Making backup software for Me.

A friend gave me a Dell Dimension 4100. When he bought it, it was loaded with Windows Me. The instruction manual directed the owner to make backup floppies of the OS. He still had the plastic wrapper on the manual and, needless to say, never made them. I want to wipe the hard drive and reinstall the software but am unable to make the backup disks per the directions. The directions say to enter the letter designating the particular part of the software being duplicated and user will be told how many disks are needed to copy it. I am unable to find any page with letter designations. If someone can point me in the right direction, or tell me what to search for in the archives (if the subject has been covered already), it will be greatly appreciated. Also, the computer is supposed to write CDs. Wouldn't it be better to put the software on CDs?

 

You may need to look at it objectively. What is going to be saved onto floppy disks?

If it was some sort of "restart" system when you could not boot into Windows, it could be very useful.

The "part" you mention, I might wonder is partition. The "letter" is a drive letter (like C: ).

Dell have removed any reference to Win ME at their support website.

I don't think you will find it is a plausible backup system.

I know the system you mean, but I haven't made it (or, more importantly, had to use it as a backup).

It is an OEM (Dell) system which apparently no longer gets any support.

Matt

 

Thanks for answering Mattman. The way I read the manual is the "parts" are the individual parts of the Me operating system, with a letter designation assigned to each part. Once these are copied to floppy disks, user has, on disks, the original software installed by the mfg.and may erase the hard drive and re-install the original software that was factory loaded. So what I need to know is what files constitute the OEM Windows Me. I would expect them to be all in one master file, but I am not sure which file that would be. As a senior, I find it strange that these mfgs. make billions of dollars on products but do not provide the $1.00 - $2.00 disk(s) with the computer.

 

Is this pc running @1ghz or close to it ? If so I would just install XP on it.
Win Me on floppy is about 25 to 30 disks. Plus Win Me is one of the worst OS for problems..What are the specks of this computer ?

 

Go to My Computer.

A: would be floppy drive
C: would be the drive from which you boot your computer

If you find any letter greater than C: and its not a CD/DVD drive, most probably thats the partition [drive] we are looking for.

 

Centurion,

The specs are: Western Digital HD 200 20GB
Pentium III 133MHz CL3
Memory PC133-333-520
16M x 64 SDRAM

I do not have the money to spend for the XP upgrade right now. The previous owner did not experience any problems, which is not to say I will not. Right now, I just want to wipe his stuff off and start from scratch. If I have problems, I will consider upgrading. If this system is as troublsome as everyone says it is, Microsoft should have given everyone a free upgrade to XP. ( It sounds as if the new Vista is in the same category.) I already posed the possibilty of putting the ME on a CD instead of floppies. But I cannot do anything until I know what files to put on the disk(s). I would hate to have to illegally borrow XP from someone else, but if Microsoft and Dell have been as unfair with this situation as it appears to me they have been, I might be forced to go that route.

 

rsinfo et al,

Here are the instructions that came with the computer:

"Get a supply of floppy diskettes.

Double-click on the Backups icon in Windows Program Manager.

A list of pre-installed software applications is then displayed.

Type the letter corresponding to the software application that you want to back up.

Follow the prompts on the screen. You will be given specific instructions on what to do and how many blank diskettes are needed. "

I do not find any letters corresponding to the applications. Perhaps I am in the wrong place?

 

What is the computer running AT, MHZ or GHZ and Is that the amount of ram you have ??? If so , You will have to up it to at least 128 to run WIN ME and at least 256 to 512 to run XP...

 

Centurion, I believe the 133MHzCL3, mentioned above, answers one of your questions. Maybe I did not read the memory stats correctly, but the machine is designed for and ran Windows Me fine since it was first put into use, so I conclude that the memory is ok for Me. I guess this is beyond anyone's expertise and my choices, at this point seem to be: a )regress to Windows 98 or; b) send it to the computer recycle center. I WILL NOT have access to e-mail till Saturday, if anyone has any info for me, so don't think I am neglecting you if I do not reply before then.

 

Centurion, could that 16 x 64 SDRAM mean it has 1024SDRAM?

 

Centurion, could that 16 x 64 SDRAM mean it has 1024SDRAM? That would be 16 chips of 64 units of ram on the memory card.

 

133mhz is your bus speed,Not what the computer is running at..I found this:
Dell Dimension 4100.
Microprocessor type

Intel� Pentium� III processor

667, 733, 800, 866, or 933 MHz internally and 133 MHz externally, or 1GHz internally and 133 MHz externally, or 1.1 GHz internally and 100 MHz externally

Intel Celeron� processor

1.0 and 1.1 GHz internally and 100 MHz externally.

So it could be running at almost any of these speeds.. Can you right click on my computer,then properties. This will show you what your pc is running at..

 

Well, I have located an Me disk to borrow to wipe the hard drive and reload the software. I hope Microsoft still has available any upgrades that were available before they stopped supporting Me - or that they are available from some other source. . Centurion; The information you asked me to check does not appear. All I get is Pentium III, no speed designation. I will have to open the tower to check it on the cpu. Or maybe when the software is reloaded the designation will then be available in "properties ".

 

I have the Me disk but it says it does not include programs or drivers, so where does that leave me.!! Doesn't anyone know exactly what should be included in the original software?

 

The Windows software only includes Windows, some programs and some drivers.

Drivers come with the machine/peripherals that you buy.

Programs like MS Office, Photoshop etc. have to be bought separately.

 

You can download all the drivers from the Dell website ( "all ", unless some hardware has been changed).
http://support.dell.com/support/dow...M_PNT_P3C_4100&hidos=WW1&hidlang=en&TabIndex=
Use the link "Add or Edit the Service Tag ", that will give you the original configuration and the drivers you need.

There are plenty of free programs on the internet. Try www.majorgeeks.com. A lot of the programs they speak about might be trial-ware anyway. I would prefer to configure the software myself.

Get AVG Free antivirus, ZoneAlarm for a firewall and Spybot for antispyware. You are then protected and can add other software when the need arises.

Matt

 

THANK YOU ALL for your assistance. The Me disk would not do a clean install. I tried doing a clean install from a 98, but the machine would not read the disk. I have wasted enough time on this project and have abandoned it. The hard drive has been destroyed to protect my friend's private info and the computer in now slated for recycling!!