VO-BB - 19 YEARS OLD!

[Charlie Channel]

Good morning! Back up your machine. It's time, if you haven't done so for awhile.

This weekend, I had the pleasure of working on my in-house WWW and FTP server. I had an old Dell OptiPlex with a Pentium III that served the fuction quite well. I had upgraded to Microsoft XP Professional awhile ago, due to obtaining several legal copies of that program in exchange for some work I did. Unfortunately, a controller went out on the old Dell.

(Side note: controllers are subsystems in computers that take care of tasks like making the disk and other subsystems work. I had a Compaq that went south due to the disk controller going bad. This stuff happens and it's especially exasperating when the tech doesn't understand an intermittent failure may be blossoming).

No sweat! I configured my laptop to do chores until I could find another "old" machine. Then, I got a replacement machine. Since only the controller went out on the old Dell, I knew the hard drive was still good. So, I put the hard drive in a different box and voila! It don't work and it won't work.

My research indicates that Microsoft XP is bound to the hardware in which it is installed, licensed to work on one machine and one machine only.

Fortunately, for me, the in-house server is a "house" machine. Nothing critical is or remains on it very long. That's the one guests get to use and do whatever they want. But, my experience of not being able to easily and conveniently swap a good hard drive into a functioning machine with a functioning mother board convinced me that Microsoft's control over its O/S, no matter how noble, has some real disadvantages for the legit end user.

So, I've got this nice hard drive with a valid O/S on it that won't work in anything. If I had data on it, I'd probably be able to figure out a way to get into the drive to extract it. But, it would be a pain -- especially if I were under a dead line. The message . . .

Back up your data. You may have to put Humpty together, again!

Just how do you pronounce "Linux" and "Apache"? Arrrgg!
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Charlie

[Mike]

[Charlie Channel]

[mcm]

Charlie, thanks for the reminder, as well as the interesting saga of your travels on a dead-end road

I got an external hard drive in November '05 for this very purpose. I've backed up exactly twice since then.

I don't know why it should not be a routine event to back up. I thought I had selected an option in Windows Backup to give me regular reminders. Guess it's time to look at that again...

I really hate ritualistic activities. Growing up in NYC I always made a point of not sitting in the same place on the bus every day - a pathetic attempt to avoid being swallowed up in sameness. But I guess that was just another form of ritual. And without it, we drown in a sea of ignored detail, hoist by our own petard...

[Charlie Channel]

I guess I'd better explain the "BSD" + "Apache" thing. Many users do not realize that BSD is a variant of Unix. I was told the BSD was the basis of the Mac O/S. Probably that's why Mac's were so much more stable than Windows machines.

I was using an iMac not too long ago, and discovered an Apache server is included with OS X (or whatever it's called). It's actually there and can be used to serve content. Of course, the Apache web server is an Internet gold standard and it's free.

So, I guess you could call it a Mac! Arrrgggghhhhh
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Charlie

[Charlie Channel]

[billelder]

I have removable D: hard drives on all my machines. One is a backup of my VO computer. I used the program from Seagate to make a boot disc and a mirror copy of the C: drive. Then, every night I backup only the files with new dates. If the main drive ever crashes, I change the backup to master and off I go. I also make CD compies of all the voice work from that month.

Backups are good! <g>

[Charlie Channel]

You got me thinkin', Bill. Looks like I'm putting mirros on my pick list. Definitely, the way to go. But, with Microsoft's XP looking for the same hardware, I'd still be stuck if I had to change the motherboard or CPU. My guess is that the software tolerates anticipated hard drive failures. So, that won't be too much of a problem. However, with new machines, video, disk and i/o controllers are all on the motherboard. If one of those subassemblies goes bad, as it did, the end user may be SOL -- even if the O/S is paid for and legal.

In my situation, I was going from one class of machine to another, i.e., from a Pentium III to a Celeron, with a bus of 66 versus 133, respectively. That was, apparently, enough, to make it impossible to simply plug the hard drive into he box and go.

I read a recent posting that OEM versions of XP work only on the OEM machine on which the O/S was installed. What a way to run a rail road. On the other hand, a Ford 302 only fits a Ford without modification. That I understand. But, at least you can drop a 302 into a Mustang or a Fairlane. What Microsoft has done is made it possible to only use the engine in the car it was installed in. So much for virtual junk yards.
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Charlie

[kgenus]

Yep, OSX is all BSD based, as will be their new Intel version. The Intel versioned OS, however, will have major portability restrictions to prevent people from using one copy on multiple computers ... or so they currently believe. I'm sure that will all change about 30 days after the release when pirated copies begin floating around the world.

Charlie, to get your previous hard disk to function, you have to install it as a "slave" in the in your new Windows XP machine, use disk administrator to assign it as a valid drive, which will rewrite the signature. At that point, you can mark it as bootable, reboot to that drive then (in disk administrator) "remove" the initial master you were using. It's 3 times the work, but if you've got any data.....
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Genus

[Charlie Channel]

Ahhh! I see the light. Thanks, Kevin.
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Charlie

[John M]

I'd recommend getting a RAID setup. It doesn't do you any good if the computer explodes or the house burns down, but if your hard drive crashes you're golden.

[Gregory Best]

I have replaced CPU's and other major components and then called Microsoft's help desk. I explained I had to make major repairs to my system. They got me a new regitation nunmber and authorized it. I was back in business.


Greg

[Charlie Channel]

[Doc]

Charlie,

While a new product key may help to install Windows to a new computer, your problem seems to indicate that Windows is already installed on the hard disk. And, of course, one option is to re-format, re-partition and clean install the operating system. Then, you could transfer your data from the "unbootable" disk. Or, you may be able to perform a "repair installation" of Windows XP.

I know this can be done, but it may not be easy. A few questions:

Does the new (replacement) computer meet the hardware requirements for an XP installation?

Are the drivers for the controllers different. I assume they are.

Is there enough memory?

Are your Windows XP Pro install CD's full or OEM?

You may want to peruse this article: http://winhlp.com/WxMove.htm

There are ways around EVERYTHING in Windows. But, they're sometimes difficult to ascertain. I'll try to help.

[Gregory Best]

Charlie,

I PM'd you. Doc is right. I booted for the Win XP install CD and chose the repair option. For some reason it thought I was trying to install on a new computer when it came time to enter the registration key. That is when I called micsosoft and got a new registration key. I had to convice them that I had a major component fail (the mother board) and I upgraded the motherboard and processor. Everything else was the same including the case. They gave me a new key. It took some negotiating and sales skills to convince the helpdesk person who sounded like they were in India. Good luck.

Greg