if boot.ini failed

This is an assumption but it is important to be ready.

If your boot.ini failed for some reason and you have a backup copy but you need to find a way to get into the C drive(system drive) to replace it. The recovery console only gain access to the driectory c:\winnt so it won't help. Safe mode(F8) will work but I don't know if I will be able to run safe mode with a bad boot.ini? I also am not sure about emergency boot disks, never used them before? a DOS bootdisk will access drive A but will it also access drive C?

 

Keep a current ERD (emergency repair disk).

If using FAT32, you can keep a copy on a boot floppy and can then stuff it on the Hd if you need it.

Also, if your PC will boot from a CD, that will take care of things.

Just in case the CD fails, you can further safegurad things by building a set of boot floppies. Take a look atQ197063 for specific instructions.

 

DOS boot will access C: as long as its format is not NTFS.

 

And you can also download a piece of software called ntfsdos I believe that you can copy onto a floppy boot disk, run it and it will recongise ntfs partitions in dos. Just an extra piece of info that may come in handy one day. It saved my ass once