jaclaz

Rest assured, a "Full Format" does NOT touch most sectors. Let's put it this way. Try formatting a partition, selecting "Full". How long does it take? Now use a pretty much low level app, like dsfo/dsfi, or any disk WIPING utility to write 00's to ALL sectors of the same partition once (single pass). How long does it take? Or, if you BOTH do not trust my word for it AND you don't want to test it yourself, let's use some math. Get any HD test app, like HDtune or HDtach, and measure your specific hard disk average write speed. The calculate how much time with that speed would take to write all the sectors in a given partition. When you have the need to format that partition, time how much it takes, and compare with the above calculated time. Is the time similar? Read this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disk_formatting Please take note of the fundamental differences between a floppy formatting (which is at the same time a low-level and a HIGH-LEVEL type of formatting) and a HD formatting (which is EXCLUSIVELY a HIGH-LEVEL type of formatting, since several years). jaclaz

Lot of things may have gone wrong, but possibly it's a problem in the ID of the device somewhere in the Registry/.inf files. What class/subclass has the stick? And what class/subclass has the device that is "recognized"? What do you have in the Registry/.inf files? Check with DEVCON or programs like SIW: http://www.gtopala.com/ or http://rh-software.com/index.html Or you can go into device properties and try changing the driver, "forcing" it to the right USB Mass Storage Device one. jaclaz

Just to clear hopefully a possible misunderstanding. ANY HD needs to be partitioned (i.e. have a MBR and a partition table in it's first sector) it is possible however to create just one single partition extending over the entire hard disk capacity So I guess that the question was. "is it partitioned in several partitions/volumes? And the answer was: "No it is just a big partition spanning over the entire drive." For the record, and though noone posed the question, IMHO having a single huge partition spanning over the entire drive is the LEAST advised way to have a disk partitioned as ANY activity on it (like defragging, cloning, recovering from possible failures, etc., etc.) is likely to either take more time or make things more difficult when compared to having a number of "decently sized" volumes/partitions. jaclaz

Start reading this (AND given links): http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=120423 jaclaz

Who knows? What already suggested here on post #4: http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showto...133086&st=3 Additionally you may want to try the other apps listed here: http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showto...87993&st=17 jaclaz

Just to avoid any possible misunderstanding. A FORMAT (either "quick" or "full") won't even touch, say, 99% of sectors. A FORMAT ONLY writes to a very small number of sectors: the MBR and the very few sectors holding filesystem data, such as bootsectors, FAT's and NTFS MFT and similar ones. jaclaz

My guess is that since (with several tricks/tweaks) EVEN Win 98 can be run on the EEEpc: http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=122401 making 2K running on it shouldn't be much complex . The only problem appears to be the webcam on some models: http://forum.eeeuser.com/viewtopic.php?id=46656 The 70x's have a working solutions, whilst the 90x's seem like not. jaclaz

Yep. I can assure you that that particular option wasn't EVER there, even if I didn't test each and every release of the tool. You see, a USB stick is either a "HD-like" device (with MBR and hidden sectors) or a "superfloppy" or "partition-like" device. (there is an exception which is constituted by the rare CD-ROM emulating sticks and by U3 devices - which however are seen as two separate LUN's, first one "CD-like" and second one "HD-like" or "superfloppy-like", of which in any case, the tool can only image the second). Filesystems used on them are "HD-like" filesystems, i.e. commonly FAT16, FAT32 and NTFS in the "Windows" world and in some cases EXT2/3 FS in the "Linux" world. A .iso is actually an image of a "CD-like" device, in most cases using either CDFS or UDFS. A tool that would accept as input a "HD-like" or "superfloppy" device and produce as output a .ISO would NOT be an imaging tool, but rather a "filesystem/device conversion" tool. Even to this there would be a partial exception, i.e. the "HD emulation" format of the El-Torito ISO9660 (and later modifications) CD standard. But there would be not much sense for an imaging/cloning program to store the image in a "converted" format that needs to be "back converted" at the time of restoring/duplicating it. Sure it does , as well as several other apps, listed in the given thread: http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=100299&hl= (and a few others possibly NOT listed there), like: http://www.boot-land.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=4711 http://www.boot-land.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=7783 http://www.boot-land.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=7786 The whole point I was trying to make was that it is a possibility, not necessarily, "the best", and DEFINITELY NOT: as it simply DOES NOT do that. jaclaz

If I may , it should be "as 'out of control' as your others, referenced above, AND your others, of which just a few are referenced below:" http://www.p2pforum.it/forum/showthread.php?t=386368 http://forum.html.it/forum/showthread.php?...hreadid=1339895 http://forum.html.it/forum/showthread.php?...hreadid=1340071 http://www.appdeploy.com/messageboards/tm.asp?m=49253 http://www.megalab.it/forum/programmazione...ute-t54232.html http://www.sysadmin.it/Forum/tabid/57/afv/...IT/Default.aspx http://www.sysadmin.it/Forum/tabid/57/afv/...IT/Default.aspx http://www.ilsoftware.it/forum/viewtopic.p...=33&t=76032 http://forum.html.it/forum/showthread.php?...hreadid=1338022 http://www.appdeploy.com/messageboards/tm.asp?m=49374 jaclaz

There is NO sense in using the percentage as an indicator of the need of defragmenting (within limits). It depends also (and with more relevance) to the frequency with which a file is accessed. Let's make an example: you install a system from scratch, fragmentation will be at it's lowest possible level then you ADD applications or data, fragmentation of the ADDED application or data will be anyway 0 (zero) BUT any pre-existing file updated/replaced (and enlarged) during the process will become fragmented, including the Registry then, in the course of normal usage of the PC, you DELETE some files then, in the course of normal usage of the PC, you CREATE new files then, in the course of normal usage of the PC, you ADD informations to existing files It is rather obvious that if you have a rather large and heavy fragmented data file, say an AutoCAD drawing, which you access once every few weeks in order to print a copy of it, the influence of it's fragmentation will be totally negligible, same goes for a .avi or .wmv file that you watch once or two in a lifetime. But when you have a frequently accessed file, like the Registry (which is often fragmented), if you use a "dynamic" swap file placed in the SAME partition you have your system, in case of major updates from MS when system files are updated, the impact of fragmentation can be of relevance. Besides sysinternals contig.exe a file-based (as opposed to disk-based) defragmentation utility exists: http://wincontig.mdtzone.it/en/index.htm that can help in analyzing (and solve ) "partial" defragmentation problems through a nice, easy GUI. jaclaz

Sure . See if reading "between the lines" of these: http://www.911cd.net/forums//index.php?showtopic=19663 http://www.boot-land.net/forums/index.php?...ic=8233&hl= is enough to get you started. It might be advisable to start a new thread for this specific topic (and post here a reference to it). jaclaz

Seems to me like a "ground" problem of some kind (or transmission speed set in Hyperterminal) . jaclaz

This entry is however "wrong" (though working ): once you map a drive to something else, you need to map --hook in order for the re-mapping to be "fully" effective: title load NTLDR of Windows XP on (hd1) fallback 1 map (hd0) (hd1) map (hd1) (hd0) map --hook root (hd0,0) chainloader /ntldr savedefault --wait=2 See this: http://www.boot-land.net/forums/index.php?...c=2568&st=7 jaclaz

It must be VERY WELL hidden. Can you explain where it is found? Sure, never said that it wasn't, though I personally find (for the GUI version) the requirement of .Net unconvenient. jaclaz

Has anyone ever experienced finding a machine rebooted (and all running programs closed) with a nice message by Windows Update that a reboot was needed? jaclaz

And what if your BIOS does not have this feature? However I was replying to 1chaoticadult : jaclaz

And it outputs a .ISO? jaclaz

Malicious board member FAQ: Q:How can you tell if other people actually clicked on a given link? A:You post a wrong one and see if any protest arises! Sorry , clearly I made a 1 too short character copy before pasting. jaclaz

Let's do baby steps then. Open a command prompt. Type in it DIR C:\*.avi /B /S and press ENTER This will make a list of all .avi files in C:\ Now type: FOR /F %? IN ('DIR C:\*.avi /B /S') DO SET Filename=%? and press ENTER This will make a list of all .avi files in C:\ and for each item in the list will set the variable Filename to the actual found filename. Now, assuming you have a .avi file named myfile type: FOR /F %? IN ('DIR C:\*myfile.avi /B /S') DO SET Filename=%? and press ENTER This will make a list of all files named myfile.avi files in C:\ and for each item in the list will set the variable Filename to the actual found filename. You just add some error control and an input interface and you are done: @ECHO OFF ::FINDFILE.CMD small batch file by jaclaz to find a given file SETLOCAL ENABLEEXTENSIONS SETLOCAL ENABLEDELAYEDEXPANSION SET wanted= IF %1.==. ( SET /P wanted=Please input a filename, and press ENTER: ) ELSE ( SET wanted=%* ) CALL :splitinput "%wanted%" IF NOT DEFINED wantedname GOTO :EOF FOR /F %%? IN ('DIR C:\*%wantedname%%wantedext% /B /S') DO ( SET fullfilename="%%?" ECHO File %wantedname% was found with extension %wantedext% in: ECHO !fullfilename! PAUSE &GOTO :EOF ) ECHO File NOT found!&PAUSE GOTO :EOF :splitinput IF %1.=="". GOTO :EOF SET wantedname="%~n1" SET wantedext=%~x1 IF NOT DEFINED wantedext SET /P wantedext=Input extension and press ENTER or just press ENTER for [.avi] IF NOT DEFINED wantedext SET wantedext=.avi IF NOT %wantedext:~0,1%.==.. SET wantedext=.%wantedext% GOTO :EOF Please note that in case of several copies of the same file "myfile.avi" OR with a number of filenames like: "this_is_myfile.avi" "23myfile.avi" "anothermyfile.avi" etc. The batch will output ONLY first matching occurrence (to avoid continue scanning drive once occurrence is found). jaclaz

FYI, XPlite works with a different approach from nlite. Basically you install a FULL system, and later remove what you don't want: http://www.litepc.com/xplite_manual/ http://www.litepc.com/xplite_manual/index....?quickstart.htm @iceflier Read this: http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=11946 and this: http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=124220 jaclaz

@beats YEP. But try timing how much it takes using dir in a batch FOR loop and compare it with the mentioned command line app. jaclaz

Yep. But not on all motherboards/BIOSes, some simply do not give any USB support if the "boot from USB" is not selected in BIOS. One could also try the BOOT.INI "signature" Syntax, I seem to remember that it worked on some motherboards, at the time of the initial tests with Dietmar. jaclaz

Any reason for not wanting to use a command line application? Are ALL the drives/partitions formatted as NTFS? If yes, looky here: http://ndff.hotbox.ru/en/ I am not sure to have understood what you mean, can you post a more detailed description of WHAT you would like to do (as oppposed ot HOW you think it should be done) ? jaclaz

Not actually "dangerous", simply not appropriate to your actual hardware. Get the PID & VID of the stick, use Chipgenius: http://www.boot-land.net/forums/index.php?...c=4661&st=0 See if you can find anything for it here: http://flashboot.ru/index.php?name=iflash (Russian , but still easier than Chinese ) If you cannot find anything, post PID & VID and any relevant info Chipgenius finds and I'll try and help you in finding the appropriate Manufacturer's Tool. jaclaz

Read here: http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=134639&hl= More alternatives: http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=100299&hl= jaclaz