[bnkrbrkr]

Upgraded W2k to XPPro.Backed up C drive to E drive. Complete backup took over an hour. Tried to keep the old system on the computer but eventually had to format c drive to get it to boot up properly. Now have the following problems.
1. No sound…Audigy software not supported by XP…I will look for new driver.
2. Unable to locate some Excel files that were on my old desk top.
3. Missing many Audio files
4. Printer not working I will look for new driver.

Items 1&4 I believe I can solve but if you have any advice pls let me have it. . I need some help with the missing files.
I have located 2 files which were modified @ the time of the install…they are

D:\WINNT BAK FILE 3,690kb created 8/14/08 12:51PM modified 8/12/09 5:24PM
D:\WINNT CDF FILE 3,690kb created 8/14/08 12:51PM modified 8/12/09 5:24PM

There are two files that are identical to the above in C drive and created on the 13th which I believe are from the installation of XP

I think the missing files are in the D drive Bak but how do I get them out. I have read some of the restore info(huh?) on this site but need step by step guidance. The missing files are important to me so I do not want to screw this up. Is there some way to open these files and only get what I need? I am happy with the XP install except as noted above.

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If you backed up your data to E drive, then you should be able to execute XP's backup utility to restore your files. Now the question is... will the XP backup utility restore Win2k backup files? I don't use the XP backup utility, but you can reference THIS page to read about how it works. If you somewhat followed the backup procedure while in Win2k, then you might be able to recover. A lot will depend on what files you specified to back up. I wish you luck in restoring as I know how important these files are to you.

Beyond whether or not you will be able to restore your files, the better way to back up your data is just to create a folder(s) on your E drive, and copy your files there. Since you are backing up manually, you will need to keep this up, but it's way more effective than depending on Windows to do this for you. The reason I say this is because you can't always depend on Windows to do this correctly 100% of the time, and the backup utility will normally also store junk, thus making your backup size larger than it needs to be. This is the reason I don't use the backup utility... and the fact that I don't trust Windows to not cause problems!

Good luck!
makai

[makai]

If you backed up your data to E drive, then you should be able to execute XP's backup utility to restore your files. Now the question is... will the XP backup utility restore Win2k backup files? I don't use the XP backup utility, but you can reference THIS page to read about how it works. If you somewhat followed the backup procedure while in Win2k, then you might be able to recover. A lot will depend on what files you specified to back up. I wish you luck in restoring as I know how important these files are to you.

Beyond whether or not you will be able to restore your files, the better way to back up your data is just to create a folder(s) on your E drive, and copy your files there. Since you are backing up manually, you will need to keep this up, but it's way more effective than depending on Windows to do this for you. The reason I say this is because you can't always depend on Windows to do this correctly 100% of the time, and the backup utility will normally also store junk, thus making your backup size larger than it needs to be. This is the reason I don't use the backup utility... and the fact that I don't trust Windows to not cause problems!

Good luck!
makai

[bnkrbrkr]

Thanks Makai...I really need to know more details about the XP restore procedure and how it would handle W2k files...more research needed. Or I could install W2k on a spare clean drive I have or a removeable 8Gb drive or set up a separate partition but that seems risky to me. Guess Ill just see if I can install windows 2k by removing the XP drives and installing W2k on a clean drive.

Once accomplished what files are needed, Bak and CDF, and where to place them? This seems to be the safest way.

[makai]

As stated, I don't use the windows backup utility so I really don't know what you'll need. I would think that you wouldn't need anything though, as the utility should restore from the location you backed up to on E drive.

As for the WINNT.BAK and CDF files, I don't know what they relate to. Winnt is used when you install windows, so it's not surprising files would be created (or modified) when you installed XP. However, I really can't say if they're related to your backup. And rather than give you wrong information, as I don't use the utility, I'm not going to pretend to know what these files are in relation to your backup.

If you haven't already done so, you should try running the XP utility. You have nothing to lose at this point as you already formatted your C drive and I'm sure the utility will prompt you.