copied the changed or recently added files from the
>> (identically named) source folders. Am I asking too much? I have
>> several back-up solutions (Some that will do incremental back-ups)
>> but they all insist on backing up to some proprietry, compressed
>> format. I just want the files to be backed up as identical to the
>> originals. That way I can access them from another machine.
>>
> xcopy comes with Windows. I think that it goes back to 98SE but I'm not
> sure.

It goes back a lot further than 98SE. It goes back to DOS sumpin or
other. Don't you youngsters know anything?

On Thu, 26 Jan 2006 12:22:16 +1300, "~misfit~" <>
wrote:

>I've recently had a HDD come into my possesion. It's a Samsung Spinpoint
>80GB that was used in a machine in a hot place with no effort made in the
>placement of the drive in the case to facilitate cooling.
>
>I got the machine to troubleshoot as it kept crashing out of Windows, with
>increasing frequency as it got hotter. It got to the stage where it wouldn't
>boot. I replaced the drive and migrated all the data off it onto the
>replacement, it was completely accessable as a slave drive. For my troubles
>I got to keep the Samsung.
>
>Anyway, it seems that there's something wrong with the MFT or somesuch. Not
>only won't it boot but I can't install Windows to it, the installation
>routine gives an error. (Can't remember what).
>
>So, I decided to use it as a a data drive. An external USB data drive to be
>exact. It works fine as such. I use it to back up certain folders from my
>main machine and also to transfer files to other machines.
>
>My problem? I still have a couple machines here that are running Win 89SE
>and would like to format the drive with FAT32 as one partition so they can
>see it as well. XP won't do this for me. Can anyone advise me of how to do
>this? (The 98SE machines are running the "Unnoficial Service Pack" if that
>means anything. I haven't tried formatting FAT32 with 98SE yet as those
>machines only have USB1.1 and it's slooooow accessing the drive. However, I
>will if that's a workable option. I just didn't want to delete the current
>50GB of data and try it if it's not going to work).

I take it that the drive is currently NTFS? You could use BootItNG from
http://www.bootitng.com to convert it to FAT32.

It does partition resizing and conversion. The free demo works OK. It runs
from a boot disk. It'll be a bit slow over USB, especially with 50GB of data,
but it'll get there eventually. You could use Partition Magic or similar but
I don't know if their demo version will do this.

BootItNG is also a boot manager, when it first starts up remember NOT to
choose the option to install it on your hard drive. It does disk imaging as
well. It's a very handy utility and well worth the registration fee if you're
looking at buying.

>Also, I need a freeware mirroring program. It gets tedious backing up my
>folders to the drive each time, either over-writing the whole folder or just
>doing an eye-ball comparison and copying the files selectively. It would be
>reall nice to just plug it in and run a program that just copied the changed
>or recently added files from the (identically named) source folders. Am I
>asking too much? I have several back-up solutions (Some that will do
>incremental back-ups) but they all insist on backing up to some proprietry,
>compressed format. I just want the files to be backed up as identical to the
>originals. That way I can access them from another machine.

Xcopy will do this. You can put it in a batch file, e.g.

xcopy "c:\Documents and Settings\Joe Bloggs\My Documents\*.*" "f:\Documents\"
/drchevy

That should be all one line. Just add another line with the appropriate paths
to backup from other locations. Check the xcopy documentation:

xcopy /?

to see what all the switches do.

Dr. Chevy is how I remember the command line switches I usually use

--
Ray Greene

Gordon wrote:
> On Thu, 26 Jan 2006 12:22:16 +1300, ~misfit~ wrote:
>
>> Also, I need a freeware mirroring program. It gets tedious backing
>> up my folders to the drive each time, either over-writing the whole
>> folder or just doing an eye-ball comparison and copying the files
>> selectively. It would be reall nice to just plug it in and run a
>> program that just copied the changed or recently added files from
>> the (identically named) source folders. Am I asking too much?
>
> Have you seen Cobian backup?
>
> http://www.educ.umu.se/~cobian/cobianbackup.htm
>
> Set it up the backup what you want when you want and four types of
> backup. Compression, or not, as you wish.
>
> Option is keep x number of backup copies.

Interesting, thanks.
--
~misfit~

Ray Greene wrote:
> On Thu, 26 Jan 2006 12:22:16 +1300, "~misfit~"
> <> wrote:
>
>> I've recently had a HDD come into my possesion. It's a Samsung
>> Spinpoint 80GB that was used in a machine in a hot place with no
>> effort made in the placement of the drive in the case to facilitate
>> cooling.
>>
>> I got the machine to troubleshoot as it kept crashing out of
>> Windows, with increasing frequency as it got hotter. It got to the
>> stage where it wouldn't boot. I replaced the drive and migrated all
>> the data off it onto the replacement, it was completely accessable
>> as a slave drive. For my troubles I got to keep the Samsung.
>>
>> Anyway, it seems that there's something wrong with the MFT or
>> somesuch. Not only won't it boot but I can't install Windows to it,
>> the installation routine gives an error. (Can't remember what).
>>
>> So, I decided to use it as a a data drive. An external USB data
>> drive to be exact. It works fine as such. I use it to back up
>> certain folders from my main machine and also to transfer files to
>> other machines.
>>
>> My problem? I still have a couple machines here that are running Win
>> 89SE and would like to format the drive with FAT32 as one partition
>> so they can see it as well. XP won't do this for me. Can anyone
>> advise me of how to do this? (The 98SE machines are running the
>> "Unnoficial Service Pack" if that means anything. I haven't tried
>> formatting FAT32 with 98SE yet as those machines only have USB1.1
>> and it's slooooow accessing the drive. However, I will if that's a
>> workable option. I just didn't want to delete the current 50GB of
>> data and try it if it's not going to work).
>
> I take it that the drive is currently NTFS? You could use BootItNG
> from http://www.bootitng.com to convert it to FAT32.
>
> It does partition resizing and conversion. The free demo works OK. It
> runs from a boot disk. It'll be a bit slow over USB, especially with
> 50GB of data, but it'll get there eventually. You could use Partition
> Magic or similar but I don't know if their demo version will do this.
>
> BootItNG is also a boot manager, when it first starts up remember NOT
> to choose the option to install it on your hard drive. It does disk
> imaging as well. It's a very handy utility and well worth the
> registration fee if you're looking at buying.
>
>> Also, I need a freeware mirroring program. It gets tedious backing
>> up my folders to the drive each time, either over-writing the whole
>> folder or just doing an eye-ball comparison and copying the files
>> selectively. It would be reall nice to just plug it in and run a
>> program that just copied the changed or recently added files from
>> the (identically named) source folders. Am I asking too much? I have
>> several back-up solutions (Some that will do incremental back-ups)
>> but they all insist on backing up to some proprietry, compressed
>> format. I just want the files to be backed up as identical to the
>> originals. That way I can access them from another machine.
>
> Xcopy will do this. You can put it in a batch file, e.g.
>
> xcopy "c:\Documents and Settings\Joe Bloggs\My Documents\*.*"
> "f:\Documents\" /drchevy
>
> That should be all one line. Just add another line with the
> appropriate paths to backup from other locations. Check the xcopy
> documentation:
>
> xcopy /?
>
> to see what all the switches do.
>
> Dr. Chevy is how I remember the command line switches I usually use
>

Thanks Ray.
--
~misfit~

Malcolm wrote:
> ~misfit~ wrote:
>
>> I've recently had a HDD come into my possesion. It's a Samsung
>> Spinpoint 80GB that was used in a machine in a hot place with no
>> effort made in the placement of the drive in the case to facilitate
>> cooling.
>>
>> I got the machine to troubleshoot as it kept crashing out of
>> Windows, with increasing frequency as it got hotter. It got to the
>> stage where it wouldn't boot. I replaced the drive and migrated all
>> the data off it onto the replacement, it was completely accessable
>> as a slave drive. For my troubles I got to keep the Samsung.
>>
>> Anyway, it seems that there's something wrong with the MFT or
>> somesuch. Not only won't it boot but I can't install Windows to it,
>> the installation routine gives an error. (Can't remember what).
>>
>> So, I decided to use it as a a data drive. An external USB data
>> drive to be exact. It works fine as such. I use it to back up
>> certain folders from my main machine and also to transfer files to
>> other machines.
>>
>> My problem? I still have a couple machines here that are running Win
>> 89SE and would like to format the drive with FAT32 as one partition
>> so they can see it as well. XP won't do this for me. Can anyone
>> advise me of how to do this? (The 98SE machines are running the
>> "Unnoficial Service Pack" if that means anything. I haven't tried
>> formatting FAT32 with 98SE yet as those machines only have USB1.1
>> and it's slooooow accessing the drive. However, I will if that's a
>> workable option. I just didn't want to delete the current 50GB of
>> data and try it if it's not going to work).
>>
>> Also, I need a freeware mirroring program. It gets tedious backing
>> up my folders to the drive each time, either over-writing the whole
>> folder or just doing an eye-ball comparison and copying the files
>> selectively. It would be reall nice to just plug it in and run a
>> program that just copied the changed or recently added files from
>> the (identically named) source folders. Am I asking too much? I have
>> several back-up solutions (Some that will do incremental back-ups)
>> but they all insist on backing up to some proprietry, compressed
>> format. I just want the files to be backed up as identical to the
>> originals. That way I can access them from another machine.
>>
>> Any help on these two problems?
>>
>> Thanks heaps for any help.
>>
>> Cheers,
> Hi
> Try this one..it's freeware
>
> http://3d2f.com/programs/0-39-syncback-download.shtml

Grabbed it, thanks Malcolm.
--
~misfit~

Enkidu wrote:
> ~misfit~ wrote:
>>
>> Also, I need a freeware mirroring program. It gets tedious backing up
>> my folders to the drive each time, either over-writing the whole
>> folder or just doing an eye-ball comparison and copying the files
>> selectively. It would be reall nice to just plug it in and run a
>> program that just copied the changed or recently added files from the
>> (identically named) source folders. Am I asking too much? I have
>> several back-up solutions (Some that will do incremental back-ups)
>> but they all insist on backing up to some proprietry, compressed
>> format. I just want the files to be backed up as identical to the
>> originals. That way I can access them from another machine.
>>
> xcopy comes with Windows. I think that it goes back to 98SE but I'm
> not sure.

Thanks (and to the others who mentioned xcopy). I was just looking for
something a bit more... ummm... graphical. I left the command line long ago
and have got a bit rusty with it,
--
~misfit~

-=rjh=- wrote:
> ~misfit~ wrote:
>> I've recently had a HDD come into my possesion. It's a Samsung
>> Spinpoint 80GB that was used in a machine in a hot place with no
>> effort made in the placement of the drive in the case to facilitate
>> cooling. I got the machine to troubleshoot as it kept crashing out of
>> Windows, with increasing frequency as it got hotter. It got to the
>> stage where it wouldn't boot. I replaced the drive and migrated all
>> the data off it onto the replacement, it was completely accessable
>> as a slave drive. For my troubles I got to keep the Samsung.
>>
>> Anyway, it seems that there's something wrong with the MFT or
>> somesuch. Not only won't it boot but I can't install Windows to it,
>> the installation routine gives an error. (Can't remember what).
>>
>> So, I decided to use it as a a data drive. An external USB data
>> drive to be exact. It works fine as such. I use it to back up
>> certain folders from my main machine and also to transfer files to
>> other machines. My problem? I still have a couple machines here that are
>> running Win
>> 89SE and would like to format the drive with FAT32 as one partition
>> so they can see it as well. XP won't do this for me. Can anyone
>> advise me of how to do this? (The 98SE machines are running the
>> "Unnoficial Service Pack" if that means anything. I haven't tried
>> formatting FAT32 with 98SE yet as those machines only have USB1.1
>> and it's slooooow accessing the drive. However, I will if that's a
>> workable option. I just didn't want to delete the current 50GB of
>> data and try it if it's not going to work). Also, I need a freeware
>> mirroring program. It gets tedious backing
>> up my folders to the drive each time, either over-writing the whole
>> folder or just doing an eye-ball comparison and copying the files
>> selectively. It would be reall nice to just plug it in and run a
>> program that just copied the changed or recently added files from
>> the (identically named) source folders. Am I asking too much? I have
>> several back-up solutions (Some that will do incremental back-ups)
>> but they all insist on backing up to some proprietry, compressed
>> format. I just want the files to be backed up as identical to the
>> originals. That way I can access them from another machine. Any help on
>> these two problems?
>
> No, but given the drive's history, have you run a SMART reporting tool
> on it?
>
> Something like HDD Tune, HDD Health or Everest Home Edition will tell
> you more than you might like to know about the drive and may be able
> to indicate if some kinds of failure are likely. Usually SMART enabled
> drives will report serious errors on boot, but you need one of those
> tools to see what has been happening before things get too serious.

I've run SMART on it and, as with a lot of drives, it's mostly gibberish.
However, I used the SMART tool with Speedfan. I'll try others.

Cheers,
--
~misfit~

MarkH wrote:
> "~misfit~" <> wrote in
> news::
>
>> My problem? I still have a couple machines here that are running Win
>> 89SE and would like to format the drive with FAT32 as one partition
>> so they can see it as well. XP won't do this for me. Can anyone
>> advise me of how to do this? (The 98SE machines are running the
>> "Unnoficial Service Pack" if that means anything. I haven't tried
>> formatting FAT32 with 98SE yet as those machines only have USB1.1
>> and it's slooooow accessing the drive. However, I will if that's a
>> workable option. I just didn't want to delete the current 50GB of
>> data and try it if it's not going to work).
>
> There is no technical reason why Win98 cannot format an 80GB
> partition as FAT32.

Ok, thanks. I know that XP won't as I deleted all my backups, deleted the
partition, the went to format it in FAT32. That option was greyed out...
so.. I formatted it with NTFS and copied all my files back.

> However, to use the drive with the Win98 PCs you
> really should get a USB2 PCI card that comes with Win98 drivers
> (around $25 to $30), otherwise the speed will be pathetic.
>
> Of course you could easily use more than one partition.

I prefer just the one in this case.

>> Also, I need a freeware mirroring program. It gets tedious backing up
>> my folders to the drive each time, either over-writing the whole
>> folder or just doing an eye-ball comparison and copying the files
>> selectively. It would be reall nice to just plug it in and run a
>> program that just copied the changed or recently added files from the
>> (identically named) source folders. Am I asking too much? I have
>> several back-up solutions (Some that will do incremental back-ups)
>> but they all insist on backing up to some proprietry, compressed
>> format. I just want the files to be backed up as identical to the
>> originals. That way I can access them from another machine.
>
> XCOPY? If you use XCOPY /D then it will just copy the newer files.
> Type XCOPY/? from the command prompt for the list of options.

Cheers Mark,
--
~misfit~

news.xtra.co.nz wrote:
> "MarkH" <> wrote in message
> news:1dUBf.273105$ ...
>> "~misfit~" <> wrote in
>> news::
>>
>>> My problem? I still have a couple machines here that are running Win
>>> 89SE and would like to format the drive with FAT32 as one partition
>>> so they can see it as well. XP won't do this for me. Can anyone
>>> advise me of how to do this? (The 98SE machines are running the
>>> "Unnoficial Service Pack" if that means anything. I haven't tried
>>> formatting FAT32 with 98SE yet as those machines only have USB1.1
>>> and it's slooooow accessing the drive. However, I will if that's a
>>> workable option. I just didn't want to delete the current 50GB of
>>> data and try it if it's not going to work).
>>
>> There is no technical reason why Win98 cannot format an 80GB
>> partition as FAT32. However, to use the drive with the Win98 PCs
>> you really should get a
>> USB2 PCI card that comes with Win98 drivers (around $25 to $30),
>> otherwise the speed will be pathetic.
>>
>> Of course you could easily use more than one partition.
>>
>>> Also, I need a freeware mirroring program. It gets tedious backing
>>> up my folders to the drive each time, either over-writing the whole
>>> folder or just doing an eye-ball comparison and copying the files
>>> selectively. It would be reall nice to just plug it in and run a
>>> program that just copied the changed or recently added files from
>>> the (identically named) source folders. Am I asking too much? I have
>>> several back-up solutions (Some that will do incremental back-ups)
>>> but they all insist on backing up to some proprietry, compressed
>>> format. I just want the files to be backed up as identical to the
>>> originals. That way I can access them from another machine.
>>
>> XCOPY? If you use XCOPY /D then it will just copy the newer files.
>> Type XCOPY/? from the command prompt for the list of options.
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> Mark Heyes (New Zealand)
>> See my pics at www.gigatech.co.nz (last updated 5-September-05)
>> "The person on the other side was a young woman. Very obviously a
>> young woman. There was no possible way she could have been mistaken
>> for a young man in any language, especially Braille."
>> Maskerade
>
> Or, try ...microsoft synctoy...very very nice piece of software.
>
> Just setup this thing to echo from one folder to another. You can
> schedule this to run automatically via windows task scheduler.
>
> http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/d...displaylang=en

Thanks, I'll give it a try.
--
~misfit~

steve wrote:
> ~misfit~ wrote:
>
>> My problem? I still have a couple machines here that are running Win
>> 89SE and would like to format the drive with FAT32 as one partition
>> so they can see it as well. XP won't do this for me.
>
> Boot a live Linux CD and create the partition.
>
> Then format it as "vfat".
>
> Presto.....a Windows partition.

Heh! I'm so Linux-illiterate that I even have trouble navigating my way
around with live CDs. (I have Knoppix and Ubuntu).

Cheers,
--
~misfit~