LiquidSage

off the top of my head.... -Raxco PDisk (I really don't like this one...) -VoptXP small and quick w/ a few extras to clean out clutter before defrag. (I don't know how effective it's MFT and Pagefile defrag is though with this one though i used it and my system still works ) BTY , you can do a full MFT, hiber file, pagefile defrag with O&O. You must schedule a offline defrag job to do so however as O&O needs access w/o the system interfering. The size should be adjusted afterwards to allow growth, though i think only diskeeper can let the user set the total size of the MFT Here is a trick however though probably more work than it's worth... http://www.tweakxp.com/article37012.aspx and this of course requires advanced planning should work for xp (don't hold me to it though) http://support.microsoft.com/kb/q174619/

Acronis TI8 is a great program, but not so much for inc. backup's as it records sector changes of the partition. If you install windows and all your apps then create an image it will be x size. Now do a full defrag and create an inc. image. You will see that the inc. image will be almost as big as your base image. Since you seem to be backing up often, you might want to consider a program that is file based for regular backups (you could continue backing up to C: and it would make sense) and use TI8 on occasion to backup everything and keep a few images ready to go in the Recovery Zone.

Just keep XP and 2000 separate. I doubt you would find yourself in a position where having both on a disk will somehow be the answer to all your woes. Better to make a 2k disk with un/attended, custom files, prog install,s drivers, clean builds, etc and likewise for XP. I find it somewhat amusing that everyone is in a rush to nlite everything just to try to cram everything on a CD. I would hate to have everything on 1 CD, or 1 DVD for that matter! People take your CD's, they get scratched, forget them...etc. I like to know that if i lose my XP install disc having builds ranging from all features to slimmed down, I at least can pick up my 2k3 disc and use cmdcons, install 2k3 from a variety of configurations, or use 1 of many bootable utils that i would have on all my OS install disks (because i have room for them). Bottom line, try to fit it on 1 CD if you truly must, but you better realize that features taken out are not easily added once you realize the comp. needs them. And if you can't fit another CD in a paper sleeve and take it with you... If you are thinking "WITH integrated updates, service packs and extra programs of course...". Then don't think nlite will save you, or that it will fit. Having just a clean mix of 2 different OS families across a CD w/o any extras doesn't fit if you want to maintain the full builds Bite the bullet, have a spare CD to save you. Make it easier on your self to keep the different OS families separate when you want to change something later on. Have the ability to do a repair, upgrade, and clean install. Using gosh's method, I'm pretty sure you could have 2k and XP, but you lose the compatibility and versatility that maintaining a full OS build brings. *Excuse my small rant, but I just see so many "can i have my cake, take your cake, add more toppings than there is cake, and then eat it too?" type of threads .... *Nlite is a great program for customizing and weeding out useless aspects. IMO, very few really consider how removing items will affect future programs and devices from working, esp. since I see hardly anyone slimming their builds for a specific purpose and usage. Rather, most remove items simply because they can. Probably be better off working on a PE build instead of installation methods at that point and cut down on the threads that answer themselves (I took out print spooler and now i can't seem to print anything. Nlite messed it up...how can i fix?)

it looks like you are using cdshell w/ the bcdw plugin. The most stable combo to use is cdshell 2.011 and bcdw 1.5z plugin. later versions of cdshell are problematic w/ the bcdw plugin. Also, these two versions don't supprot .imz like later versions of cdshell/bcdw so be aware. If you need 2.011 or 1.5z files pm me. I posted a while ago on msfn info about both w/ a d/l link. I'm not sure but i seem to recall issues w/ large dvd size and boot cmds on ima,imz files discussed a while back.

There is a huge thread on this. Search harder. Bottom line. Make sure your bootfiles are hex'd using a hex editor's Search and Replace for the 4 character folder entry. If you use nero, make sure "1" is not added to the iso. Make sure that if your dvd is big and you test in a virtual enviroment, mount the image with alcohol or daemontools, do not mount the dvd directly through the virtual machine. It would be to your advantage to redo this in cdshell as it makes for easier code to wade through.

it shouldn't be a problem. Keep in mind... -If a disk dies you could lose both disks worth of info depending on what type of dynamic disk setup you choose. -Windows can't boot from a dynamic disk so you will need another HD to run your OS off of. -Laptop computers and XP Home systems are not supported, neither are usb/firewire drives -The filesystem cannot differ across disks you wish to group.

The number of fans mean very little. Most people w/ that amount of fans usually have worse airflow and temps than the people who have a few and place them strategically. Also, the fact that it starts freezing a little bit after you start should also concern you since that is when the cpu would reach a high enough temp to start killing your machine. Dbl check the temp, make sure the heatsink is on correctly. If it's not the cpu, and you have a new pc. It most likely is a conflict with drivers or any other program that really digs into the system like Norton Systemworks or a virus scanner. Disable anything that runs on start up. If you OC'd the computer, return it back to original specs. Try booting with BartPE and check if it gets stuck in that.

admin install basically just expands compressed msi and exe based installers. Some programs allow remote operation so many computers could run the network shared msi. Also admin install expands msi with the file layout intact making file replacement updates as simple as overwriting the existing file (in most cases). WinInstall basically repackages an installer of any type into an msi based installer (a repackaging wizard).

That wizard basically just copies the source and wraps the setup.exe to trigger the installer & the transform file.

Tuner is meant for customizing the installation options (filling in the key, changing install location, supressing certain billboards, making the install completely unattended) without modifying the original source. This way people who have purchased the program of whatever msi file they are customizing will still be able to get full technical support. Transforms are very useful if many dept. configs need to be used from a msi network source. A .mst file is comparable to a setup.iss file for individual use. A full blown msi editor would be better suited to help shrink an msi. Transforms are used like this msiexec /i "ProductName.msi" TRANSFORMS="YourTransform.mst"

I don't know how much extra you want to add but there are really small programs (maybe scripts) that could hold the Keys for an installation. So if i click on a OS installation the five parts of a windows key would be taken from the <a href="showkey:PRODUCT:SERIAL_NUMBER">Show Serial</a> and either be entered on its own or easier to do, held in a clipboard so one could just press ctrl+v 5 times. That may be asking too much though. The menu is in English but Exit is listed as Breenden. Since commands are the same across 2k&up. It wouldn't hurt to be able to have options for installing Recovery Console (/cmdcons) and Make local Source included besides making a bootable ISO. I haven't tried yet, but if I delete the background is it possible to have a nice skinned menu showing just the list and pops (leaving the background transparent)?

I don't like to post quick, useless comments w/ nothing but dribble....but hey....... Very nice work!!! I hope you keep this in progressive development!

Yes. burn to dvd asap. Backups don't matter much. It's the backups of the backups that save you. Your disk is good I bet (unless you hear grinding or clicking) USB / firewire have notorious problems with delayed writes and improper dismounting of the disk, leaving your data unrecoverable at worst and usually screwed up index tables at the least. 1.Go to device manager --> your disk properties and set the disk performance to quick removal (at the very least disable write caching) While you are here go to your usb device and in properties make sure that you uncheck the setting that allows the pc to power down the usb. 2. If it's usb, try to keep just that drive on it's own usb controller / hub. Also, try not to use an existing usb port for power if you do use one. 3. Turn off system restore to that HD. It takes a lot of resources to use. 5. Do a disk check and a full defrag. (Be sure that hibernate/SS/standby and spin down the disk is off) 5.Clean the usbfirewire contacts with some alcohol and try not to touch them w/ your fingers from then on. Make sure the cord plugs in snug and stiff. If it's loose you will have the problems you are experiencing obviously. Make sure that you are not using a crappy/ cheap cable. It does make a difference

A mp3 is a compressed music format. A lot of music data (mainly audio the human ear can't detect) was stripped and compressed when it was made into mp3. The extra quality you are trying to get back can only be achieved by getting it from an original uncompressed source (wav, cd , etc). If you change a mp3 to wave the lost data will not come back. Bottom line if you convert to mp3... leave it alone. Like a VHS tape....it just gets worse the more you mess with it.

Literally all answers are in VMWare help faq and t.shooting. Try this....edit the v.machine settings.....delete your scsi hard disk. add a hard disk (0,0)...set it to IDE type. Add another hard disk if you like. I believe in some cases if you have drivers included w/ an unattended distro and you use f6, it will screw w/ the installation. (A winnt.sif switch can cause it as well) Your 7b error is a driver issue. It's a classic problem when trying to make a deploy image of a system w/o proper prep or driver mishaps. Do a search for 'fix ide 0x0000007B' and you should find a couple d/ls made by other people that will fix the ide/scsi problem both in files and registry. Again read help, it does go into detail about issues w/ XP, one of the SCSI types that causes problems and how to avoid hardware issues. Since you are going to probably install VMWare tools after the OS is running, I would skip integrating the drivers. Stick w/ IDE type hard drive. I know when you first set up the machine it sometimes chooses HD type for you. Manually adding a Hard drive will allow you to choose however.

VoXiE, regarding your first post, I attempted the inram way as described by the guide. No problems at all. I am making the /inram file set according to your structure so just add them in and append the cdshell menu w/ the addition. If a system does not have enough memory, /inram will fail (obviously) due to lack of resources. I would use /inram w/ confidence on machines having 196+. You can run it with less but memory will be needed to carry out tasks in the ERD environment. Check you email for the modified files. (If anyone else is interested just PM me). ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The /Inram method used just adds 3 files to an existing ERD /WinPE/ BartPE build. 1. The bin/dat file to boot from which points to... 2. loader.bin (which load the initial system files) which points to... 3. txtsetup.sif which when modified has OSLoadOption /inram 1 is named whatever you want as the bootable file name. Going by the guide, 2 & 3 are renamed w/ extension .RAM. When editing these types of files always use a hex editor with duplicate letter capitalization and be sure to overwrite values, not append. Using a text editor will corrupt the boot files upon save.

Not sure why small CD writer isn't working for you...have you install an ASPI layer using the plugin included w/ BartPE? Run ASPIchk and see if it's loaded if you did include it. I saw that MagicISO plugin and you are right about it being incomplete. So I authored my own. It will put links in both XPE plugin and nu2menu for MagicISO and MagicISO Burner. I would post it here, but code tends to get screwy in posts. Send a PM my way w/ your e-mail and I will send it to you (that goes for anybody else interested in it as well) . I have tested the burner w/ basic BartPE build and ERDCommander 2005, no problems burning so far. Just follow the directions in the .MagicISO.htm file

A very basic menu that shows for 20 sec and then attempts to boot primary HD. The boot files are in the a folder called 'files' in rhe boot folder. Everything in this can be explained at cdshell.org execpt for the bcdw command, which is a special file. Visual pathe to the boot files: Root -->boot ----->files --------boot.files cls print "\n\c07Windows:\n" print " 1) Install XP Professional SP1 (LiquidSage Build) \n" print " 2) Launch ERD Commander 2005 (LiquidSage Build) \n" print " 3) Launch MediaEnabled Bart w/ XPE (LiquidSage Build) \n" print " 4) Launch Defrag Manager v3.01.4.228 \n" print "\n" print "\c02Utilities:\n" print "\c02 F1) Acronis Disk Director Suite 9\n" print "\c02 XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX \n" print "\c02 Partition Expert Disk Editor \n" print "\c02 Recovery Expert OS Selector \n" print "\c02 F2) Acronis True Image Enterprise Server 8\n" print "\c02 F3) Memtest86 \n" print "\c02 F4) The Troubleshooter 7.02 \n" print "\c02 F5) DPOSoft HDD Regenerator 1.41 \n" print "\c02 F6) Ontrack Data Recovery 5.00 \n" print "\c02 F7) Ontrack Disk Manager for DOS 9.57 \n" print "\c02 F8) V-Com DriveWorks 6.05 \n" print "\n" print "\c01Q) Quit to Cmd Prompt R) Reboot ESC) Boot 1st HD\n" MainKey: getkey 20 boot 0x80 if $lastKey == key[1]; then chain /boot/files/XP01.DAT if $lastKey == key[2]; then chain /boot/files/ERDC.DAT if $lastKey == key[3]; then chain /boot/files/BART.DAT if $lastKey == key[4]; then chain /boot/files/DFRG.DAT if $lastKey == key[F1]; then bcdw /boot/files/DDSuite9549.WBT if $lastKey == key[F2]; then bcdw /boot/files/TIEntS81158.WBT if $lastKey == key[F3]; then ISOLINUX /boot/files/memtest if $lastKey == key[F4]; then diskemu /boot/files/ts7.img if $lastKey == key[F5]; then memdisk /boot/files/HDDRegen141.img if $lastKey == key[F6]; then memdisk /boot/files/OntrkDR5.img if $lastKey == key[F7]; then memdisk /boot/files/OntrkDM9.img if $lastKey == key[F8]; then diskemu /boot/files/VDW6.img if $lastKey == key[q]; then end if $lastKey == key[r]; then reboot if $lastKey == key[esc]; then boot 0x80 end

It doesn't get much easier than that. I suppose you could go to cdshell.org and actually read some of manual, look at the example scripts included with the d/l or be a bit more specific on what is the problem. It sounds like you are wasting energy trying to get someone to do it for you instead of doing it yourself.

MagicISO or this seems to work easily.... http://www.911cd.net/forums//index.php?showtopic=7564 lot of reading but you might find this thread useful. http://www.911cd.net/forums//index.php?showtopic=8640 When you d/l BartPE, Bart has a pluging called PEinst. That pluging automates the install of PE on to a HD

That's usually the case. There isn't too much benefit from running inram because everything needs to be running before you eject for it to work In general /inram just puts core files in ram not everything on your PE build by default. The /inram switch does not put PE on an actually RAM disk, it just keeps accessed files in memory thereby speeding up (marginally off cd) I/O ops. The Ram disk is used by Bart PE/ M$ PE as a writeable temp space so you don't leave a footprint on damaged HD's and also so the majority of programs adapted to PE don't whine and complain about not having any temp space to work with. All paths still point to the DVD so your only option would be to put a copy of PE on the next DVD so it finds it there or install to HD and make bootable. I put PE on a seperate disk than OS builds as I use it for repair/recovery and just pack it with useful apps. Sure you can install an OS off of PE but why? It is faster just to boot directly and let setup do it's thing instead of waiting for PE to boot and then do a slow copy of your OS build off of cd while PE uses the cd at the same time to run. Only time I would think about using inram was if Ii needed to burn something, in which case i would just install winpe to hd due to the usual need for either temp space, a paging file, or needed ram to fill the buffer (like Nero for example). There are a few burners that are exceptions to this. Mainly if you know you need to access another cd drive, plan ahead.

hmmm...i guess that is useful

WHoa! You are really off on doing this correctly. To load PE in ram, make your PE copy and have your boot folder point to it in the normal fashion. Then open txtsetup.sif and find the line that says OsLoadOptions ="/fastdetect /minint" change it to OsLoadOptions ="/fastdetect /minint /inram" and that's it. Just that one line needs to be changed in that one file. If you are trying to have two seperate copies of PE, one that is in ram and one that isn't, add another copy of PE like you would in the normal multiboot fashion and use optimization during build.

Overdrive slows it down so the card operates at an acceptable standard. Generating artifacts or the card's temp going too high can cause overdrive not to max out. Since overdrive is basically auto-overclocking, heat is probably why the speed went down. Unless you have the modder's itch, just let it be. You probably wouldn't visibly see the difference anyways from the small drop it took and the card is not getting overstressed. If you wish to OC it, get some artic silver and do a good lapping job on the heatsink you have or invest in some artic silver and get a better gfx cooler such as the ATI Artic Cooler. If you actually don't go for long periods with gfx intense apps, you may want to consider a silent passive cooler like the Zalman ZM80D-HP. Also, cutting up an old heatsink and putting them on any bare ram chips will help a lot.

When you boot you say no post beep and video, does it give an actual post code on the 2 digit display. If you managed to turn it on it should at least display the opening sequence (usually i see them hang on 80 or 82.) In general if you hooked up the speaker correctly, No Beeps means the Power Supply, CPU , or the Board is Bad. It also could mean the ram is is not snug in the slot or a device has not been connected properly.