I'd boot to a BartPE CD and copy the files to an external HD if Win98 can't see the external HD.

Response to NightOwl's post:
I hate touching anything on that machine (hardware OR software), before I have a backup.  But I liike the second drive suggestion.  It'll be a fast copy destination and is relatively safe (does not touch the C: drive, no software to install). 

btw this machine is being replaced by a new Dell.

Questions:
Where do I get a Ghost 2003 boot floppy? 
Does the Ghost 2003 boot floppy require Ghost 2003 to be installed on the booted machine in order to do a Ghosting of the booted machine?
Will Ghost 10.0 read Ghost 2003 images? 

If I replace the CD drive with the drive I install, what jumper settings?  Slave or Master or Cable Select?

Once the new drive was in there, I'd copy the critical files before doing any Ghosting. 

cardinal23

Quote:

If you're not familiar with Ghost 2003 and making DOS boot floppies--then it will take some time to work your way through it.  

So, before going that route--firstly--do you have the DOS Ghost program file--*ghost.exe*?

Quote:

No--Ghost is on the floppy disk only.

Quote:

Apparently you are a user of Ghost 10--I presume you have the Recovery Disk for Ghost 10?

Ghost 10 will not allow you to boot the the Recovery Environment and create a backup image of your HDD using Ghost 10--but, the Recovery Environment has a 32-bit version of Ghost v8.2 (meaning it can only run if in some flavor of Windows)--and the Recovery Environment is using what's called WinPE (Windows Pre-installation Environment), which is a *flavor of Windows*.

If the system has USB controllers and ports to hook up to--then Ghost 10's Recovery Disk should detect and mount those controllers for use in the Recovery Environment.  So, if you hook up your Macally box, boot to the Recovery Environment--then you should be able to have access to that USB HDD.

You would have to keep your optical drive hooked up so you can boot to the Recovery Environment, and add the secondary HDD to one of the other IDE connectors if you still want to use an internal HDD.

To use the Ghost32 v8.2 program in the Ghost 10 Recovery Environment you access this program in the RE from the *Main Screen/Recover/Recover using legacy Ghost image* (its file name on the Recovery Disk is *RESTOREGHOST.EXE*).

You would select *Local > Disk > To Image*, then select the *source* HDD (the systems main HDD that you want to backup), then select the *destination* HDD (your USB HDD), you can then create a sub-directory on the destination HDD for your image (8 or less characters!) , name the image (best if 5 characters or less), and proceed.

Quote:

Depends on what, if any, other device is also attached and what its setting is.  If the other device is *cable select* then the drive you are adding should be also set to match, i. e. *cable select*.  If the other device is set manually to either *slave* or *master*, then the drive you are adding should also be *manually* set as well--to the other setting from the drive that's already there!

Basically--see what the optical drive's jumper setting is already at, and match it on the HDD you are adding--if you are replacing the optical drive with the added secondary HDD.

Brian, I am concerned about the difference between USB 1.0 and USB 1.1.  You are saying "USB 1".  I trust you know there are 2 USB 1's, 1.0 and 1.1.  Of course, I don't know yet whether this machine has 1.0 or 1.1 - and, as I"m saying, I don't know if it matters when using Bart.

Can it be any Bart?

It is my intention to immediately copy his "critical" files - namely Outlook Express, MS Word, and one more set, which I don't recall right now.  ONCE those are resting comfortably on the new PC, I will attempt to Ghost the old PC.

Question: If I boot a PC using a Ghost 2003 floppy, does Ghost need to be on that PC?  ro does the boot diskette have "enough" software on it to do a drive-to-drive clone?

cardinal23

Quote:

If you do not have Ghost 2003 installed on a Windows system so you can use its *Norton Ghost Boot Wizard* to create Ghost 2003 boot floppies for various uses--and you are not *into DOS* and have the skill set to simply create your own boot disks--the fastest way to get to DOS and use DOS Ghost 2003 would be the following (there will be no USB support, but there should be optical drive support):

1.  Using your Ghost 2003 installation CD disc, grab the *ghost.exe* and copy it to a separate formatted floppy (does not need to be a bootable floppy!).  *ghost.exe* is most likely found on the installation CD in this sub-directory:  *X:\Support\ghost.exe*  (where *X:\* is your optical drive's drive letter).

2.  If you do not already have a *Win98se* floppy boot disk, head over to

BootDisks.com

.

Choose the *Windows 98 OEM* file to download, execute the program file on a system with a floppy drive (it's okay if it's a WnXP system, etc.--the boot disk will be the original Win98 ERD (Emergency Recover Disk) regardless of the current OS and file system that you are using!), and supply a formatted floppy disk when requested.

3.  Boot the system with the Win98se boot disk.  At the A:\ prompt, eject the boot disk, and put in your other floppy with the *ghost.exe* file on it.  Type *ghost.exe* and you should have DOS Ghost up and running!

If you have installed a secondary HDD on the system, you can then save a Ghost image to that HDD.

cardinal23 wrote on Nov 24^th, 2006 at 9:51am:

I don't think it matters to BartPE. I'd use plain old BartPE rather than ReatogoXPE. Sometimes the latter won't boot on an old computer but that may be related to the number of plugins I'm using.

http://www.nu2.nu/pebuilder/

Use the A43 app included in BartPE to copy your data to the external HD.

Summary:
The situation: Old PC (Dell Dimension XPS T500MHz Pentium IIII MiniTower - purchased June 1999)running Windows 98 FIRST edition.  The PC has USB, but it is probably USB 1.0 (not 1.1, not 2.0) There are NO backups, so I don't want to do anything dangerous.  I don't want to open the case (if possible).  I don't want to install anything.  A new computer has been purchased.

The Goal:
TO copy some "critical" files to an external HDD. 

The plan:
I'll have 2 Bart CDs with me: The old one with A43 and the new Reatogo version.  I'll have 2 enclosures containing drives (a Macally and a Kingwin).

My hope / concern:
If Bart can see these enclosure / HDDs, I'm golden.  I'll copy my critical files there and then pull the HDD and read it on the new PC.  Perhaps I'll Ghost it (Ghost 10.0 over there).

Question: What is the likelihood that this plan will fail?  It could fail if neither Bart will boot.  It could fail if Bart boots and doesn't see my external drives.

Plans B and C:
B: Zip up the critical files to a series of 100MB Iomega disks.  I'll either tell Iomega to "span disks", if it will.  Otherwise, I'll use a Split program to spilt the Zip file into 100 MB chunks.  The big files are the OE files.

Thanks guys.  I veryu much appreciate the Rad community. David
C: Install a second drive in the box and copy from the first drive to the second drive.