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Curt Harms
05-12-2009, 9:22 PM
I'm trying to restore an disk image of XP. The image was created from an IDE drive. I'm trying to restore to a SATA drive installed as a RAID in the BIOS even though there's just one drive. RAID must be enabled per Western Digital. I restored the XP image, it'll start to boot then abort. What?? Oh, no SATA driver in the XP install:o. Can I do an XP repair installing a SATA driver and maintain existing programs & data, or will this require a complete reinstall? The other thought I had is to install a smaller IDE hard drive and run XP from it via a boot manager. I find myself not using windows that much but certain apps are Windows only, e.g. Quickbooks. The MoBo is a Gigabyte from 2004, SATA1

Thanks for any insights.

Curt

Don Abele
05-12-2009, 9:45 PM
Curt, I'm not sure what to tell you about restoring that image.

In theory, XP repair leaves data intact (as does the upgrade process). I'd make sure that the image you have is secure just in case the repair process eats the data though.

Another option - restore to an IDE drive, attach the SATA as a slave, add the driver to Windows (on the IDE drive) so windows can recognize the drive, then clone the IDE over to the SATA. Quite a few steps, but it should work.

BUT...you mention you don't use Windows much, only for specific programs. I run Windows on most of the machines in our house because it's there. But on MY personal machines I run Linux. For those Windows specific programs I use Wine to run them. Works great. A quick search of the database shows that it works for Quickbooks, Quickbooks Enterprise, and Quickbooks Pro.

Be well,

Doc

Tom Veatch
05-12-2009, 11:12 PM
...Oh, no SATA driver in the XP install:o. Can I do an XP repair installing a SATA driver and maintain existing programs & data, or will this require a complete reinstall? ...

I personally like keeping the OS and all application data on separate drives, so I like your suggestion of installing to a smaller IDE drive.

On a previous machine a few years ago, I installed to a SCSI RAID that wasn't supported by a bundled, native driver. That's a similar situation to what you report. If my memory isn't too fuzzy on the subject, there's a point early in the install/setup/repair process where it pauses to allow you to install non-native disk drivers. That's what I had to do or the drive wouldn't be recognized by the install process. You have to be watching the setup dialog pretty closely or you can miss the prompt to hit a function key (F2?) to install the necessary drivers. You SHOULD be able to use the "Repair" installation process to get your disk image installed and "repaired" if you install the proper drivers at that point of the reloading process.

With that said, when I've had problems with an installed OS, I've never been able to use the Repair process successfully. That's one of the major reasons I make every effort to keep data and system on physically separate drives.

Greg Peterson
05-12-2009, 11:17 PM
If you have an XP install disk, boot from it. At one point early on it will ask if you want to load any drivers. Hope that helps.

Curt Harms
05-13-2009, 2:03 AM
Curt, I'm not sure what to tell you about restoring that image.

In theory, XP repair leaves data intact (as does the upgrade process). I'd make sure that the image you have is secure just in case the repair process eats the data though.

Another option - restore to an IDE drive, attach the SATA as a slave, add the driver to Windows (on the IDE drive) so windows can recognize the drive, then clone the IDE over to the SATA. Quite a few steps, but it should work.

BUT...you mention you don't use Windows much, only for specific programs. I run Windows on most of the machines in our house because it's there. But on MY personal machines I run Linux. For those Windows specific programs I use Wine to run them. Works great. A quick search of the database shows that it works for Quickbooks, Quickbooks Enterprise, and Quickbooks Pro.

Be well,

Doc

Hmmmm:). I do believe I'll look into that. I haven't messed with Wine yet but it might be time. Thanks!

Curt

Curt Harms
05-13-2009, 2:08 AM
I personally like keeping the OS and all application data on separate drives, so I like your suggestion of installing to a smaller IDE drive.

On a previous machine a few years ago, I installed to a SCSI RAID that wasn't supported by a bundled, native driver. That's a similar situation to what you report. If my memory isn't too fuzzy on the subject, there's a point early in the install/setup/repair process where it pauses to allow you to install non-native disk drivers. That's what I had to do or the drive wouldn't be recognized by the install process. You have to be watching the setup dialog pretty closely or you can miss the prompt to hit a function key (F2?) to install the necessary drivers. You SHOULD be able to use the "Repair" installation process to get your disk image installed and "repaired" if you install the proper drivers at that point of the reloading process.

With that said, when I've had problems with an installed OS, I've never been able to use the Repair process successfully. That's one of the major reasons I make every effort to keep data and system on physically separate drives.

Thanks Tom. I generally do the same thing. There are a couple programs I didn't install and didn't bother to reinstall in my preferred way. I have a couple different options, just looking for the easiest one.

Chuck Stewart
05-13-2009, 9:38 AM
Every time I install a Sata drive with my soyo kt600 motherboard, it makes me install the drivers for sata before installing the operating system.You would think that the bios would hold some kind of memory for this but I guess not. Luckily I bought the board outright so it shipped with the motherboard disk so I searched the disk for the drivers and now have them stowed away on a floppy and just hit F2 or what ever it says in the beginning. Ide did not require this but I'm still sticking with the sata aka smaller cables, no jumper settings. I have not looked but heard the newer machines are not putting floppy drives in them and this is one time that it comes in handy. Can't remember if it gave me the option to insert a disc but I think not, but I'm not going to re-install just to find out.

David G Baker
05-13-2009, 10:07 AM
Chuck,
There have been times that I needed a floppy drive as well. I haven't done it yet but at some point I will check and see if there is a USB floppy drive available. I have several old computers that I go to when I need something copied that is on a floppy, I burn a CD with the info or use a memory stick.

Curt Harms
05-13-2009, 10:18 AM
Every time I install a Sata drive with my soyo kt600 motherboard, it makes me install the drivers for sata before installing the operating system.You would think that the bios would hold some kind of memory for this but I guess not. <snip> Can't remember if it gave me the option to insert a disc but I think not, but I'm not going to re-install just to find out.

Oh why not?:D:D. I have the CD that came with the MB which I inserted but the XP install program seems to only look on the a: drive. I did find the required driver that will fit on a floppy so that's the route I'll go. I did do some googling and found reference to "slipstreaming" the SATA driver onto a custom XP installation disk so the SATA driver will install seamlessly. That seems well above my competence level however.

Cliff Rohrabacher
05-13-2009, 3:11 PM
IDE and SATA?
I don't believe that an image from one will translate to the other.

Chuck Stewart
05-14-2009, 12:57 PM
Curt, Let me know if you were able to slipstream the sata driver on a custom made disk, sounds good but curious if the drive looks and goes for those files first. It reminded me of a little free program I got a while back that allowed me to make a custom XP pro disk and add all the service pack updates instead of re-downloading them after a new Windows install. Saved me a lot of time updating since my original disk came with service pack one. can't remember the name of the program as I'm at work but I recently had a chance to try it out and it worked flawlessly.

Curt Harms
05-14-2009, 1:16 PM
Curt, Let me know if you were able to slipstream the sata driver on a custom made disk, sounds good but curious if the drive looks and goes for those files first. It reminded me of a little free program I got a while back that allowed me to make a custom XP pro disk and add all the service pack updates instead of re-downloading them after a new Windows install. Saved me a lot of time updating since my original disk came with service pack one. can't remember the name of the program as I'm at work but I recently had a chance to try it out and it worked flawlessly.

Hi Chuck

I think this might be what you're talking about: http://www.nliteos.com/nlite.html. This sounds interesting but it doesn't help with images, just new installs. Still sounds like it'd be useful.

Curt

Don Abele
05-14-2009, 5:21 PM
I've used nlite for producing XP installs with all service packs preloaded and also for a VERY slimmed down version for my netbook. It works great, though the whole process is not as easy as I would have liked. Took a couple of attempts to get a working copy in each instance.

And you're right - it's only for modifying an original install disc.

Be well,

Doc

Chuck Stewart
05-15-2009, 11:08 AM
Curt, I think we may be getting away from your issue and this is not the solution but this is what I used for re-creating my original XP Pro with service pack 1 to service pack 2...it had to be easy or I'd never have been able to create it!! I wonder if it'll create a disk with SP3 and if that overrides all previous service packs? Maybe someday I'll try it.

http://www.simplyguides.net/guides/using_autostreamer/using_autostreamer.shtml


Also found in the same folder a program called Bart PE bootable for Windows CD/DVD...huh...where did that come from....

Frank Hagan
05-15-2009, 5:29 PM
Which imaging program are you using? I'm most familiar with ShadowProtect Desktop, which has a recovery environment that allows you to load new drivers. I don't know if Ghost or Acronis do this, but you might check.

Aaron Koehl
05-18-2009, 9:47 PM
I just bought a USB floppy drive about a month ago.. they had them in stock at Best Buy. If I recall, the sales associate looked at me like I had two heads when I asked him for it, and denied having anything like that. Fortunately, I checked online in the store locator before I showed up.

I use it for one of my digital pianos because it's faster than a MIDI transfer.