A rchive Date
[ 11-06-2000 ]
Category
[ Information Technologies ]
sub-Categoy
[ Microsoft ]
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[Restoring your system after a complete hard drive failure
September 1999
Have you ever thought about what you would do in the event of a complete hard drive failure? If everything on your hard drive were wiped out, how would you go about restoring your system from your backup? Fortunately, if you use Windows 98's Microsoft Backup to back up your hard drive on a regular basis, and have a working Windows 98 Startup Disk, then you can easily restore your hard drive using the System Recovery Utility.
In this article, we'll show you how to use the Windows 98 Startup Disk to access the System Recovery Utility. We'll also show you how to restore your operating system and data files after a complete hard drive failure.
System recovery overview
When your hard drive fails, you may have to replace it with a brand new drive or you may be able to revive it with a low- or high-level format. Either way, you'll be able to use the System Recovery Utility to recover your operating system, applications, and data. Doing so is a three-step procedure. In the first step, you boot your system with the Windows 98 Startup Disk. Second, you run a special Windows 98 installation operation. Finally, you restore everything from your backup.
Getting started
To begin, insert your Windows 98 CD into the CD-ROM drive and your Windows 98 Startup Disk into your floppy drive. Then, insert your backup media into its drive. For example, let's suppose that you back up to tape. Insert the tape into the tape backup unit. Once you have done so, reboot your system.
Booting your system with the Windows 98 Startup Disk
When you reboot your system, you'll see the Microsoft Windows 98 Startup Menu. To continue, select option 1 and press [Enter] to start your computer with CD-ROM support. At this point, your computer will reboot and the Windows 98 Startup Disk will find and load a generic driver for your particular CD-ROM drive.
Once the Windows 98 Startup Disk locates a CD-ROM driver for your drive, it will start your computer, create a RAM drive, and copy a series of special diagnostic tools to the RAM drive.
You'll discover that your CD-ROM drive is one letter higher than it usually is. This is because the RAM drive now occupies the drive letter normally assigned to your CD-ROM drive. However, this change won't affect the restoration procedure for the original version of Windows 98. Furthermore, you won't need to worry about the contents of the RAM drive.
NOTE: A RAM drive is a special drive that uses the memory in your system (RAM) to simulate a disk drive. The Windows 98 Startup Disk contains a set of utilities stored in a compressed format that, when expanded, require more than 1.44 MB of disk space. To gain the necessary disk space, the Windows 98 Startup Disk creates a RAM drive; this gives plenty of expansion room so that the Startup Disk can load all of the utilities it needs to help you recover your system in an emergency.
Launching the System Recovery utility
Once your computer boots to a DOS prompt, type the letter assigned to your CD-ROM drive, followed by a colon. Then, press [Enter]. On our example system, we typed F: and pressed [Enter]. Next, use the CD command to change to the \Tools\Sysrec folder. For example, type CD \Tools\Sysrec. Now, type Pcrestor and press [Enter]. When you do, you'll see the introduction screen for the DOS version of the System Recovery Utility.
When you press a key, the Microsoft System Recovery utility will copy a few files and then immediately launch a special automated Setup script, which will then begin installing strategic portions of Windows 98. At this point, you can remove the Windows 98 Startup Disk from the floppy disk drive.
Re-installing a Windows 98 base
When the System Recovery utility installs Windows 98, it installs a generic version of the operating system that includes Microsoft Backup and the Control Panel. This entire procedure can take anywhere from 30 to 60 minutes to complete. The first half of the procedure is totally automated, so you won't have to respond to any prompts. This provides you with a good time to take a break. During the second half of the procedure, the Windows 98 Setup Wizard will prompt you to accept the license agreement and provide information including your product identification number, your username, and your password. The Windows 98 Setup Wizard will also detect your hardware and restart your system several times.
The System Recovery wizard makes its appearance
Once the Setup phase is complete, you'll see the System Recovery wizard. You'll now follow the System Recovery wizard's onscreen prompts to prepare your system for the restore operation.
Figure D: Once the Setup phase is complete, the System Recovery wizard makes its appearance.
When you click Next, you'll be prompted to provide your user information. Although you had to provide that same information earlier during the generic Setup phase, you must now provide it again. This is the information that Windows 98 displays on the General page of the System Properties dialog box.
After clicking the Next button, you'll see the final screen of the System Recovery wizard. At this point, you're ready to enter the restoration phase. During the hardware detection phase, Setup should have installed the drivers for your backup device and you should be all set to go. To continue, click the Finish button.
The restore operation
As soon as you click Finish, Microsoft Backup launches. When you see the Microsoft Backup dialog box, select the Restore Backed Up Files option, as shown in Figure G. Then, click OK.
Figure G: To begin the restore operation, select the Restore Backed Up Files option.
You'll then see the first screen of the Restore Wizard. Your backup device should be listed in the Restore From dropdown list. (If your backup device isn't listed in the Restore From dropdown list, see the sidebar "Re-installing your backup device drivers.") As soon as you click Next, Microsoft Backup will scan your backup media. After a few moments, Microsoft Backup will prompt you to select your backup set.
On our example system, we were restoring from a single full backup. However, if you've been performing incremental backups, you'll need to begin with the full backup. Then, you'll need to restore each of your incremental backup sets beginning with the oldest and progressing to the most recent incremental backup.
When you click OK, Microsoft Backup will prepare the catalog and then prompt you to select the items that you want to restore. To continue, click Next.
At this point, Microsoft Backup will prompt you to select where you want to restore the files. You should leave the default option (Original Location) in the Where To Restore dropdown list box and click the Next button. You'll then be prompted to select how you want to restore. You should select the Always Replace The File On My Computer option. Then, click the Start button at the bottom of the window.
Next, you'll then be prompted to ensure that your backup media is ready. When you do, Microsoft Backup will begin reading from your backup media.
If you selected the Backup The Registry option when you did your full backup, Microsoft Backup prompts you to restore the registry. Click Yes to continue.
Microsoft Backup will then prompt you to restore hardware and system settings. As long as you haven't added new hardware to or removed existing hardware from your system since your last backup of the registry, you should click Yes.
If your hardware configuration has changed since you last backed up the registry, (for instance, you may have had to replace your hard drive after the crash) click No. When you do, Microsoft Backup restores your software settings and leaves the hardware settings that were established during the generic installation operation in place.
At this point, Microsoft Backup will begin restoring your files. The restore operation will take at least an hour to complete.
Once the restore operation is finished, Microsoft Backup will prompt you to restart your system. When your system restarts, everything should appear as it did right before your hard drive failed.
Conclusion
If you experience a hard drive failure, you can recover your entire system using Windows 98's System Recovery Utility. In this article, we've shown you the steps you need to take to recover your entire system.
Copyright © 1999, ZD Inc. All rights reserved. ZD Journals and the ZD Journals logo are trademarks of ZD Inc. Reproduction in whole or in part in any form or medium without express written permission of ZD Inc. is prohibited. All other product names and logos are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners. ]
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