Two partitions and a friend

[brian873]

Recently I have been getting fed up of fixing my friends computers.

I was thinking of creating a unattended install that uses one disk with two partitions.

Partition 1 – windows xp

Partition 2 – Documents and settings

So when a problem arose they could pop in the unattended CD and it would install the operating system back to Partition 1 and pick up all the documents and settings from partition 2.

Has anyone got any real experience with this and can help me out with something’s to watch out for ?

Hail hail

[sixpack]

wy not make a automated backup to the second drive silend

that is what i do for my frinds B)

and even have a option to rar it up in that directory

only thing is for the silent part you need Quick Batch File Compiler

[JoeMSFN]

wy not make a automated backup to the second drive silend

Not sure if this is a totally good idea lest you backup bad or messed up data/programs over a backup of good files. Since you can never be sure when the data was corrupt.

If you do the automated route I would suggest adding to the file name some sort of YYYY-MM-DD--HH-MM-SS_backupfilename.xxx (xxx being the three letter compressed file format of your choice). If your really cleaver maybe even putting the day of the week in there too (I bet most people can remember it was good up until last Wednesday)

This allows the directory listing to sort by when the backup was made and you can go to the most recent copy of the data before it became bad/corrupt. This has the added advantage that if a file is deleted (or irreperably edited) they (or you most likely ) can go back and retrieve it.

I used this for a client's office where the secretary runs a batch and it copies the data to a hard drive (well it doesn't compress it, but it's an external drive anyway) and does the above with the folder name. Periodically she burns them to DVD. All the "My Documents" folders point to a shared folder on the "server" and I've tried to make it clear... My Docs gets backed up. Desktop won't... Excuse my rambling... hope this is food for thought.

[sixpack]

@JoeMSFN

in some case's i use the variable: Mijn Documenten%DATE%.rar

you can use %TIME% to

[brian873]

Hi guys,

Thanks for the replys.

A backup is a seperate issue, I just want them to be able to put in the CD and it installs windows XP again when they have a major problem. And all data on the second partition is sitting waiting for them once the unattended CD completes.

hail hail

[sixpack]

Hi guys,

Thanks for the replys.

A backup is a seperate issue, I just want them to be able to put in the CD and it installs windows XP again when they have a major problem.  And all data on the second partition is sitting waiting for them once the unattended CD completes.

hail hail

well if you "backup" your folder to a other drive is'nt that the same

[brian873]

The point is for a system with one drive split with two partitions. So wth minimum fuss a reinstall can be done and there is no need to get data from another drive.

hail hail

[sixpack]

The point is for a system with one drive split with two partitions.  So wth minimum fuss a reinstall can be done and there is no need to get data from another drive.

hail hail

i guess you have a point there

do a search for it in this forum there are topic's on it

on how the move these folders

[brian873]

Please Read the first post.

I am not looking on how to do this technically.

I am looking for people who have done this and have experience of using this method. There is not much in the forums on real experiences with this method that i can find.

hail hail

[prathapml]

Man, don't do this.

You'll find it useless actually.

If you had "D:\Documents and Settings\Brian" as your user profile, and expect to be back using it - you'll be surprised. After the re-install, when you create a user named Brian (through whatever method you choose), windows will see that the folder it wants to use already exists - so it ends up making

"D:\Documents and Settings\Brian.000"
--OR--
"D:\Documents and Settings\Brian.COMPUTERNAME"

So your old files and settings are not imported. And with every re-install, you get more folders created (Brian.001, Brian.002....). I'm sure that's not what you intended.

Just tell them to use some common sense and save all required files in D: partition. And let Docs&Settings stay on C:\ and get cleansed on every re-install. If what you want is to place files in Docs&Settings *EVERYTIME* (for apps configuration), just use the "$OEM$\$Docs\All Users\" folder tree.

Hoping this helps....

[brian873]

Thanks.... prathapml

Exactly the type of thing I was looking for. I will re think my pllas now.

Hail Hail

[blinkdt]

Hold up there a moment. What you are suggesting is exactly what I do for computers belonging to friends and family, like so:

1. Partition the drive, creating C: and D:

2. Run an unattended Windows installation on C:

3. Following the install, move the "My Documents" folder to D:

Done. Everyone saves to My Documents, creating personal folders inside My Documents if they wish. After a few months of kids surfing the Internet ("help, our machine is hosed"), talk the parents through a reinstall over the phone:

1. Boot from the CD and DELETE the C: partition.

2. Reinstall on the new, blank (soon-to-be) C: partition

3. 'Move' the My Documents folder to D: where, oh yeah, all of the files remain intact.

One user profile: Administrator.

Now before y'all start yappin' at me, let me explain that I understand this to be but one of several ways to set up a machine, that I understand the "danger" inherent in allowing everyone administrative rights, etc. But it makes everything a whole lot easier for everyone involved. In truth, I have very few machines go bad (not worth the effort of cleaning) and those I blame on Netpal Games. In any event, all of the data is recovered, every time.

@sixpack Quick Batch File Compiler proved frustrating to me, I found that the freeware utilities 2EXEC and C2E can convert a batch file to a .COM format and then to a .EXE format, respectively, and work correctly in a true DOS environment.

[`Felix`]

Recently I have been getting fed up of fixing my friends computers.

I was thinking of creating a unattended install that uses one disk with two partitions.

Partition 1 – windows xp

Partition 2 – Documents and settings

So when a problem arose they could pop in the unattended CD and it would install the operating system back to Partition 1 and pick up all the documents and settings from partition 2.

Has anyone got any real experience with this and can help me out with something’s to watch out for ?

Hail hail

Hi blinkdt,

Yes your idea works well and this is how i set up corporate systems - it makes it easy to back up, update the system, or recover from distasters...

The thing to be away of this that when you reinstall or restore your system - if the backup doesn't include the user profile [such as a fresh install] you will end up with the user profile being created from scatch. eg.

before reinstall

d:\documents and settings\user1

after reinstall

d:\documents and settings\user1

d:\documents and settings\user1.computername

For each time you reinstall you will add to this problem ... see HOW TO: Restore a User Profile in Windows - This talks about Windows 2000 but it is the same with Windows NT 4, 2000, XP and 2003.

The solution is to do the manual fix as outline in the KB Doc above or automate the fix. I have been searching for years for a solution to this problem and finally have written one myself. Currently this is in a batch file format but i will be writing it into a stand alone app file in the next week or so... So then you can add this to your unattended installs and this will resolve the "duplicate profile" issue

[jamesas]

dude one thing ive learned in partitioning is never delete the c: partition becuse sometimes the d: partion will take c: and it will stuff it up so just reformat the c: partition

[`Felix`]

dude one thing ive learned in partitioning is never delete the c: partition becuse sometimes the d: partion will take c: and it will stuff it up so just reformat the c: partition

Agreed - but you only delete the contents of drive C: not the parition. As long as the partition is intact all will be fine.