jaclaz

Maybe a single, clear thread summing up the contents (not an index of the threads)? Currently: http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=129027 a. 173 posts/9pages b. 437 posts/22 pages c. 65 posts/4 pages d. 8 posts/1 page e. 3 posts/1 page f. 32 posts/2 pages g. 40 posts/3 pages h. 12 posts/1 page i. 21 posts/2 pages + more links within. I find not realistic that a newbie will read 791 posts/45 pages, understand everything in them without having to study and understand more concepts (that are often referenced to as "assumed" by the experts ), and succeeds at first try on a production system. jaclaz

Really? jaclaz

FYI: http://www.nomdo.dds.nl/psview.htm jaclaz

additional/alternative to derniwi's suggestion, a way to speed up CD/DVD reading is creating the .iso with files in the SAME order they will be accessed by SETUPLDR.BIN and the windows install, this technique is used in BartPE to speed up things a bit: http://www.boot-land.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=6041 (AND links within) jaclaz

Reading threads in this Forum and the help/docs within the USB_multiboot would seem to me a good start.... If you want to have on it all the things you listed, a BIG one. Now, seriously, you are having an approach that I would define a bit "ambitious", you will need to start reading and experiment with just one OS, then try again with two, then try adding a PE, and so on..... ....about multiboot, the obvious answer is grub4dos: http://www.boot-land.net/forums/index.php?showforum=66 (already part of the "Install XP from USB") ...about hardware, a general "rule of the thumb" is that you get what you pay for, usually "top speed" sticks are the most expensive. jaclaz

Siginet, please don't take this a critic to what you posted , but what would really be useful would be the same information (or possibly enhanced) about recent (SP2/SP3) CD's in a format similar to the comparisons done a long time ago by the tacktech guys: http://www.tacktech.com/display.cfm?ttid=101 http://www.tacktech.com/display.cfm?ttid=103 http://www.tacktech.com/display.cfm?ttid=104 I don't know the program they used, but the result is very easy to read/use. Of course if you have the source CD's and the time.... jaclaz

Of course IF you have a License for the use of Acronis Disk Director and/or Symantec GHOST. Besides, I STRONGLY object to the "only" put near to "115 Mb". A much smaller (and thus faster booting) build can (and should ): http://www.boot-land.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=644 be made. Challenge for #2 is still open, maybe I could "convince" Siginet to take it? jaclaz

It greatly depends on hardware. #1 above is not possible AFAIK unless you use a RAMDISK setup (and have enough RAM) #2 is perfectly possible using a variation of either: http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=121446 or the good ol' DOS way: http://www.911cd.net/forums//index.php?showtopic=16713 jaclaz

You should decide WHETHER posting here or in Unattended, not in BOTH : Rule #2a: http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=18408 Double post: http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=128875&hl= jaclaz

Are you running Nero under Linux or FreeBSD? jaclaz

Well, if not a solution, they could at least share the p0rn links! ...they appear to be really selfish... jaclaz

As a rule of the thumb, something that came out in late 1999 (Win2K) should be more "evoluted" than something that came out in mid 1998 (Windows 98). Actually, 2k was NOT 48 bit LBA compatible until SP3, but it is officially supported since. Compare: http://www.48bitlba.com/win2k.htm with: http://www.48bitlba.com/win98.htm There are tricks, hacked files, unofficial patches and the like for Win98, but, notwithstanding the very good work done by many people (lots of them right here on the MSFN board ), I would not recommend using anything beyond 137 Gb on a Win98 production system. (I will be flamed for this, I know ). On the other hand, Win2k post SP3 and with the Enabled registry entry on a compatible motherboard/BIOS is FULLY lba48 compatible. If I were you I would boot in Win2k and re-partition the drive using it's Disk Management, making a first, active FAT32 partition below the 137 Gb and formatting the rest in two or three NTFS ones (just not to be tempted to do something you may later regret on the latter partitions from Win98) If for any reason you cannot re-partition/re-format the disk from Win2K, you can use a (FREEWARE) Linux based live CD, like the excellent Parted Magic: http://partedmagic.com/ that includes gparted, a tool that allows or resizing partitions: http://gparted.sourceforge.net/ In other words, a FREE program that does what Partition Magic used to do from DOS. Connecting to the IDE motherboard port or to a PCI ATA card will NOT make any difference in regards of lba48 problems, though, depending on the motherboard, it may speed data transfer. jaclaz

A small, maybe unuseful suggestion. Using Hyperterminal manually is likely to create problems with the less experienced users and those (they are more than you can expect ) that cannot simply follow a tutorial EXACTLY. Maybe someone could see if it is possible to use another terminal and, at least partially (macros), script the procedure, some apps that come to my mind: http://realterm.sourceforge.net/ http://hem.passagen.se/downloadlka/lka/index.htm And htpe: http://www.hilgraeve.com/hyperterminal.html http://www.hilgraeve.com/htpe/newfeatures.html About powering the interface, three 1.2 V Rechargeable batteries for 3.6 V (read 3.3 V) and 5 for 6 V (read 5 V) or even a plain 9 V one that you can salvage off your TV remote could be an alternative: http://hackaday.com/2005/01/20/how-to-make-a-usb-battery/ http://www.cortscorner.com/hardware/usb_battery.html http://hackaday.com/2005/01/28/how-to-usb-battery-v2/ Video: http://revision3.com/systm/usbcharger2/ Even if you spend a few bucks, it will have surely some other use in the future. jaclaz

Some tests need to be made on the actual hardware, ANYWAY. OS resources, data transfer may simply not be enough, and additionally you may FORGET about working on the PC while it's burning. Since the $1K seems to me a bit pessimistic: http://www.produplicator.com/cd-duplicator...wer-1-to-2.html http://www.produplicator.com/cd-duplicator...wer-1-to-3.html Buying a dedicated tower seems to me more logical, if the need is for burning even a small number of Cd's. Otherwise, I would suggest going along the suggestions in this old thread: http://club.cdfreaks.com/f59/burn-two-cds-once-61821/ Seeing if a very low resource using software, such a IMGBURN or apps like Dirk Paehl's ones based on command-line CRD-tools: http://www.paehl.de/home.htm http://dpaehl.dd6338.kasserver.com/cdr/burniso.php http://dpaehl.dd6338.kasserver.com/cdr/CD_DVD_COPY.php work with more instances concurrently (they should ) jaclaz

There are "self-standing" Office Viewers: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/download...0449811033.aspx For the new, IMHO "stupid" 2007 formats, you will need BOTH the Excel 2003 Viewer: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details...;displaylang=en AND the 2007 Compatibility pack: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details...;displaylang=en Point is that they are probably BIGGER than the entire Office97..... Check how I solved the problem for Word : http://www.boot-land.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=3378 Please note how the good guys at MS: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/925180/en-us managed to somehow remove the ability to actually "open" a file through the viewer if not by file association. If the problem is only occasional, using an online converter may be handy, here is one: http://www.zamzar.com/ A possible alternative is of course OpenOffice.org: http://www.openoffice.org/ besides the "original", the portable version: http://portableapps.com/apps/office/openoffice_portable might suit your needs, as it should be "slimmed down" jaclaz

jaclaz

GOOD. Happy bunnies: are much better than a depressed one : jaclaz

From what you report, you are not able to boot from CD/DVD. That is a "classical" symptom of a problem with connections from Motherboard to CD/DVD drive. Unless it's a failing drive, possible but unprobable, it's a cable/connector problem. Is it one of those "extractable" CD drives? First thing you should try is to remove/reseat drive (if "extractable") or remove/reseat cables (if "fixed") or both. The CD/DVD drive as detected by BIOS is usually a "human readable" Alphanumeriv string. We need to take the "something" in: out of the equation. Post EXACTLY what you can see when booting. Hint: pressing very quickly "PAUSE" key while booting should "freeze" the BIOS screen jaclaz

Would this be related? http://64.131.67.10/vbbs//showthread.php?t=59851 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Big_Bang_Theory jaclaz

Are you trying to INSTALL a new operating system or to REPAIR an existing one? In both cases WHICH one? (XP or Vista)? Can you boot from CD/DVD drive the correspondent OS original CD/DVD? jaclaz

And, just for the record and for future reference, SETENV may be useful: http://barnyard.syr.edu/~vefatica/#SETENV jaclaz

Read this: http://www.ss64.com/nt/xcopy.html You need to specify the name of both the source and target folders as in the given example: adding if needed the /E switch jaclaz

Sure , if you want a non-standard 64 kbyte cluster, with which a lot of systems/apps may have problems and with definitely an abominously amount of slack space, you're welcome to use 4 Gbyte FAT16: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/310561/en-us As you might have realized if you actually had read it, in my post I simply cited the original app page, that states the peTousb.exe cannot format FAT16 partitions bigger than 2 Gb, NOT at all that it is impossible to create FAT16 partitions up to 4 Gb (with the limits above mentioned). BTW, nice approach on your first post, a very polite way to join the community. jaclaz

See if this: http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=127624 applies to your situation. jaclaz

A newish article definitely debunking the myth : http://sansforensics.wordpress.com/2009/01...ard-drive-data/ The probabilities have been found to drop quickly to LESS than 50%, thus a simple coin toss would give accuracy comparable to using a Magnetic Force Microscope. In other words, though several passes can make the data "more" unrecoverable, a single 00 pass is ENOUGH to make data unrecoverable. ...quod erat demonstrandum... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Q.E.D. jaclaz