BAcking up Windows XP without a floppy

[David.WE.Roberts]

The XP system I am playing with doesn't have a floppy drive.

The standard Windows backup program needs a floppy.

I don't have (or want to have) a USB floppy drive.

Is there any way to force XP to use anything else, preferably a CD?

Or is it third party systems all the way?

Cheers

Dave R

[Adrian C]

Post by David.WE.Roberts
The XP system I am playing with doesn't have a floppy drive.
The standard Windows backup program needs a floppy.
I don't have (or want to have) a USB floppy drive.
Is there any way to force XP to use anything else, preferably a CD?

I'm guessing you mean the ASR - active state recovery disk.

From a quick google...

http://ask.metafilter.com/81467/System-recovery-disk-without-a-floppy-drive

"You can 'trick' the ASR into running without a floppy drive. When it
gets to the point where it writes to the floppy just cancel it. It
writes two files, which are used for recovery, to the Windows\Repair
directory. After you complete your ASR copy these two files (asr.sif and
asrpnp.sif) to a network location and then make the floppy elsewhere.
Make sure that you update your floppy EVERY time you do a new ASR or
your backup will be hosed."

Post by David.WE.Roberts
Or is it third party systems all the way?

Apart from maybe Microsoft Office (and that's debatable), competant use
of Microsoft Windows operating systems generally IS third party systems
all the way...

[David.WE.Roberts]

Post by Adrian C

Post by David.WE.Roberts
The XP system I am playing with doesn't have a floppy drive.
The standard Windows backup program needs a floppy.
I don't have (or want to have) a USB floppy drive.
Is there any way to force XP to use anything else, preferably a CD?

I'm guessing you mean the ASR - active state recovery disk.
From a quick google...
http://ask.metafilter.com/81467/System-recovery-disk-without-a-floppy-

drive

Post by Adrian C
"You can 'trick' the ASR into running without a floppy drive. When it
gets to the point where it writes to the floppy just cancel it. It
writes two files, which are used for recovery, to the Windows\Repair
directory. After you complete your ASR copy these two files (asr.sif and
asrpnp.sif) to a network location and then make the floppy elsewhere.
Make sure that you update your floppy EVERY time you do a new ASR or
your backup will be hosed."

Post by David.WE.Roberts
Or is it third party systems all the way?

Apart from maybe Microsoft Office (and that's debatable), competant use
of Microsoft Windows operating systems generally IS third party systems
all the way...

Been Googling but no joy.

The information you quote (which I also found) says how to save the extra
ASR files but it doesn't say how to boot and access those files without a
floppy.

Any recommendations for free software apart from Paragon?

Cheers

Dave R

[Adrian C]

Post by David.WE.Roberts

Post by Adrian C

Post by David.WE.Roberts
The XP system I am playing with doesn't have a floppy drive.
The standard Windows backup program needs a floppy.
I don't have (or want to have) a USB floppy drive.
Is there any way to force XP to use anything else, preferably a CD?

I'm guessing you mean the ASR - active state recovery disk.
From a quick google...
http://ask.metafilter.com/81467/System-recovery-disk-without-a-floppy-

drive

Post by Adrian C
"You can 'trick' the ASR into running without a floppy drive. When it
gets to the point where it writes to the floppy just cancel it. It
writes two files, which are used for recovery, to the Windows\Repair
directory. After you complete your ASR copy these two files (asr.sif and
asrpnp.sif) to a network location and then make the floppy elsewhere.
Make sure that you update your floppy EVERY time you do a new ASR or
your backup will be hosed."

Post by David.WE.Roberts
Or is it third party systems all the way?

Apart from maybe Microsoft Office (and that's debatable), competant use
of Microsoft Windows operating systems generally IS third party systems
all the way...

Been Googling but no joy.
The information you quote (which I also found) says how to save the extra
ASR files but it doesn't say how to boot and access those files without a
floppy.

Well, in the disaster senario that you actually need to recover with
NTBackup's ASR, the cost of a USB floppy drive becomes insignificant? :p

You are using a very old OS. When it was born most machines had access
to a floppy; in building systems there was such a thing as 'F6 drivers'
which also required a floppy disc to load, and same (I think) for the
'password reset' disc.

I eventually bought my own USB floppy disc driver when I found hardware
platforms without the drives, though funnily HP still sell an expensive
(£50) 1GB USB thumb drive that has it's USB device ID frigged about with
to look like a USB floppy disc drive or summat.

BTW, is this real hardware - or are you doing this on a virtual machine?

Post by David.WE.Roberts
Any recommendations for free software apart from Paragon?

Gave up tedious 'whole system' backups years ago in favour of automatic
continious backup to NAS. So I'm no help....

Post by David.WE.Roberts
Cheers
Dave R

[David.WE.Roberts]

<snip>

Post by Adrian C
Well, in the disaster senario that you actually need to recover with
NTBackup's ASR, the cost of a USB floppy drive becomes insignificant? :p
You are using a very old OS. When it was born most machines had access
to a floppy; in building systems there was such a thing as 'F6 drivers'
which also required a floppy disc to load, and same (I think) for the
'password reset' disc.
I eventually bought my own USB floppy disc driver when I found hardware
platforms without the drives, though funnily HP still sell an expensive
(£50) 1GB USB thumb drive that has it's USB device ID frigged about with
to look like a USB floppy disc drive or summat.
BTW, is this real hardware - or are you doing this on a virtual machine?

Post by David.WE.Roberts
Any recommendations for free software apart from Paragon?

Gave up tedious 'whole system' backups years ago in favour of automatic
continious backup to NAS. So I'm no help....

This is to be a one-off safety backup on a machine I am fixing for a
friend.

So I need something which can be passed on to a non-IT user for future
reference.

This rules out purchasing anything.

Looks like the MS backup is a non-starter.

Separate booting systems like Clonezilla or any Linux solution aren't in
the frame.

So it is a free backup software application which can run under Windows XP.

There is a working Norton 360 backup which can restore the system to
'first built' status, but nothing more recent which works.
Norton 360 is currently not got a working licence.

I have an external drive with the system formatted to FAT32 so the backup
software either has to support multiple files or I'll have to fettle an
NTFS partition in the spare space.

I was just trying to get the Windows backup working as I had read that the
ASR was straightforward and uncomplicated.

AH,well.

Dave R

[PeterC]

Post by David.WE.Roberts
<snip>

Post by Adrian C
Well, in the disaster senario that you actually need to recover with
NTBackup's ASR, the cost of a USB floppy drive becomes insignificant? :p
You are using a very old OS. When it was born most machines had access
to a floppy; in building systems there was such a thing as 'F6 drivers'
which also required a floppy disc to load, and same (I think) for the
'password reset' disc.
I eventually bought my own USB floppy disc driver when I found hardware
platforms without the drives, though funnily HP still sell an expensive
(£50) 1GB USB thumb drive that has it's USB device ID frigged about with
to look like a USB floppy disc drive or summat.
BTW, is this real hardware - or are you doing this on a virtual machine?

Post by David.WE.Roberts
Any recommendations for free software apart from Paragon?

Gave up tedious 'whole system' backups years ago in favour of automatic
continious backup to NAS. So I'm no help....

This is to be a one-off safety backup on a machine I am fixing for a
friend.
So I need something which can be passed on to a non-IT user for future
reference.
This rules out purchasing anything.
Looks like the MS backup is a non-starter.
Separate booting systems like Clonezilla or any Linux solution aren't in
the frame.
So it is a free backup software application which can run under Windows XP.
There is a working Norton 360 backup which can restore the system to
'first built' status, but nothing more recent which works.
Norton 360 is currently not got a working licence.
I have an external drive with the system formatted to FAT32 so the backup
software either has to support multiple files or I'll have to fettle an
NTFS partition in the spare space.
I was just trying to get the Windows backup working as I had read that the
ASR was straightforward and uncomplicated.
AH,well.
Dave R

EASEUS Partition Master and just clone the whole disk?

[Gordon]

On 2013-03-02, David.WE.Roberts <***@nospam.net> wrote:
[snip]

Post by David.WE.Roberts
Been Googling but no joy.
The information you quote (which I also found) says how to save the extra
ASR files but it doesn't say how to boot and access those files without a
floppy.
Any recommendations for free software apart from Paragon?

Ms Penguin here. I use Clonezilla, Download and boot from it. She is not
very much into GUI, so you might have to work your way through some text
options.

Your choice.