Creating a bootable cd for recovery

I just did what I should have done before.

I booted to my Bootable CD 98 Startup Disk.

At the A: prompt I did a DIR. Only the files from the original floppy showed. The directory NU did not show.

I did a S: then a dir and the NU folder showed. And I could do a DIR and see the files in it.

So I guess that must make ( or I think it does ) my previous post correct.

BillyBob

 

dopey

That is what I am working at. I have some of it already but needs work so that I can have various repair tools handy. NO matter which machine I use it on. It will have something for all.

BB

 

I too had copied just the files over using joliet and it didn't boot. Would using the iso9660 make it work? I've used the bin files alone and bin files with the starup files in iso9660 format and it didn't work and when in the cd drive using windows explorer, I get "drive not ready" error, so I know that's not going to work at boot up.

This is driving me nuts, will also pickup a differenct burner software this afternoon if needed, sorry to be such a pain, Cyn

 

John, I'm reading the article now, thanks, the ultimate repair cd sounds good instead of using an out of the box application, you can include your own favorite tools, thanks, Cyn

 

cynindesign

I too had copied just the files over using joliet and it didn't boot. Would using the iso9660 make it work

NO. Using the iso9660 format will not work

At least in Nero the CD must be made using the Create a bootable CD set to emmulate the A: drive. And to do it properly it does require the 98SUD to be in the A: drive. ANd when you get done the CD is and EXACT duplicate of the A: drive.

With Nero you can make a CD bootable and close it or you can set it up so you can add more files later.

Actually I forgot whether I copied them over or if I had to burn them.

If buy chance your A: Drive is not working I do not think you can create a bootable CD Startup Disk.

All that's necessary is the bootcat.bin and bootimg.bin files

Where are you guys finding those files ? I can not find either one. On the floppy or the CD.

I believe ALL of the files that are on the SUD are needed to set thing up properly.

BillyBob

 

Hmmmm, seems Cox Cable lost a reply from me, I've been following the article from BillyBob and got all the files together AND my floppy's working and THAT's IT!!!! ARGGGG. I didn't see where the cd was made. Am off to a couple of appts. and am taking my hardware with me to keep working and reading. Thank you all sooooooo much, Cyn

 

Oh so I'm going to copy the floppy to the cd layout, choose iso9660 with bootable option, then there's cdrom or cdrom xa, which one...see that reply got lost too, thanks, Cyn

 

If it were not Tuesday evening and so late I would fire up Nero and see just what steps I did take to create the CD.

Writing then down as I go. LOL

Also in 30 Minutes we will be joining our Friend in Canada for our golf game.

I will however have a go at it in the AM.

I wish to do this for more than one reason. Not only to maybe help someone here but to REFRESH my own memory. It has been at least two ( 2 ) years.

BillyBob

 

Billy Bob
My remark about the cdrom being E: was simply an example. I used it because that's probably what most people would be using. You're correct in your statements about which drive letter it will use, that's why I added "This is assuming your cdrom is drive E" . Guess I should have really gone into a little more detail for those who don't know these things. Guess I was just having one of those lazy moments.

 

PeteC

Not the exact wording as my Nero but same basic idea.

Zander

This DOES get confusing. It is something different and takes a bit of time to figure out.

What causes confusion is the fact that the A: prompt shows up.

We need to watch CLOSELY to see what letter has been asigned to the CDROM.

In fact I put a PAUSE line right after the MSCDEX line so I could be sure that mine are asigned S: & T: they way they are supposed to be.

And that is also why I took the /L:%CDROM% variable out. That is also something the many users are not aware of that can be done.

BillyBob

 

I also have taken the @ECHO OFF out.

And also put a PAUSE after the line that extracts the EBD.CAB to the Virtual Drive.

This may take a bit more time but there is no way that we can not know what letter the RAMdrive is and what letter(s) the CDROM(s) is ( are ).

I am finding this a better thing if we do indeed have a bootable CD as the Startup Disk. That rascal flew by so fast I no idea waht was where.

And this is a good way for some one to learn what the SUD really does.

BillyBob

 

Well beings if you had a floppy and a cd drive, then the ramdrive is on D:\ and the cd drive is now E:\.

I'm reading up on the posts, another reply I don't see is one to Zander, his was the most helpful link yet: http://www.informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=10700681[/URL] REALLY had good info for all window versions to make your own custom emergency cd. The best I've have seen while my brain is fried with this problem. All the preparation and info was easy to follow and was written for a non nerd . But it stopped short of making the physical cd, would like to see the rest of the info.

Now I'm going to go see what Pete's links about, thanks guys, Cyn

 

The floppy has NOTHING to do with where the Ramdrive goes. ( other than telling it be be created after the last HD partition.

The Ramdrive letter is determind from the actuall PARTITIONS on the HD(s) It will be the next letter after the last HD letter.

If you only have C: then yes the sequence would be D: & E: But if you have more than one partition then it becomes different story.

And if you watch the bootup CLOSELY you will see what goes where. It will tell you where the RAMDrive is and what letter the CDROM is.

The RamDrive is created in the config.sys and the CDROM letter is asigned in the Autoexec.bat.

BillyBob

 

Sorry 'bout that. I thought part 1 had a link to part 2.

Part 2:

http://www.informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=10818064

 

Good Morning all

I hope that I am not out of line here but I would like to ask for help from everybody. Not just for myself but for everybody.

Microsoft Windows is getting so damned complicated that it is no longer in our best interest to ASSUME what is what. Assuming may just cause more confusion.

It would be very helpfull, especially in a post like this where the Boot Disk and RamDrive are involved. And where the Ramdrive goes and what letters are asigned to the CDROM(s)

Lets us know how many HD partitions are actually on the machine. If only one that is fine. But if more than one it can make a lot of difference in our answers to problems. If the above is not mentioned in a post then I think we should ask before going any further.

I can honestly write about this as I have three machines and when I boot from the floppy the RamDrive is a different letter on each.

This one it will be I: The 2nd will be K: And the 3rd will be L: But the CDROM is permanently S: on all whether I boot from the Floppy or directly into Windows. ( any version ).

Any feed back or questions on this will be welcomed.

This probably should be in its own post but I will leave it here for now.

BillyBob