Backing up the "factory-direct" hard drive

I used the following process and a parallel port zip drive to back up my Libretto 50's "factory-direct" hard drive (the drive when I first received the machine, BEFORE Windows 95 installed itself) onto 3 zip disks.

This MUST be the FIRST thing done. (Once Windows installs itself, there will be long filenames to contend with.)

I used another machine to create a DOS (version 6.20) boot diskette by running the command
SYS A:
This copies the DOS file COMMAND.COM and the hidden DOS system files IO.SYS and MSDOS.SYS to the diskette, making it bootable.

I then copied onto this diskette the DOS files ATTRIB.EXE, CHKDSK.EXE, FDISK.EXE, FORMAT.COM and XCOPY.EXE, as well as the Zip files ASPIPPM1.SYS, ASPIPPM2.SYS, GUEST.EXE, GUEST.INI, NIBBLE.ILM, and NIBBLE2.ILM (I got these Zip files by downloading and unzipping ftp://ftp.iomega.com/pub/flpy52.exe) and the file ZCOPY.EXE (I got this file by downloading and unzipping http://www.xs4all.nl/~cbuijs/files/zcopy35.exe). I then edited GUEST.INI, deleting all the "ASPI=" lines except the two lines beginning with "ASPI=ASPIPPM*.SYS".

I then put on the mini port replicator, plugged in the PMCIA floppy drive with my newly-created DOS boot diskette in it, plugged in a parallel port zip drive, plugged in the power cord, and turned on the machine.

I held down the ESC key until I saw the message "Check system. Then press [F1] key.", then I pressed the F1 key. This got me into the BIOS setup, where I checked the Boot Priority (it was FDD->HDD) and the parallel port status (it was LPT1(378H/IRQ7) Std. Bi-Direct.). I then pressed ESC, then Y to exit the BIOS setup. The memory test ran, then the floppy drive spun up and DOS was loaded.

I then ran the following commands (all from the A: drive).

DIR C:\ /A /S
This finds all files in C:\ and all its subdirectories, including directories and hidden and system files. (There were 2456 files in 252,336,106 bytes.)

GUEST
This establishes a drive letter for the zip drive. (It was "D".)

DEL D:\*.*
I ran this on three zip disks (since even new zip disks seem to contain some files).

ZCOPY C:\*.* D:\ /S /F
This copies all files in C:\ and all its subdirectories (including hidden and system files and empty subdirectories), and spans zip disks.

Disk 1 required about 1.25 hours, Disk 2 about 0.5 hours and Disk 3 about 1.5 hours. ZCOPY reported that it had copied ? directories and 2174 files in 264,421 KB at 22 KB per second.

DIR D:\ /A /S
I ran this on the three zip disks. Zip disk #1 had 1088 files in 99,278,666 bytes, Zip disk #2 had 712 files in 99,598,644 bytes, and Zip disk #3 had 668 files in 53,458,796 bytes, for a total of 2468 files in 252,336,106 bytes.

Note that there are 12 more files reported on the zip disks than on the C: drive. This is because Disks 1 and 2 split the D:\WINDOWS\HELP (and hence D:\WINDOWS) directories, and Disks 2 and 3 split the D:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM (and hence D:\WINDOWS) directories, so the zip disks include 4 "extra" directories. Since DIR reports 3 files for each directory (the directory itself, and the "." and ".." subdirectories) this results in an overcount of 12 files.

I then removed the diskette from the floppy drive and restarted the machine, at which point Windows 95 installed itself. I then opened "Create System Disks" and created a "Windows 95 Startup Diskette".

Restoring the "factory-direct" hard drive

I used the following process and a parallel port zip drive to restore my Libretto 50's "factory-direct" hard drive (the drive when I first received the machine, BEFORE Windows 95 installed itself) from 3 zip disks.

I put on the mini port replicator, plugged in the PMCIA floppy drive with my DOS boot diskette in it, plugged in a parallel port zip drive, plugged in the power cord, and turned on the machine.

I held down the ESC key until I saw the message "Check system. Then press [F1] key.", then I pressed the F1 key. This got me into the BIOS setup, where I checked the Boot Priority (it was FDD->HDD) and the parallel port status (it was LPT1(378H/IRQ7) Std. Bi-Direct.). I then pressed ESC, then Y to exit the BIOS setup. The memory test ran, then the floppy drive spun up and DOS was loaded.

I then ran the following commands (all from the A: drive).

FORMAT C:
This formats the C: drive.

GUEST
This establishes a drive letter for the zip drive. (It was "D".)

ZCOPY D:\*.* C:\ /S
I ran this on all three zip disks. This copies all files on the disks (including hidden and system files and empty subdirectories) to the C: drive.

I then put the "Windows 95 Startup Diskette" in the floppy drive and ran
SYS C:
This copies the system files to C:, making it a bootable drive. (Note: SYS must also do something else, since those files were already on C:, but the machine would not boot without this last step. If you know what else happens, please let me know!)

I then removed the diskette from the floppy drive and restarted the machine, whereupon Windows 95 installed itself.

Legal disclaimer 1: I can't guarantee that the above process will work for you.

Legal disclaimer 2: I made the backup disks for my personal use only. Please don't request copies, as supplying them would fall too close to software piracy for my comfort.

This page was last edited on 3/15/98.