Restoring the registry

[Anthony Buckland]

I recently had to rebuild C: from scratch, which included restoring
the directory from tape along with a full file restore. Everything
went well, but I've wondered since whether this should be
credited to good design in Colorado Backup (which notes the
restoration of the registry so I can notice I should restart), or
would have worked with just a simple-minded copy from whatever
backup medium I used.

That is, can SYSTEM.DAT and USER.DAT be restored at any old time
during a full file restore, say from multiple DVD's, or do they
need to be restored first, or last, so that their numerous
references to other files will all work? (Clearly, I'm a
registry newbie with a healthy fear of screwing the thing.)

[PCR]

The order wouldn't matter. But, should you attempt to boot before you've
restored the Registry files, who knows what could happen? Therefore, do
them first, if you can. (And STILL don't boot until you've got the rest.
I guess that too would be a mess.) Naturally, the folder System/User.dat
go into... C:\WINDOWS... would have to be there.

BUT, (although you have apparently been successful)...

MSBackup is visually impressive & certainly has endless docs. But it is
a poor tool for a full system backup. It has a 2 GB file size
limitation, (well, maybe it's 4 GB). You will not upgrade to a new OS
with it, as it is incompatible with other versions of itself. (Someone
did say you may install the old version to the new system, though.)
Also, you will go nuts trying to do incrementals, archive bits, etc.,
I'm sure. To do a full system restore from it, you need to fresh install
Windows first. (But Fuzzy Logic says no, per one of the following URLs.)
And there is tweaking involved. It WON'T be pretty. Take a look at...
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;[LN];Q166172
Duplicating Windows 95/98/98 Second Edition Installation to a New Hard
Disk
http://support.microsoft.com:80/support/kb/articles/q187/5/26.asp
How to Restore Windows 98 from a Full System Backup
....or that, which still is a ton of potential trouble, & do you have a
"pcrestor"? Well, perhaps get it from this ton of additional
documentation...
http://www.vanwijk.com/-=%20Bookz%20=-/Special%20Edition%20Using%20Windows%2098/ch10/ch10.htm
Special Edition Using Windows 98 -10- Backing Up Your Data


Once you have a functioning system, especially one close to a clean
install, do a full system backup. If you have multiple partitions, I
guess a backup is a bit more complex. It depends upon the ties between
the Registry & the other partitions, as to whether they must be backed
up concurrently. Also, if you've changed the hardware since the backup,
you may need to change it back before a restore.

http://home.satx.rr.com/badour/index.html Backup & partitioning strategy
http://home.wanadoo.nl/geurt/home.html Extended Operating System Loader
http://powerquest.com/driveimage/ Drive Image
http://www.acronis.com/products/trueimage/ TrueImage
http://www.arjsoftware.com ARJ Archiver
http://www.betterbackup.com/ Retrospect CD Backup
http://www.bootitng.com/ 's BootIt NG, has a variety of backup
capabilities: Copy to HDD, or Image to HDD or to CD. (TBIView, freely
downloadable, can retrieve individual files from an Image.)
Shrink/expand your partitions without data loss. Multi-boot, if you
dare. Free, run from floppy, but pay up as I did if satisfied. To
install & use beyond 30 days, $34.95.
http://www.cdrfaq.org/ CD R/W Backup
http://www.cyberiapc.com/backup.htm MyOwnBackup (MOB) (Free)
http://www.han-soft.com/habt.php Auto Backup (30-day free trial)
http://www.hp.com/cgi-bin/cposupport/swdl.pl?c=co105&i=co105en&p=hpcdwriter2
Simple Backup
http://www.karenware.com/ PtReplicator (Free)
http://www.lifesaverbackup.com/
http://www.mvps.org/links.html Should have good info
http://www.pcmag.com/ Lots & lots of sturdy downloads. There is a $20
yearly charge now.
http://www.powerquest.com/partitionmagic Partition Magic
http://www.ranish.com/part/ Ranish Partition Manager
http://www.rescue-me.net/gold.html
http://www.simtel.net/pub/dl/58307.shtml Backups
http://www.stompinc.com/bump/bump_details.phtml?stp Backup MyPC
http://www.thirdstar.net/thirdstar_datarecovery.htm Data recovery
http://www.tomsterdam.com/ BU process, performance, etc.
http://www.v-com.com/product/pc_ind.html Partition Commander
http://www.veritas.com Backup apps
http://www.xxcopy.com/ Detailed Procedure Copy (Free)
http://www.zeleps.com/ Partition re-sizer (Free)

All gathered at this site. Whichever you choose, approach it carefully
and verify all is well. After making a copy, run Scandisk/Defrag on it.
If it's an Image, use it's verify option; perhaps, restore it and do a
Scandisk/Defrag.

http://www.pchelpandconsulting.com/links/windows.html WinDrvExpert
http://www.jermar.com/wdrvbck.htm WinDrvBckup free version

Those last two supposedly back up all currently installed drivers, such
that they can be reinstalled. I never tried it but have seen a favorable
report/two.


--
Thanks or Good Luck,
There may be humor in this post, and,
Naturally, you will not sue,
should things get worse after this,
PCR

"Anthony Buckland" > wrote in message
...
| I recently had to rebuild C: from scratch, which included restoring
| the directory from tape along with a full file restore. Everything
| went well, but I've wondered since whether this should be
| credited to good design in Colorado Backup (which notes the
| restoration of the registry so I can notice I should restart), or
| would have worked with just a simple-minded copy from whatever
| backup medium I used.
|
| That is, can SYSTEM.DAT and USER.DAT be restored at any old time
| during a full file restore, say from multiple DVD's, or do they
| need to be restored first, or last, so that their numerous
| references to other files will all work? (Clearly, I'm a
| registry newbie with a healthy fear of screwing the thing.)
|

[Jeff Richards]

A full restore using a Windows application is a tricky task, and the
Colorado software has a number of design features that make it possible,
including the special processing of the registry files that you noticed.
The exact point in the process at which it occurs is critical - too early
and the matching files that the registry expects to see won't be there, too
late and the system might be executing critical tasks with the default
(inappropriate) registry values.

Other backup strategies avoid the problem by doing the restore from a DOS
boot, which is pretty close to a 'clean' machine as far as Windows is
concerned. Of course, this raises issues of its own, such as exactly what
backup devices can be supported from a DOS boot.
--
Jeff Richards
MS MVP (Windows - Shell/User)
"Anthony Buckland" > wrote in message
...
>I recently had to rebuild C: from scratch, which included restoring
> the directory from tape along with a full file restore. Everything
> went well, but I've wondered since whether this should be
> credited to good design in Colorado Backup (which notes the
> restoration of the registry so I can notice I should restart), or
> would have worked with just a simple-minded copy from whatever
> backup medium I used.
>
> That is, can SYSTEM.DAT and USER.DAT be restored at any old time
> during a full file restore, say from multiple DVD's, or do they
> need to be restored first, or last, so that their numerous
> references to other files will all work? (Clearly, I'm a
> registry newbie with a healthy fear of screwing the thing.)
>

[Brian A.]

"Jeff Richards" > wrote in message
...

> Of course, this raises issues of its own, such as exactly what backup
> devices can be supported from a DOS boot.

Just about any device that you can get the drivers on the media for the
device to be used. USB, LPT, TCP/IP, SCSI/ASPI, Firewire and CD/DVD, and
then of course the Hard drive. Although I don't know if Colorado aka Eagle
aka Seagate can utilize all of them, they can utilize CD/DVD, Tape and the
HD. Ghost on the other hand uses them all.


--

Brian A.

Conflicts start where information lacks.
http://www.dts-l.org/goodpost.htm

[Anthony Buckland]

Thanks for all the replies.

It sounds safer to stick with what I have tried once and found
true:
- restore the factory state of the hard drive
- install Colorado backup
- do a full restore from tape
- deinstall, and reinstall, Colorado backup (to clean up the
small problem of having it restore itself on top of itself
during the full restore)

But I certainly have plenty of sources to go to now for alternatives
(now that I have a DVD-RW drive, I intend to do a full save on DVD;
I would have lost a _lot_ if the tape, drive or restore process
from tape had failed). Even a DVD of My Documents would achieve a
lot, although losing all that stuff that software insists on storing
in Program Files and Windows -- grrr.

[PCR]

You are welcome. You did well probably, BUT it can be a lot easier. Get
something that will copy or image the entire system as it is now in
maybe 15 minutes or so. OK, then.


--
Thanks or Good Luck,
There may be humor in this post, and,
Naturally, you will not sue,
should things get worse after this,
PCR

"Anthony Buckland" > wrote in message
...
| Thanks for all the replies.
|
| It sounds safer to stick with what I have tried once and found
| true:
| - restore the factory state of the hard drive
| - install Colorado backup
| - do a full restore from tape
| - deinstall, and reinstall, Colorado backup (to clean up the
| small problem of having it restore itself on top of itself
| during the full restore)
|
| But I certainly have plenty of sources to go to now for alternatives
| (now that I have a DVD-RW drive, I intend to do a full save on DVD;
| I would have lost a _lot_ if the tape, drive or restore process
| from tape had failed). Even a DVD of My Documents would achieve a
| lot, although losing all that stuff that software insists on storing
| in Program Files and Windows -- grrr.
|