getting the OS on a CD
Jo-Anne
containing the OS. What's the best way to get the CD (in case of need later
on)? Do I ask Toshiba for it or Microsoft?
Thank you!
Jo-Anne
Pegasus [MVP]
"Jo-Anne" <Jo-AnneATnowhere.com> said this in news item
news:uS0oqVyj...@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl...
Having a WinXP CD is of limited use because you will also need a bunch of
drivers, which can be very hard to get. However, I'm sure that the netbook
came with a factory restore facility, perhaps on CD or on DVD. This is the
fastest way to restore the laptop in case of a catastrophic failure. Have a
good look at the manual!
If you still need a WinXP CD, make a copy of a friend's CD. This is
perfectly legal. Just make sure it's the same type
(OEM/Retail/Home/Professional).
VanguardLH
Follow the manual for the computer that tells you how to create a rescue CD.
Jo-Anne
news:uapEsZyj...@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl...
thing I could find in the manual is that when the operating system isn't
working, you should use the options in the Startup Menu to fix the problem.
This of course is assuming you can get to the Startup Menu, which includes
the following (among others): Last known good configuration, Directory
Services Restore Mode, Debugging Mode. The user is to "see your Windows
documentation for further explanation."
I do have an ancient OEM CD of Windows XP Home (which is what this computer
is running), SP1, that came with my Dell desktop computer. I guess if
anything terrible happens, I could try it.
I think there's also supposed to be a way to make a bootable CD, but I don't
remember how...
Jo-Anne
Jo-Anne
"VanguardLH" <V...@nguard.LH> wrote in message
news:hi3619$edv$1...@news.albasani.net...
If that information appeared in the manual, I'd be glad to do it--but as far
as I can tell, it's not there. I've made a bootable CD for my other
computers with Acronis True Image Home, but I haven't installed Acronis on
this new computer yet and don't know if the other one would work.
Is there a website with information on creating a bootable CD or, even
better, a bootable thumb drive that would work on the netbook? (I haven't
yet bought an external DVD drive/burner.)
Thank you, Vanguard!
Jo-Anne
VanguardLH
You did not identify your model (so I can look up any info on it on how they
want you to create a rescue CD). Also, you said that you want to get the
*OS* on the CD (which presumably meant you wanted to install the OS from
there). Acronis TI is a partition imaging program so you are restoring your
OS to a state for the image you created. That won't be for a fresh install
of the OS (and all drivers) unless you saved an image with your host in that
state. More likely you have installed programs and created files since you
got the clean host with a fresh install of the OS. So are you looking to
restore the OS to its factory-time state? Or are you looking to restore
your host to a prior state (after it got modified)?
RobertVA
When a name brand computer comes with installation media (CD or DVD) the
Windows OS installation software on that media often checks the computer
brand and model number and refuses to install the OS if the
computer/motherboard isn't on a fairly short list of that computer
manufacturer's products.
To reduce manufacturing costs, thus the retail price, many name brand
computers don't come with Windows OS installation disks or much in the
way of manuals beyond a FEW page long "Getting Started" manual.
Computers that are sold with optical disk writers (CD-R or DVD-/+R
drives) may include software that allows the customer to make a set of
recovery disks, but the customer has to purchase blank media separately.
since many netbooks don't include DVD or CD writers, they would require
some other recovery technique. Check you computer for a user "manual"
stored on the mechanical or solid state hard "drive". There MAY be a
provision for establishing an OS backup on a memory card or other type
of flash/thumb drive.
Jo-Anne
Jo-Anne
news:O8B4%23QzjK...@TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl...
Thank you, Robert! I think I've read before that OS CDs specific to a
manufacturer might not work on another computer. I guess that leaves me the
option to purchase one if they're reasonably priced--from either Microsoft
or Toshiba--as well as getting an external CD/DVD burner (which I was
planning to do eventually) or to find other methods of dealing with
potential problems. (See my latest response to Vanguard.)
Jo-Anne
VanguardLH
NOTE: Do *not* post using HTML format in newsgroups.
(The following lines were rewrapped to undo the overly 1 long line per
paragraph formatting for quoted-printable format while using HTML.)
> The computer I bought is the Toshiba NB205-N310/BN. The manual that is on
> the computer is a very general one that is also available online at
>
> http://cdgenp01.csd.toshiba.com/content/support/manuals/userguides/su2346766/GMAD00199011_NB200_Series_09May01.pdf
Page 47. This computer uses a hidden partition to save an image of the OS
partition. That's why if you were to use a partition tool to delete this
partition and enlarge the OS partition that you would lose this hidden
partition and the ability to use it to restore your computer. The BIOS is
designed to read the recovery program out of EEPROM. No OS needs to be
booted.
> As far as I can tell, there is NO information about a Restore CD in this
> manual.
Page 55. Tells you how to create a recovery DVD. So obviously you need to
get an external DVD burner drive.
> I guess I was really talking about two different things--a Restore CD or
> flash drive from which I could boot the computer if all else fails and an
> OS CD in case I need to restore the computer to its factory state. The
> third option is buying another copy of Acronis and making full images of
> the current state of the computer in case anything happens. With Acronis,
> you also can make a bootable CD in case your hard drive doesn't want to
> boot at all. I've done that and tried it on one of my other computers. It
> boots directly into Acronis True Image.
>
> I believe, though, that there's a way to make a generic bootable CD,
> perhaps using Linux, that can get you back to the computer running
> Windows XP.
I believe one means of creating a bootable CD for Windows is the BartPE (see
http://www.nu2.nu/pebuilder/ and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BartPE). I
used it a long time back but it's been too long to remember how it worked.
However, you need an install CD of Windows and you don't have that. Since
you don't have a installation CD for Windows, I'm not sure how you can
create a copy of it (as is, or in a modified form, like BartPE).
There are Live CDs for Linux distributions that might run from a USB flash
drive - but that assumes your BIOS can be configured to boot from a USB
drive. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Live_USB. I doubt a Linux distro
on a USB drive is going to help you since you would be running a non-Windows
operating system that won't help with much more than disk repair, like
partitioning or cloning. You could use a Live CD distro of many versions of
Linux (www.distrowatch.com) but you won't be running Windows.
The Acronis TI product CD is bootable, plus you can install their boot
manager (that usurps the bootstrap area of the hard disk). Their CD can be
booted (if the BIOS is configured to check the removable drives first before
the hard disks) to perform a restore but that means your image has to be
somewhere other than on the hard disk that crashed, like you are using their
hidden partition (Acronis partition) on a different hard disk from where to
read the image backups. The hard disk crashes then you might not be able to
use their installable MBR boot manager to use that means of starting their
recovery wizard (so you're back to using their bootable CD). While I have
had success using both their bootable product CD and their MBR boot manager
to run their recovery wizard, I would also suggest creating a separate
Acronis rescue CD using their installed wizard.
ANONYMOUS
are in:
<http://www.howtohaven.com/system/createwindowssetupdisk.shtml>
You do need to buy an external CD/DVD drive ($30) to burn the resultant output.
hth
Jo-Anne
Thank you VERY much, Vanguard, for all your help! (Sorry about the HTML. I
had read it was the only way to make sure the long link was clickable; I
didn't realize it would provide one long line for each paragraph.)
I guess I relied too much on Toshiba's index and its chapter titles,
especially "Chapter 6: If Something Goes Wrong" (nothing was there). Having
recovery information buried in the chapter on Getting Started seems strange
to me. Page 47's "Hard Drive Recovery" wasn't in the index under any of the
three words, and the only reference in the index to page 54 was "power
button" (nothing at all for page 55). From now on, I'll check the Table of
Contents more carefully. As an indexer, I've always searched indexes first,
since everything there is supposed to be organized by subject--but that
doesn't work when the subjects aren't in the index.
I will definitely buy a DVD burner, although it would be wonderful if
recovery into XP could proceed from a flash drive. (Thanks to help I
received in another newsgroup, I recently was able to copy my WordPerfect
installation CD to a flash drive and install the program on my netbook from
it.)
I'll probably go ahead and get another copy of Acronis. I have four external
hard drives, and I back up my two other computers to them with Acronis
regularly. I also created a separate bootable CD using Acronis to do so--and
I configured the BIOS on my old desktop computer to look first at the
optical drive (it's so old, it has a floppy drive, and that's what it wanted
to boot from first, then the hard drive).
Thank you again!
Jo-Anne
"VanguardLH" <V...@nguard.LH> wrote in message
news:hi3ii1$1fs$1...@news.albasani.net...
Jo-Anne
Thank you! I'll bookmark that website for reference for my other computers.
Unfortunately, I don't think it'll work for the netbook, which doesn't have
\i386 in the root directory. It has an I386 folder in c:\WINDOWS and several
i386 folders in c:\WINDOWS\System32\ having to do with, I think,
reinstalling drivers. I learned from Vanguard that Toshiba has its own
Recovery arrangement, and I guess I'll have to follow its instructions to
create a recovery CD.
Thank you again!
Jo-Anne
"ANONYMOUS" <ANON...@EXAMPLE.COM> wrote in message
news:4B454F16...@EXAMPLE.COM...
dadiOH
> I'll probably go ahead and get another copy of Acronis.
Why not just use the one you already have?
--
dadiOH
____________________________
dadiOH's dandies v3.06...
...a help file of info about MP3s, recording from
LP/cassette and tips & tricks on this and that.
Get it at http://mysite.verizon.net/xico
Jim
wrote:
No hidden partition with the OS ?
Anteaus
The i386 route may work (look for one with winnt.exe and winn32.exe files in
it, plus a lot of other files)
Alternatively, the Dell SP1 CD will probably be a more-or-less kosher copy
of XP, in those days Dell more-or-less stuck to Microsoft's spec. An issue
here is that you may need SP3 for the setup to work on a more recent PC. You
can in fact slipstream SP3 with the contents of the Dell CD to make an
up-to-date install CD. You can even include the drivers for your hardware,
although these can be added after setup.
A useful tool for making custom setup CDs:
http://www.nliteos.com/
Toshiba computers are good hardware, but they come with a huge amount of
preinstalled junk like media players and 'security suites.' In my experience
they show a phenomenal boost in performance if Windows is reinstalled with
the right drivers, but sans junk. This is one reason I wouldn't bother with
the recovery partition approach- it usually puts the junk back too. Better a
clean install anyway.
BTW, when installing XP, you often need to go into the BIOS settings, and
change the SATA mode to legacy, or IDE mode. Otherwise the setup will freeze
after the first reboot. (because the SATA driver has not yet been installed,
but bare XP doesn't understand SATA)
"ANONYMOUS" wrote:
> .
>
SC Tom
Toshiba's instructions, or create a disk image with Acronis. My Gateway
notebook had a similar setup with having the Recovery Partition on the hard
drive, but no CD/DVD.
Like a dummy, I didn't make the DVD like I should have, and hadn't made any
kind of image. As (bad) luck would have it, about 6 months after purchase,
the HDD crunched once or twice and died, never to boot again.
Luckily, I was able to download the OS and drivers disks from Gateway's web
site after arguing with them about the warranty (they tried to start the
warranty from date of manufacture, not my purchase date. That ain't
happening!). I put a new drive in, and restored it back to factory condition
using the downloads, but it certainly was a PITA to go through all the
setting up, reinstalling programs, etc.
After that, I got an external drive and a copy of Acronis. I now image my
drives on a regular basis, and it has saved my bacon a couple of times so
far.
Stupid of me not to have done all that in the first place since I was the IT
guy at work that always asked "Didn't you back that up?" whenever anyone
lost a file or something. Got my comeuppance the hard way, but I learned
(again!).
--
SC Tom
"Jo-Anne" <Jo-AnneATnowhere.com> wrote in message
news:eZbPHo0j...@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl...
Jo-Anne
I could use the physical medium, I suppose, but I'd still have to pay for
another copy, since the license is for only one machine.
Jo-Anne
"dadiOH" <dad...@invalid.com> wrote in message
news:eoG12N5j...@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl...
olfart
"Jo-Anne" <Jo-AnneATnowhere.com> wrote in message
>
> I could use the physical medium, I suppose, but I'd still have to pay for
> another copy, since the license is for only one machine.
>
> Jo-Anne
>
you are just "transferring" it from one machine to another. Still....one
machine
Jo-Anne
netbook, but it took me days to install all the programs I wanted and
arrange everything the way I want it. I think the only way to assure that I
keep everything is to bite the bullet and get an optical drive and another
Acronis--although I'll probably make a recovery DVD through Toshiba too.
Jo-Anne
"SC Tom" <s...@tom.net> wrote in message
news:eNw%23mS6jK...@TK2MSFTNGP05.phx.gbl...
SC Tom
or Maxtor hard drive, whether it's an internal or external, you can get the
free copy of Acronis True Image from their respective web sites. It's not
the full-blown version- it doesn't do incremental or scheduled imaging, but
works very well. I have used it on both my desktop and my notebook with my
WD external drive with great results. At least that would keep you from
having to buy another copy, if you have one of the qualifying hard drives.
--
SC Tom
"Jo-Anne" <Jo-AnneATnowhere.com> wrote in message
news:O702G07j...@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl...
Jo-Anne
is WD My Passport Elite. I'll check the website right away!
Jo-Anne
"SC Tom" <s...@tom.net> wrote in message
news:eOBPI67j...@TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl...
Jo-Anne
news:8jnbk59utsla5q737...@4ax.com...
There is--but it seems to be a Toshiba one and isn't named, as far as I can
tell, in the manual. You're supposed to just follow directions for creating
a recovery CD and then for using it. (I didn't know this til Vanguard
pointed it out to me.)
Jo-Anne
I'm so grateful, SC Tom! I downloaded the program from the WD site,
installed it (after plugging in my WD drive; the installation program wanted
proof of my use of a WD product), and ran it on the netbook. It just
finished the first backup. I wish I had known a year or two ago about the
arrangement with Acronis. I bought two copies of the program for my other
computers, and all my backing up is to my WD external drives.
Thank you again!
Jo-Anne
"SC Tom" <s...@tom.net> wrote in message
news:eOBPI67j...@TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl...
SC Tom
I don't think they had the arrangement a year ago. The first I heard of it
was about 4 or 5 months ago.
--
SC Tom
"Jo-Anne" <Jo-AnneATnowhere.com> wrote in message
news:ODHGhP9j...@TK2MSFTNGP05.phx.gbl...
Twayne
Jo-Anne <Jo-AnneATnowhere.com> typed:
Yes. Toshiba should have all the utilities, drivers and OS disk that you
need.
Are you sure what you need isn't in a hidden folder on the hard drive?
Check your docs, or the ones on their site, for you machine and how to
restore it. If it's on-disk, there will be a way to make your own CDs.
Twayne
--
--
Often you'll find excellent advice on a newsgroup.
Before you use that advice though, consider the
ramifications of it being wrong or even dangerous;
how important IS that to you?
ALWAYS verify and confirm ANY advice from a
newsgroup!
Jo-Anne
news:O0Ow%23H$jKHA...@TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl...
> In news:uS0oqVyj...@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl,
> Jo-Anne <Jo-AnneATnowhere.com> typed:
>> I just bought a Toshiba netbook running WinXP SP3. It didn't come
>> with a CD containing the OS. What's the best way to get the CD (in
>> case of need later on)? Do I ask Toshiba for it or Microsoft?
>>
>> Thank you!
>>
>> Jo-Anne
>
> Yes. Toshiba should have all the utilities, drivers and OS disk that you
> need.
> Are you sure what you need isn't in a hidden folder on the hard drive?
>
> Check your docs, or the ones on their site, for you machine and how to
> restore it. If it's on-disk, there will be a way to make your own CDs.
>
> Twayne
>
>
used to create a recovery DVD. Vanguard found it for me. There was no
mention in the index to the manual, but it was in the table of contents. Now
all I have to do is get a DVD burner for my netbook.
Jo-Anne
Doum
=?Utf-8?B?QW50ZWF1cw==?= <Ant...@discussions.microsoft.com> �crivait
news:ADCEAA77-21B8-476B...@microsoft.com:
<snip>
>
> Alternatively, the Dell SP1 CD will probably be a more-or-less kosher
> copy of XP, in those days Dell more-or-less stuck to Microsoft's spec.
> An issue here is that you may need SP3 for the setup to work on a more
> recent PC. You can in fact slipstream SP3 with the contents of the
> Dell CD to make an up-to-date install CD. You can even include the
> drivers for your hardware, although these can be added after setup.
>
> A useful tool for making custom setup CDs:
> http://www.nliteos.com/
>
<snip>
>
> BTW, when installing XP, you often need to go into the BIOS settings,
> and change the SATA mode to legacy, or IDE mode. Otherwise the setup
> will freeze after the first reboot. (because the SATA driver has not
> yet been installed, but bare XP doesn't understand SATA)
>
>
While you slipstream SP3 you could also slipstream AHCI drivers (for SATA)
on your updated installation CD and you don't have to set SATA Mode to
Legacy in the BIOS.
HTH
Jo-Anne
Thank you, Anteaus! I think most of this is beyond my capabilities, but I've
done one reasonable thing: I've downloaded the Acronis imaging program from
the hard drive manufacturer's website and imaged the hard drive to an
external hard drive. I'll continue to do that regularly. I still need to get
a DVD burner, though, to create a Restore CD or to run one that I already
have.
Interestingly, the netbook I just bought from Toshiba didn't come with much
crapware. I uninstalled Norton right away but left Windows Media Player for
now. I don't know what I'll want to use--but I can always get rid of it, I
guess.
Thank you again!
Jo-Anne
"Anteaus" <Ant...@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:ADCEAA77-21B8-476B...@microsoft.com...
Jo-Anne
news:XnF9CFCD7D93DF...@207.46.248.16...
Thank you, Doum! As I mentioned to Anteaus, though, I'm not sure how capable
I am of doing some of this stuff. Maybe if someone were at my shoulder to
coach me...but the only person I know who could do that is, at the moment, a
continent away.
Jo-Anne