jaclaz

These may help you (or completely fail to ) in doing the right thing : (basically IF the issue with your drive was the original log entry issue, your drive is likely to live with no firmware update and a reset every three to nine months time, die instantly on a failed firmware upgrade, or live happily *ever after* a successful firmware upgrade) BTW, good to have another happy bunny in the basket : http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=128727&st=10 jaclaz

Sure , but you do not report whether you are actually following what you have read in the given links. Have you provided grounding? How EXACTLY are you powering the adapter? Are you trying insulating the head or motor contacts? Have you successfully performed a loopback test? etc., etc. About the adapter you are using, there is NO specific info on that page about the kind of TTL level that adapter uses. (unless the "working voltage" means TTL level) The photo *seems* like having a "323x" chip (which should mean that it is of the "right" kind) but cannot say for sure. But yes, trying another adapter (not necessarily a CA-42 one) is your next step, it is very possible you have a DOA one or however one that is not suited. About CA-42, please DO READ point #10 of the read-me-first (you know, it is written for a reason ) and FGA #6, then: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0097216/quotes?qt=qt0362962 jaclaz

Good, now that we have if not solved, at least easened the cost aspect , back to the issue. I personally find that if a DVD survives immersion in liquid nitrogen, it means that it survives immersion in liquid nitrogen (and not necessarily that it will last longer). The actual Warranty they provide: in NO way endorses - not even INdirectly - the actual durability of a recorded media, so, call me tough as you wish , but I won't trust this particular technology (or the claims they make) based on a single test that may (or may not - independently from the results) be only loosely related to actual time passing. UNdoubtedly these thingies are "tougher" than conventional media, but are they "tough enough"? jaclaz

That has nothing to do with the M-disc technology, that is a "duplicator" most of these machine sport that kind of warning (I presume for "legal" reasons ) of course everything depends on the kind of protection the CD/DVD's have, some are simply NOT duplicable, some are, no matter what they say on the home page. You can get a simple burner, though. http://www.produplicator.com/mdisc-external.html jaclaz

Here: http://reboot.pro/forum/66/ Read AT LEAST these two, first thing: http://reboot.pro/5041/ http://reboot.pro/8944/ jaclaz

There is probably *something* that you are "doing wrong" . Please do the following: FORGET (temporarily) whatever you have read on the topic ONLY read the Read-me-.first and FGA's: Then try following (to the T) the suggested guide here: http://www.mapleleafmountain.com/seagatebrick.html VERIFY that your RS232 to TTL converter is using the compatible "lower" TTL level, make sure about both power (power to the PCB board) to be "stable" and make sure of proper GROUNDING. Report. jaclaz

Just to disambiguate. The "usage paradigm" of dvdisaster and isopuzzle is completely different. dvdisaster is a "preventive" tool that allows you to burn media with redundant info (you will need more bytes used per byte saved). iso puzzle is a "recover tool" to recover an already (badly burned or deteriorated) media There is a known Commercial tool (bought a license for it many., many years ago, and at the time, if I remember correctly it was a steep amount of bucks, now at around 40 it sounds to me like a fair price): http://www.infinadyne.com/accuburn-r.html that behaves like dvdisaster (adds redundant data) and possibly has a few more little tricks up it's sleeve (and also has a "companion" recovery app) And now, for NO apparent reason Millennium (maybe) media: http://www.forensicfocus.com/Forums/viewtopic/p=6553813/ http://millenniata.com/ jaclaz

Yep, that is "expected". The original assumption was that a "]" is only used for "Section". Just re-process the line, this should do: ::Remove CR+LF after a ] and before a " followed by a CR+LF CALL :run_gsar ::x5d:x0d:x0a:x34:x0d:x0a :x5d:x34:x0d:x0a jaclaz

Jaclaz actually is not getting much fun with this. The whole point is that benchmarks are - generally speaking - benchmarks and they are ONLY useful to compare different settings (or different OS or different hardware), BUT the results need to be verified. In no way thy are (or can be) representative of "real usage". In other terms, it is perfectly possible that the result of a benchmark (which is an "absract" set of copying data with a given method) seem "almost the same" but on real usage a BIG difference is actually "felt", or viceversa, it is perfectly possible that in a benchmark a given setting produces an astoundingly "better" result, but then when the setting is applied in "real life" no (or very little difference) is "felt". I personally find that most of the bla-bla about sector/cluster size and alignment is just "bla-bla" and one setting that gives SOME advantages in a given usage will produce a few disadvantages in another usage (or will have anyway some strings attached). In some cases some advantages can be found "all round", example: http://reboot.pro/16775/ http://reboot.pro/16783/ but quite obviously the actual relevance only is noticeable with implicitly "slow" devices . The only thing that I can say is : http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0097216/quotes?qt=qt0362962 jaclaz

Really? I thought that the issue might be with activation and not with "expired keycodes" If it can take hours to download a Linux distro such as Knoppix, you might want to upgrade your connection to the internet, BTW. jaclaz

TANSTAAFL http://reboot.pro/8944/ jaclaz

Yep, but why making it more complex than needed? gsar is already among the used tools if I remember correctly, and it's usage is pretty much simple: rem change "\CR+LF" to "SPACE" gsar -o "-s:x5C:x0D:x0A" "-r:x20" "filename" should do. jaclaz

I can assure that 7-zip selfextractor do normally work on 2K and XP. Casbah and it's predecessors make use of a similar approach, and have worked allright since a few years, so what you report is strange: http://reboot.pro/4023/ maybe you can find something that has been overlooked by comparing what you do with the contents of the "historical threads": http://www.911cd.net/forums//index.php?showtopic=18845&hl= http://reboot.pro/628/ http://www.911cd.net/forums//index.php?showtopic=21123 jaclaz

Ow , comeon, I have been told to wash my mouth with soap after having uttered much less offensive sentences! jaclaz

For the record the diskmod tool was released here: http://reboot.pro/9461/ Of course the driver needs to be installed on *all* OS dealing with the stick. jaclaz

Well, it is strange that MS hates multiboot BUT provides in their own NT bootmanagers/bootloaders the possibility to chainload a bootsector AND has made all NT systems "by design" capable of running from a logical volume inside extended (and yes that is how they should be installed, since NT 3.5). jaclaz

Not only it does NOT count, it is also considered cheating , you could get kicked out of *any* serious multibooters club for mentioning it jaclaz

"by design" Windows NT does NOT "allow" mounting partitions (exceptions made for first one) on devices that are marked as removable. There are two different approaches to solve this: find the "manufacturer tool" for the stick and change the "removable" to "fixed" use a filter dirver some info about filter drivers are here though cannot say if 64 bit version exist and - if they exist - if you will need to disable driver signing: Manufacturer's tools can usually be found here: http://flashboot.ru/index.php?name=iflash jaclaz

A sensible approach (for the future) may be to add anyway some redundancy, like: http://dvdisaster.net/en/ For recovering CD's, I still use my ancient Pioneer SCSI 1x CD drive (one of those with the caddy tray), in my limited experience I have been able to read more data with it than with any "modern" burner I have handy. jaclaz

For the record, I just got confirmation that the issue was this one: http://ss64.com/nt/attrib.html (suggested to OP via PM as something to try and now reported as having solved the issue) jaclaz

Just so the OP doesn't get confused, it looks like the tool you pointed to doesn't require an iso but just the plain set of install files, which he should have (but obviously with a twist leading to unsuccessful attempts till now). Yes and no. The tool requires a "mounted .iso" OR an "original CD" OR a COPY of the "original CD" contents. The OP seemingly has some install files in a hard disk partition, this may or may not be a COPY of the "original CD" contents, hence the suggestion to re-create a .iso from them files. I have no idea of the contents of the hard disk folder,nor what exactly "WinsetupfromUSBwithGUI" currently checks to make use of a "source", but it is likely that there will be a check for files, like the Win51IP or Win51IC files that normally are not on hard disk, and as well, being a OEM, and particularly a SONY (second in my particular categorization of "troublemakers", right after DELL and right before HP ) the idea of re-creating an "original" CD or .iso has been a proven successful method to have a "working base", and in any case, should the tool fail (as well as all the others OP seemingly tested) one can always borrow an external USB CD and install from it (for which a CD is definitely needed). If you prefer, creating an install .iso from the set of files is a way to "validate" them in a foolproof way and at the same time be ready for a "plan B", should it be needed. jaclaz

Don't forget that MS in the meantime released their REDISTRIBUTABLE library for offline Registry editing. jaclaz

Try reading again, this time slowly, what has been suggested to you: Particularly points #3 and #4 and the final sentence. Basically (of course according to my perverted mind ) you need to create an install .iso if you haven't currently one, then, you should leave the present thread alone and - if you need help - start a new thread in the appropriate forum. Please, also take into account the "lag" you are experiencing, when you hit the post button (ONCE) count to 15 slowly, then open a new window, check if your post already got through, and only if it has not, count again slowly to 15 and then try hitting the post button again (you triple posted again ) jaclaz

You shouldn't be sorry for the "long post " but rather for the utter lack of meaningful info in it This Forum is the "home" of a few projects dedicated to install XP from USB. Now, it would be logical to: FORGET (temporarily) each and every other program and/or attempt you (or your friend) made get LATEST version of this: try it after having made sure that you have a valid, original source if it doesn't work, post again in the appropriate Forum section: http://www.msfn.org/board/forum/157-install-windows-from-usb/ giving EXACT, DETAILED info on both your source and the hardware (EXACT make/model/version of your PC) If you have, as I seem to understand, the XP install files on a partition, it would be wise to use a PE or a Linux Live distro (or whatever) to backup them on an external disk/USB stick, and from it recreate a "proper" install .iso. jaclaz

...and that's because you are (still) a kid! jaclaz