Filename: W95XCOPY.TXT
WWW URL: http://www.firmware.com/support/bios/w95xcopy.htm
FTP URL: ftp://ftp.firmware.com/text/w95xcopy.txt
Revision: 04/01/99 TLS Micro Firmware Technical Support
Summary: Detailed instructions for copying Windows 95 and all
programs and data from one hard drive to another.
In many cases, when installing a new hard drive, it may be desired to copy the entire contents of the older, smaller drive onto the newer, larger drive so that the new drive can be the master drive and so that the existing software installations can be preserved.
It is often preferable to take the opportunity to start fresh on the new drive and install the operating system and applications from scratch and then just copy over any needed data files. This would be the recommended approach, however it can be a time-consuming process and it may be difficult to locate all of the needed programs, drivers, data files, etc.
With DOS and Windows 3.11, it is easy to copy one drive to another using XCOPY. With Windows 95, the process is a little trickier, but the following instructions should normally work.
NOTE: We cannot guarantee that this process will work correctly on any given system. Microsoft does not support copying Windows 95 from one hard drive to another. Also, there are commercial programs available just for copying Windows 95 from one drive to another.
The following instructions require that the new drive is installed as the slave drive, the new drive is blank (or has no data that is needed - it will be wiped out), and both drives are correctly configured in CMOS SETUP.
Also - check the Device Manager to make sure that the hard drives involved are not in DOS Compatibility Mode. This could result in long filenames being lost which may cause various problems and may require Windows to be reinstalled.
The instructions are listed twice, first briefly, followed by a more thorough explanation of each step.
1. Create a Windows 95 Startup diskette. Or create a WIN95 boot disk
and copy FDISK.EXE and FORMAT.COM to the diskette.
2. Create a PRIMARY DOS partition on the new drive using FDISK /X.
3. Format the new drive using the FORMAT command - FORMAT D: /S
4. Boot system from drive C:
5. Use XCOPY as follows to copy files from old drive to new drive:
XCOPY C:\*.* D:\ /c/h/e/k/r . Answer Yes to overwrite questions.
6. Reverse the master/slave jumper settings and reconfigure the drives
in CMOS setup.
7. Boot from WIN95 diskette, use FDISK to make the partition on the
new drive active.
8. Remove diskette, boot from new drive. Verify that everything is
working OK.
1. Create a Windows 95 startup diskette. Or create a WIN95 boot disk
and copy FDISK.EXE and FORMAT.COM to the diskette.
A Windows 95 Startup disk is basically a boot disk with some essential tools on it. To create a Windows 95 startup disk, click on the Start button, click on Settings, click on Control Panel, double-click on Add/Remove Programs, click on the Startup Disk tab, click on Create Disk. This will create a startup disk on a blank 1.44MB diskette in drive A:. FDISK.EXE and FORMAT.COM will be included on this disk. This will be needed to make an active partition on the new drive after reversing master and slave. It is always a good idea to have several boot disks around for the operating system used on a PC.
2. Create a PRIMARY DOS partition on the new drive using FDISK /X.
Since the new drive will be the boot drive, it must have a primary partition. If the drive has already been partitioned with an extended partition, this must be removed so that a primary partition can be created. The partition is created with FDISK, which can be run from a DOS window. It is best to use the /X option with FDISK, unless the drive is over 8GB. Note that DOS (and WIN95) is limited to a 2GB partition size, so if the drive is larger than 2GB, an extended partition must be created after the primary partition and logical drives must then be created within the extended partition. After partitioning the drive with FDISK, the system must be rebooted.
3. Format the new drive using the FORMAT command - FORMAT D: /S
Open a DOS prompt window in Windows 95 (not MS-DOS mode). If the first drive has only one partition, then the new drive will be drive D:. Before using the format command, verify that you are not formatting an exsiting drive with data on it by typing D: (or appropriate drive letter) at DOS prompt. If you are trying to acces a drive that has been partitioned but not formatted, you should get an error message such as "Invalid media type" or "General failure reading drive D:". This means you have the right drive. If the prompt changes to the drive letter, type DIR to see if there are any files or directories there. After verifying that you are about to format the correct drive, use the format command like this:
It will take a few minutes to format. Then it will ask for a volume label. Just press ENTER.
FORMAT D: /S
4. Boot system from drive C:
If the system was booted from a diskette for the previous steps, reboot from the hard drive. If booted from a diskette, XCOPY may not use the new XCOPY32.
5. Use XCOPY as follows to copy files from old drive to new drive:
XCOPY C:\*.* D:\ /c/h/e/k/r . Answer Yes to overwrite questions.
After formatting the new drive, the XCOPY32 command is used to copy the contents of the old drive (currently master) to the new drive (currently slave). Under Windows 95, the XCOPY command is really XCOPY32, which has lots of new features. This command can be typed in to the RUN box on the Start Menu or at the DOS prompt in a DOS window. This command can not be used in "MS-DOS mode", since the new XCOPY32 will not work in DOS mode (the older XCOPY is used instead - even if you type XCOPY32, just like XCOPY32 is always used under WIN95, even if you type XCOPY). Type the command in like this:
(Substitute a different letter for D: if this not the right letter). After pressing ENTER, the files will begin copying. A few of the first files may stop with a message "Overwrite COMMAND.COM (Yes/No/All?)". Just type Y and the process will continue. You may also notice a message flying by when the swap file is encountered. That message looks like this:
XCOPY C:\*.* D:\ /c/h/e/k/r
If we did not use the /c switch, the process would end here and we would have to start over. The /c switch lets the process continue, so you may not even notice this message. This should be the only file that is not copied. This file will automatically be recreated when Windows 95 is first started on the new drive, so this message is of no concern. After all the files have copied, a messsage appears showing how many files were copied. You can verfiy that things went OK by noting this number and then typing CHKDSK at the C: prompt to see that all files were copied. You will need to add the Hidden files and User files together from the CHKDSK report. The number of files copied should be one less to account for the swap file.
Error copying file C:\WINDOWS\WIN386.SWP to D:\WINDOWS\WIN386.SWP
The process cannot access the file because it is being accessed
by another process.
6. Reverse the master/slave jumper settings and reconfigure the drives
in CMOS setup.
Consult drive documentation for correct jumper settings. All the major hard drive manufacturers have web sites with jumpering information on their drives. Note that the Gateway 2000 manual for Quantum hard drives (8501788 MAN US QTM UDMA ALL MODEL R0 3/97) shows an incorrect jumper setting on page 8. The correct setting for Slave is to remove all jumpers. It does not matter which connector on the cable either drive is plugged into. The system knows which drive is master and which is slave just by the jumper settings. After rejumpering both drives, they must both be reconfigured in CMOS setup. If using a Micro Firmware BIOS upgrade, CMOS setup is entered by pressing F2 just after turning the machine on. Enter the submenu for each drive, and press ENTER to autotype each drive.
7. Boot from WIN95 diskette, use FDISK to make partition on new drive
active.
After reconfiguring the drives in CMOS setup, it will be necessary to boot from the Windows 95 Startup Disk, created earlier. This is because the new drive does not yet have an active partition. (Attempting to boot from it now should give an error message such as "Operating sytem not found"). FDISK will not allow an active partition to be created on any drive except the first one. After booting from the diskette, type FDISK. If it asks if you want support for large drives, it doesn't matter what you answer. On the main menu screen in FDISK, Option 2 should be "Set active partition". There may also be a warning message at the bottom of the screen saying that no drives are set active. Press 2 and ENTER. On the Set Active Partition screen, there will be a question: "Enter the number of the partition that you want to make active...[ ]". Type 1 and press ENTER. Then press ESCAPE to exit back to the main menu. Then press ESCAPE (maybe twice) to exit FDISK.
8. Remove diskette, boot from new drive. Verify that everything is
working OK.
Then remove the boot disk and reboot the system. It should boot Windows 95 from the new hard drive and everything should look just like it did on the old drive. It may be wise to leave the old drive alone for awhile until you are sure that everything is working OK. At any point, the old drive can be formatted and can then be used to copy files onto for backup or programs can be installed there.
http://thef-nym.sci.kun.nl/~pieterh/copying-win95.html
http://www.westerndigital.com/service/tip0397.html
http://www.pcworld.com/hardware/storage_backup/articles/mar97/1503p248a.html
http://www.pcworld.com/hardware/storage_backup/articles/mar97/1503p248d.html