Copy your entire hard drive even if windows won't 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

in DOS type xcopy source destination
this will copy the contents of your source drive to the destination..
pretty useful if you find yourself in a situation where windows wont boot.

See the included pic for an example

 

Wow um... that's some quality information there.

Although since more people are using windows XP every day, it's less likely they will have the proper access to the fully functional DOS.

... why did you start this thread?

 

That is good information. For those with an older machine, and a copy of MS-Dos.

 

Some switches that you can use with the xcopy command..
and you can still boot up your PC in DOS if you have windows XP

/a Copies files with the archive attribute set. This switch does not change the attribute.
/m Copies files with the archive attribute set, and turns off the archive attribute.
/d:date Copies files changed on or after the specified date.
/p Prompts you before creating each destination file.
/s Copies folders and subfolders except empty ones.
/e Copies any subfolder, even if it is empty.
/v Verifies each new file.
/w Prompts you to press a key before copying.

 

Wow Im on 98se and I didnt even know about XCOPY .. I just opened a command prompt and typed "XCOPY" and I couldnt believe it!!

Does anyone know how to find every possible DOS command?? (LIke secret stuff... To me XCOPY was secret cause I hadnt ever used it!!!)

Very nice!!

 

Simply typing HELP at the command prompt give a list of commands available, typing Help "Command" give some details about how to use that command.

 

I guess my DOS version didnt have HELP added yet........ When I type HELP it says invalid.......

Strange....... You would think they would have included a list of commands from the first DOS shell on win 95!! (Or was it 3.1??)


I have tried stuff like

Gates
microsoft
bill
test

To see if they were valid but they arent.......

 

Clonezilla is a better modern option, especially if you use Windows 10 or Windows 11.

 

I hear ya buddy...

 

I use clonezilla (clonezilla-live-3.1.2-22-amd64.iso) on a Live USB thumb drive to create a mirror-image clone of my boot drive(s).

 

PS: I use Linux 99% of the time

 

I tried LInux 1 time,it confused me like Win3.1 did...... I found a 3.1 emulator online here and it was totally confusing!!

If 3.1 wasnt really "WINDOWS",could you get online with it??

 

THat's even better ... If more people would give up Microsloth Windoze, the world would be a happier place.

I'm pretty much a distro-hopper, but I tend to stick with Debian based distros

 

Windows 3.1 and 3.11 for Workgroups required a special plug-in to be able to access the Internet.

The majority of internet services run on Unix or Unix-like systems, primarily Linux. Most web servers, DNS servers, mail servers, and database systems operate on Linux or BSD-based systems because of their stability, security, and scalability.

For example:

• Web servers: Apache, Nginx, and Caddy mostly run on Linux.
  
  
• DNS servers: BIND, Unbound, and PowerDNS are Unix-based.
  
  
• Mail servers: Postfix, Exim, and Sendmail are Unix-based.
  
  
• Database servers: MySQL, PostgreSQL, and MongoDB often run on Linux.
  
  
• Cloud infrastructure: Amazon Web Services (AWS), Google Cloud, and Microsoft Azure heavily rely on Linux-based virtual machines.
  

 

Thank you for that!!!!

 

3 months ago, I started using (LinuxMint) LMDE6 (Linux Mint Debian Edition 6) which is based on Debian instead of Ubuntu X.X. Seems faster, less effort to install. I use it for pretty much everything.

 

Do ya see alot of spam ads on Linux??

 

Probably depends on your browser settings. Email would probably be the same as before.

 

Spam or the lack thereof in NOT the function of the Operating System, no matter what Microsoft tells you.
If you browse safely, and use ad blockers, you are probably pretty safe. But if you frequent sites with enough malware, you are likely to get your browser hijacked.
The same with Emails. If you open or respond to suspicious Emails, you are likely to have problems.

Linux is a safe O/S as long as you are a responsible User. Linux isolates teh system from the User Interface making it less likely that someone can place a virus into your filesystem.
While windows does not isolate it's system files. Once you log in, if you have admin level access to your own system, windows is vulnerable.

 

Close to never. And only via gmail.