NT 4.0 WS Rescue Disk(s)
Chris Hoffmann
After some recent problems with IOMegaware (see "Parallel Port..."
thread), I decided to create the rescue disks using the RDISK utility.
THe problem is that the information it tries to copy is greater than
1.44M i.e. it won't fit on the floppy. The problem appears to be one file
titled "software._" or similar which alone is about 1.3M.
Is there a way to make the util span more than one disk?
I'd appreciate any comments.
Chris.
Chris Hoffmann
In article <MPG.133715022...@news1.ibm.net>, nos...@127.0.0.1
says...
Doing what I should've done *before* posting this - i.e. look in Dejanews
- I found the following (thanks to John B <deb...@nospam.mailcity.com>
who posted it):
Goto http://support.microsoft.com
Change the product to Windows NT Workstation or Server / Search for
keywords / exact phrase / and type in "The Emergency Repair Disk Is Full"
You get one hit.
http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/Q130/0/29.asp?LNG=ENG&SA
=AL
The execturive summary is: you can't span disks. The RDISK info on floppy
is a last resort >:-(
Chris.
Greg Hayes/Raxco Software
Chris,
Here's what happens when you run RDISK:
- Emergency repair in formation is updated and stored in Winnt/Repair.
There are approx 10 files that are stored in this folder in a compressed
format.
- RDISK will attempt to copy to a floppy. However, if the compined total of
these files exceed the capacity of a floppy, then you are unable to create
the actual emergency repair disk.
What can you do?
- Well, for starters, you can just leave the emergency repair information in
the Repair folder. If you actually need that information, it is only the
system partition and the emergency repair process knows to look there if all
else fails.
- You could copy the files from the repair folder to a network drive
somewhere, and if an emergency repair disk is needed, you could just copy
the appropriate registry hives to a floppy and then try to recover using
that.
There are several products on the market that can "automate" the emergency
repair process - making it easier to ensure that your emergency repair
information is up to date and easier to repair:
RepairDisk Manager - www.raxco.com. Allows you to "schedule" the
update/gathering of emergency repair information. Stores this information
on a drive that you can specify and allows you to "restore" as long as the
system needing repair is still accessable through the network. Helps you
create the actual emergency repair disk and select which of the repair
information to put on that emergency repair floppy.
ERDisk - www.aelita.com. Allows you to "schedule" the update/gathering of
emergency repair information. Stores this information on a drive that you
can specify and allows you to "restore" as long as the system needing repair
is still accessable through the network. Helps you create the actual
emergency repair disk and select which of the repair information to put on
that emergency repair floppy.
Hope this helps!
- Greg/Raxco Software
Disclaimer: I work for Raxco Software, the maker of RepairDisk Manager, as
a systems engineer in the support department.
Chris Hoffmann wrote in message ...
Chris Hoffmann
>
> Chris,
>
> Here's what happens when you run RDISK:
>
> - Emergency repair in formation is updated and stored in Winnt/Repair.
> There are approx 10 files that are stored in this folder in a compressed
> format.
> - RDISK will attempt to copy to a floppy. However, if the compined total of
> these files exceed the capacity of a floppy, then you are unable to create
> the actual emergency repair disk.
Yep, that's what happens when I run RDISK ;-).
> What can you do?
>
> - Well, for starters, you can just leave the emergency repair information in
> the Repair folder. If you actually need that information, it is only the
> system partition and the emergency repair process knows to look there if all
> else fails.
I understand. Although the last time my system failed it couldn't access
the system drive at all.
> - You could copy the files from the repair folder to a network drive
> somewhere, and if an emergency repair disk is needed, you could just copy
> the appropriate registry hives to a floppy and then try to recover using
> that.
Yes, I believe I will do this in the future.
[raxco info snipped]
>
> Hope this helps!
>
> - Greg/Raxco Software
>
> Disclaimer: I work for Raxco Software, the maker of RepairDisk Manager, as
> a systems engineer in the support department.
Thanks for you help. I have also now downloaded the free portions of the
Microsoft Resource Kit which lets me back up that boot sector and
partition table. This was my most serious problem last time.