[jaclaz]

I see,
the problem it's this, as you don't want ANY 3rd party bootmanager,
the partition can be seen by "NORMAL" Windows XP:
a DOS parttition, to be bootable, MUST be :
A) ACTIVE
B) the 1st partition on the 1st hard drive
So you can partition your drive with a small PRYMARY FAT16 partition and one (or more) huge partitions (either FAT32 or NTFS), which actually is the way that Gilles Vollant, author of bootpart, recommends and that I have used for years without any trouble:
"C :" FAT 16 PRIMARY on which resides:
MSDOS.SYS
IO.SYS
COMMAND.COM
BOOT.INI
NTLDR
NTDETECT.COM
Autoexec.bat
config.sys
Ghost.exe
...all other imaging/rescue programs, including BOOTPART
boot.ini has two entries:
C:\BOOTSECT.DOS="Reimage Drive"
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINNT="Windows XP Professional" [followed by any switch you might use]
Rest of the disk is a big EXTENDED parttion in which you have at least one FAT32/NTFS partition
"D :"
to which you install Windows XP

2) If you want a REAL recovery partition, i.e. that is normally HIDDEN, you need to find a way to HIDE/UNHIDE it at will, which means that you need a 3rd party bootmanager.
I do recommend you XOSL, which you can find on Ranish's page and that is:
-FREEWARE
-GRAPHICAL
-PASSWORD PROTECTED if needed

jaclaz

[pit]

GJ

Thx thx thx

[enternaL]

Thanks, I'll try that out

Ghost 2003, I believe, comes with gdisk.exe that supposedly has a feature to hide/show partitions. I haven't used it yet, however, so I guess I'll see how well it works.

[jaclaz]

yep,
but you see, the problem is that you CANNOT run gdisk from within XP, so you can boot to the DOS partition, hide or unhide it, but next time you boot, if you have hidden it, you cannot SEE it! and if you setup the system as depicted above you won't even get to boot.ini, because it would reside on a hidden partition!

That's why you need a bootmanager that can hide/unhide partitions BEFORE any Operating System is loaded.

jaclaz

[varun21]

well here's something that you can try. This is how i restored the functionality of my dell restore partition (most of the files can be found on google by their name):

have a different partition (for backup) and install dos on it.

config.sys
================
[menu]
menuitem=DOS, Start DOS with CD-ROM support.
menuitem=GHOST, Start OS Restoration (!!!This will wipe off the OS!!!)
menudefault=DOS,30
menucolor=7,0

[DOS]
device=himem.sys /testmem:off
device=oakcdrom.sys /D:mscd001
device=btdosm.sys
device=flashpt.sys
device=btcdrom.sys /D:mscd001
device=aspi2dos.sys
device=aspi8dos.sys
device=aspi4dos.sys
device=aspi8u2.sys
device=aspicd.sys /D:mscd001

[GHOST]
device=himem.sys /testmem:off

[COMMON]
files=10
buffers=10
dos=high,umb
stacks=9,256
lastdrive=z
==================================



AUTOEXEC.BAT
==================================
@ECHO OFF

IF "%config%"=="GHOST" GOTO GHOST
IF "%config%"=="DOS" GOTO DOS

:GHOST
LH C:\MSCDEX.EXE /D:mscd001
SET DIRCMD=/og /a /p
SET PATH=C:\
cls
echo Final confirmation.
Echo !!!Point of no return!!!
Echo Do you want to wipe off your current Operating System and restore the factory default Operating System?"
Echo Ctrl + C to quit now.
PAUSE
C:\MOUSE.COM
C:\SMARTDRV.EXE
C:\GHOST.EXE
Echo the above line should have the complete ghost commandline to restore the partition from the image file
Echo example (without quotes) "ghost.exe -clone,mode=prestore,src=c:\img\FI.GHO:1,dst=1:2 -batch -sure -quiet"
ECHO THAT WAS GHOST!!!
ECHO Rebooting...
PAUSE
C:\DELLBOOT.EXE
rem dellboot is to restart the machine.
GOTO QUIT

:DOS
C:\MOUSE.COM
LH C:\MSCDEX.EXE /D:mscd001
SET DIRCMD=/og /a /p
SET PATH=C:\
C:\SMARTDRV.EXE
ECHO THIS IS DOS.

:QUIT
==========================================

pls confirm if this works. i've got them working here http://varun21.googl...lPartitions.zip

Regards
Shivanand Sharma

[kurt476]

Hello, could you guy's write a how to guide on this reimaging windows partation?

[waywyrd]

Hi,

To EternaL... this might be "overkill", but what I've done is to create a dual boot with Win98/WinXP. On the Win98 partition I have a folder for the DOS version of Ghost, with mouse support. I have the boot menu to load either 98 or XP, and then the boot menu for 98, which allows you to work from the command prompt etc.

So far, if I've made a back up copy of the essential boot files for XP (boot.ini - bootsect.dos - ntdetect.com - ntldr) just in case, I've been able to re-ghost either 98 or XP independently of each other with near 100% success.

I've gone for the dual boot with 98 because, it still has native MSDOS support and a GUI interface for more "advanced" rescue utilities.

Hope this helps,

Waywyrd