Copy Your Entire Hard Drive If Even If Windows Wont Boot

Firstly you need 2 drives for this,the source and the destination.
The destination needs to be as big as or larger than the source of course...

In DOS type xcopy source destination

This will copy the contents of your source drive to the destination..

Pretty bloody useful if you find yourself in a situation where windows wont boot.


I just read about this today and wanted to share it....

 

Then you have two drives that won't boot. I'd image (mirror) the drive to tinker with if I was trying to fix the "boot issue". Imaging the drive will get all the boot / disk info and all the files. If you're just looking for data, just copy the pertinent files and save some space / time. Plus if the boot issue was due to the original drive failing, you really saved yourself.

 

Yep. Main reason for the tool is to save the day. And the data. There have been times; it's one's only hope...

 

I didnt even know about XCOPY ..... Im on 98se and I was amazed when I tried it....

What this dos version doesnt have is a listing of all valid commands!!!

I tried these

Bill
Microsoft
test
Gates

None are valid.........

 

For those "new" to the command line:

https://www.computerworld.com/article/1582749/dos-lives-secrets-of-the-windows-command-prompt.html

(for a brief trip down memory lane)

 

Im not really NEW to DOS,I just would love knowing all the commands....

Like I typed LOCK and I quickly pressed CTRL-C to get out of there...... I dont know what that is and I dont wanna mess things up!

 

Every Known Windows Terminal, Command Prompt and PowerShell Command
https://www.majorgeeks.com/content/page/the_ultimate_list_of_every_known_command_prompt_command.html

 

Recently, I thought I would have to do this on a Win98SE system and buy a new one but then got the computer to work. I'd prefer to actually compress the contents using something like PKZip or DOSRAR. Then, I can copy to a smaller drive. This would be especially useful if using an intermediate drive such as a flash drive. One problem, though: long filenames: preserving them. In DOS mode, the LFNs will not be preserved. Interesting DOS programs - Full Index has a few LFN drivers for DOS, but I believe the compressor would have to support them.

 

To what end? What is it you are actually trying to accomplish? Wouldn't using the smaller drive negate the purpose given in your original post?

 

Sorry. The smaller drive could be an intermediate drive to put the contents on a larger drive, or, if the source drive is less than half full, its contents might fit on a somewhat smaller drive. Or, the contents can be compressed on the target drive using something like NTFS file system's compression or WinMount.

 

So, again...To what end? What is it you are actually trying to accomplish?