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#1
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A fast trick that did not work
Hi group,
Background; A friend has a Fujitsu Siemens laptop with an 80 GB HD. There are only abt 12 GB files and folders on it, but still Windows says there is only a handful GB free space on it. So there must be some crap taking up space. The drive has only one partition. Rather than having him find all installation files etc for a clean install I thought it may work to copy all his files and folders onto my PC and then format his drive, and finally copy everything back. Story and Q: I decided to try out my idea on an old laptop HD that I only use for experiments. It has 2 partitions with XP on the first. 1. I copied everything visible from the first partition onto another laptop. 2. Then I formated that first partition from within Windows of that other laptop. Only format, no messing with partitions at all. 3. Then I copied all those files back again. 4. When I plugged that HD in to the laptop where it previously worked fine it wouldl not boot at all. I am not entirely surprised, but I also don't really understand why it does not work. All the visible files are there. Maybe something hidden missing? Any clues? Lars Stockholm |
#2
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A fast trick that did not work
Lars wrote
Hi group, Lo groupy. Background; A friend has a Fujitsu Siemens laptop with an 80 GB HD. There are only abt 12 GB files and folders on it, but still Windows says there is only a handful GB free space on it. So there must be some crap taking up space. The drive has only one partition. Rather than having him find all installation files etc for a clean install I thought it may work to copy all his files and folders onto my PC and then format his drive, and finally copy everything back. Thats a very poor approach with Win. Story and Q: I decided to try out my idea on an old laptop HD that I only use for experiments. It has 2 partitions with XP on the first. 1. I copied everything visible from the first partition onto another laptop. 2. Then I formated that first partition from within Windows of that other laptop. Only format, no messing with partitions at all. 3. Then I copied all those files back again. 4. When I plugged that HD in to the laptop where it previously worked fine it wouldl not boot at all. You cant just copy Win around like that. I am not entirely surprised, but I also don't really understand why it does not work. Essentially because it doesnt doo the boot files properly. All the visible files are there. Maybe something hidden missing? Yes, the early boot stuff doesnt get setup properly with that sort of copy. Any clues? If you want to move win from one drive to another, you need to clone the drive, not just manually copy the files. I prefer to use Acronis True Image, but you can use any cloner and some are free. On the fundamental question of where the free space has gone, are you running Nortons on that system ? |
#3
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A fast trick that did not work
In article , Lars wrote:
Hi group, Background; A friend has a Fujitsu Siemens laptop with an 80 GB HD. There are only abt 12 GB files and folders on it, but still Windows says there is only a handful GB free space on it. So there must be some crap taking up space. The drive has only one partition. Rather than having him find all installation files etc for a clean install I thought it may work to copy all his files and folders onto my PC and then format his drive, and finally copy everything back. Story and Q: I decided to try out my idea on an old laptop HD that I only use for experiments. It has 2 partitions with XP on the first. 1. I copied everything visible from the first partition onto another laptop. 2. Then I formated that first partition from within Windows of that other laptop. Only format, no messing with partitions at all. 3. Then I copied all those files back again. 4. When I plugged that HD in to the laptop where it previously worked fine it wouldl not boot at all. I am not entirely surprised, but I also don't really understand why it does not work. All the visible files are there. Maybe something hidden missing? Any clues? Lars Stockholm You most likely wiped out his factory restore partition. |
#4
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A fast trick that did not work
All the visible files are there. Maybe something hidden missing? Any clues? You most likely wiped out his factory restore partition. Hidden files and folders, show hidden files and folders, off by default, in Control Panel settings. The operating system and BIOS work together, so although the OS might be able to be transplanted there is no guarantee that it will work, or be as good as a fresh install, (or restore from an image if you haven't an install disk, only a recovery disk, or a hidden ecovery partition). |
#5
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A fast trick that did not work
Lars wrote:
Hi group, Background; A friend has a Fujitsu Siemens laptop with an 80 GB HD. There are only abt 12 GB files and folders on it, but still Windows says there is only a handful GB free space on it. So there must be some crap taking up space. The drive has only one partition. Rather than having him find all installation files etc for a clean install I thought it may work to copy all his files and folders onto my PC and then format his drive, and finally copy everything back. What file system is he using with his drive? FAT? And if so, does he have a ton of little files rather than a smaller number of big files? Story and Q: I decided to try out my idea on an old laptop HD that I only use for experiments. It has 2 partitions with XP on the first. 1. I copied everything visible from the first partition onto another laptop. 2. Then I formated that first partition from within Windows of that other laptop. Only format, no messing with partitions at all. 3. Then I copied all those files back again. 4. When I plugged that HD in to the laptop where it previously worked fine it wouldl not boot at all. The days of doing a simple copy and restore are over when it comes to boot disks. You should never treat your boot disks so callously. If you had an old laptop drive with just data on it, then it's fine. For the boot disk you need to copy with special boot disk utilties, such as BootItNG or XXClone, which are both free or shareware. Acronis True Image was also mentioned. It's probably too late now, you'll have to reinstall the OS on that drive from its original CD, and then reinstall all of the applications on it again. Yousuf Khan |
#6
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A fast trick that did not work
"Rod Speed" wrote:
You cant just copy Win around like that. I am not entirely surprised, but I also don't really understand why it does not work. Essentially because it doesnt doo the boot files properly. Perhaps with Vista, but with WinXP, the boot files (ntldr, NTdetect.com, and boot.ini) *can* be copied around like that. It's the partition and file tables that can't be copied around because their entries depend on physical locations. So, Lars blirde vörfukt. *TimDaniels* |
#7
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A fast trick that did not work
On Jul 16, 11:21*am, Lars wrote:
Hi group, Background; A friend has a Fujitsu Siemens laptop with an 80 GB HD. There are only abt 12 GB files and folders on it, but still Windows says there is only a handful GB free space on it. So there must be some crap taking up space. The drive has only one partition. Rather than having him find all installation files etc for a clean install I thought it may work to copy all his files and folders onto my PC and then format his drive, and finally copy everything back. How much total disk space Windows explorer could see? There may be a hidden partition. Many laptop vendors nowsaday store copies of OS backups onto laptop HDD's, in hidden partitions. In case customers screw up their OS and call the tech supports, the later could just ask the users to invoke a restore program to restore the OS back to day-one status. Use a partition manager to check if there is a hidden partition. Partition Magic, or Acronis Disk Director are good commercial partition managers. If you want freebies, just google "free partition manager". Story and Q: I decided to try out my idea on an old laptop HD that I only use for experiments. It has 2 partitions with XP on the first. 1. I copied everything visible from the first partition onto another laptop. 2. Then I formated that first partition from within Windows of that other laptop. Only format, no messing with partitions at all. 3. Then I copied all those files back again. 4. When I plugged that HD in to the laptop where it previously worked fine it wouldl not boot at all. I am not entirely surprised, but I also don't really understand why it does not work. All the visible files are there. Maybe something hidden missing? Any clues? You did not know what you were doing. Luckily you tried on your old HDD, instead of your friend's HDD. Even in the 80's when people use MS DOS, your experiment would fail. Not to mention Winows 3.1, Win95, Win98, Win-ME, NT3.5, NT4, Win2000, XP, ..., etc where copying files back-and-forth would not preserve the bootability of HDD partitions after formatting them. Start to use backup/restore programs today. Acronis True Image is my favorite; some people use Norton Ghost and etc.There are freebies as well; just google them. Good luck. |
#8
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A fast trick that did not work
Timothy Daniels wrote
Rod Speed wrote You cant just copy Win around like that. I am not entirely surprised, but I also don't really understand why it does not work. Essentially because it doesnt do the boot files properly. Perhaps with Vista, but with WinXP, the boot files (ntldr, NTdetect.com, and boot.ini) *can* be copied around like that. Thats not what the problem is. It's the partition and file tables that can't be copied around No such animal. because their entries depend on physical locations. Wrong, as always. So, Lars blirde vörfukt. You one of those wogchildren ? |
#9
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A fast trick that did not work
Previously, on Usenet Harry wrote:
How much total disk space Windows explorer could see? Reasonable, about 76 GB I think. As normal after format. There may be a hidden partition. Well if it is hidden then it is hidden and that space would not be visible in Windows at all. Use a partition manager to check if there is a hidden partition. Partition Magic, or Acronis Disk Director are good commercial partition managers. If you want freebies, just google "free partition manager". Yes I know about those. I was short of time but next time I get my hands on that Fujitsu I will have my fancy bootable USB stick along, with both ADD and PM on it. You did not know what you were doing. Like I said, I tried a fast trick and it did not work. I have a bunch of computers myself and double as many HD's. I clone and transplant and know quite a bit, but I always want to find out the details of why and why not. Even in the 80's when people use MS DOS, your experiment would fail. Not to mention Winows 3.1, Win95, Win98, Win-ME, NT3.5, NT4, Win2000, XP, ..., etc where copying files back-and-forth would not preserve the bootability of HDD partitions after formatting them. I thought the boot sector was not touched when formating in Windows, but that was obviously wrong. Start to use backup/restore programs today. Acronis True Image is my favorite; some people use Norton Ghost and etc. I have all of those and have used Ghost since it first came on the market some ten yars ago. But that is not was I was asking about anyway. I certainly did do a Ghost image of the C: partitiion of my experiment drive before formating it. But it would be counter productive on my friends drive. There is crap on I want to get rid of, that is the whole point of the operation. Thanks for replies. But please gentlemen, stick to the subject. Lars Stockholm |
#10
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A fast trick that did not work
Lars wrote
Harry wrote How much total disk space Windows explorer could see? Reasonable, about 76 GB I think. As normal after format. There may be a hidden partition. Well if it is hidden then it is hidden and that space would not be visible in Windows at all. Use a partition manager to check if there is a hidden partition. Partition Magic, or Acronis Disk Director are good commercial partition managers. If you want freebies, just google "free partition manager". Yes I know about those. I was short of time but next time I get my hands on that Fujitsu I will have my fancy bootable USB stick along, with both ADD and PM on it. You did not know what you were doing. Like I said, I tried a fast trick and it did not work. I have a bunch of computers myself and double as many HD's. I clone and transplant and know quite a bit, but I always want to find out the details of why and why not. Even in the 80's when people use MS DOS, your experiment would fail. Not to mention Winows 3.1, Win95, Win98, Win-ME, NT3.5, NT4, Win2000, XP, ..., etc where copying files back-and-forth would not preserve the bootability of HDD partitions after formatting them. I thought the boot sector was not touched when formating in Windows, That is correct. but that was obviously wrong. Nope. The problem isnt the boot sector. Start to use backup/restore programs today. Acronis True Image is my favorite; some people use Norton Ghost and etc. I have all of those and have used Ghost since it first came on the market some ten yars ago. But that is not was I was asking about anyway. I certainly did do a Ghost image of the C: partitiion of my experiment drive before formating it. But it would be counter productive on my friends drive. Nope, that does allow you to recover from some ****up you do. There is crap on I want to get rid of, that is the whole point of the operation. Yes, but thrashing around like you are doing wont do that. Thanks for replies. But please gentlemen, stick to the subject. You wouldnt know what the real subject was if it bit you on your lard arse. |
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