Ariesjill

Hi.

OK, this minor little issue is about XXclone, not either of my 2 new HDDs I only have because of this site....forget the XXClone altogether.....but I thought I should post here given this is location of uberthread re the above, & is about my 2 HDDs.....would add 2 uberthread, but I am already on several watch lists re Homeland Security Not, OK?

Now, Using the amazing XXclone, for which I now have a license, I copied my original drive onto new drive, then cloned that one onto second new one. Now have perfect internal backup.

Once a week, I bring my backup drive, LUCI, UP 2 speed from my main drive, Jilly...using the astonishing incremental updates function in XX. Takes well under 3 mins.

My leeetle problem, typically is My Bad : around 10 days ago, I gave in to my ultimate tech nemesis-compulsion: DUPLICATE FILE DELETION SOFTWARE.

I dunno.....I think it reminds me of a bad boyfriend who had planets in Gemini, OK? (Get it?) I just can't stay away from trying to reduce everything to NO DUPLICATE FILES.

I did leetle badie during hilite/delete 3 at a time, who needs to even look?: deleted some shell file and got error message saying GET YOUR XP CD NOW, YOU RECKLESS MORON, wut IS YOUR PROBLEM WITH THIS compulsion?????.....FILES NEEDED FOR WINDOWS HAVE BEEN CHANGED & REP[LACED WITH PODS, WHATEVAH.

I have only OEM reinstall disks via Dell which came with this Optiplex, no full version of XP.....same deal with my lappy. I also delete all but most recent restore point every couple of days. See the pattern???

Now.....everything is just fabulous....except, when I shut down Jilly (I know, U wish, right? ) I get error message saying "shell" something on title bar and message: ""application could not initiate because Windows is shutting down.....and exactly whose fault IS THIS, HUMMM?" Förget the hated chord error sound I keep only to torture myself....instead of changing it to something lovely.

Then, Windows shuts down normally, there isn't even a delay. But I hear my mother yelling about being wild and out of control....you know, the usual.

So.....I brought Luci up to date yesterday, and C when I boot into her and shut her down.....no shell mess error message appears.

Why the mistakenly deleted shell file thingy did not copy to Luci...I have no clue. I think, because Chistmas is coming.

So my obvious question is.....if I now use JILLY AS TARGET VOLUME AND DO REVERSE THINGY USING xxCLONE...will this repair my little shell mess in "Jilly, "the drive I mainly boot into??? Or would it lead to NBC labelling whole thing as official HDD CIVIL WAR here, between SHEah AND SHEah

If this strategy is viable, would I just do the incremental, warpspeed option? Or, would I do whole new clone from Luci 2 Jilly?

Is there any danger to this? It's logical, right?
Yes, I should get rid of my two little current duplicate file hunting utilities......but I am duplicate utility finding junkie......and there is no drug test for this, OK? Not if I remove the shortcuts from my desktop. Plus, I know every single one in existence....and every pusher site that offers them.

At least this time it was a shell file and not my entire OS via dumping dll files. Beeeeg improvement, OK?

I am in recovery. Would I lie? Just need to fix this leetle issue is all.

Thanks so much; yes, I messed up...again,

Jill

ceri sheeran

Even Babel Fish couldn't translate this into English

I gave up

Ariesjill

Ceri:

I don't blame you! Keep driving; thanks 4 trying.
Jill

ceri sheeran

42
:-)

Ariesjill

C:

10-4. When i have a little window, I shall try to distill this into something less complex....I maybe shold have posted as New Issue in exhausting uberthread in this forum with every molecule of history of these two HDDs and XXclone.

Thanks again,
Jill

linderman

basically if you have one of the clones which is acting purrrrrrfect and you double check that you havent made some data files since the last cloning etc that you need


then YES select full back-up and then you will have an exact duplicate copy of your "better" OS

I would advise though as a saftey precaution that you download and use Driveimage (see my links) to make a copy of the drive you have with "shell" problem just in case things dont go as we expect. In that event you could use the image program to return it to the way it was >>>>> pick a drive that has plenty of empty space to hold the image file as it will be approximately one half the size of the OS drive you want to "protect & back-up" if things go as I think they will, and a week or so goes by without a tragedy, then you could either save the image file forever, of delete it.

Its easy to play with things when you know you can revert back to the way it was.

I wish I had a Image program for my life but I could settle for an authentic Easy Button (not the staples one either!)

Ariesjill

Joseph is a One Man Swat Team!!!!!

Bless U yet again Mr. Smart, Personable, Dedicated and Thorough. Forget I owe U a new machete just for getting thru the post, OK? Cause yours.....must be exhausted.

I will download the image thingy so that if Donald Rumsfeld is trying 2 retaliate from back there in the 17th century where he lives....he will not mess with my repair!!!

And.....I still have under 9GBs of data on the drives....around 89% free, so this Image thingy will have plenty of room!! Am I right in that I should do the image thingy on Luci???? The shell-intact drive? oR, WOULD i USE A THIRD DRIVE? i HAVE LOTS OF DRIVES, ok?

I will first do new update on Luci.....from whom I will then do whole new clone onto Jilly, the WD. More things I am confused about: 1) will I reformat Jilly (with the shell issue) again....kinda start all over?

And 2)....from the whirling dervish data in my original post, wut does it sound like I did? Dumped a shell file, right? OK deep breath: wut is this shell file I dumped because the utility said there were 3 identical ones cluttering things up?

OK, one more (probably): for someone who only keeps the last restore point (I need to rethink this), is there really no way to repair XP using the OEM reinstallation disk? If so, was this true for previous OSes?
If so, isn't this MEAN? For we WHO WOULD RATHER NOT spend a still small fortune on full version of XP Pro?????

As for Life Image software 4 Joseph......only cowards & control freaks plan every molecule and fear mistakes.....anyone Real & complex......DOES NOT NEED SUCH SOFTWARE. Meaning YOU.

The Staples button is clever, and red rocks....but "That Was Easy!" doesn't hold up when we can get such as generic ink cartridges and FAX film on line for under half wut we can where the red awnings R.....but U already know this.

i now resolve to only delete harmless duplicates...like PNG files and like that.

Bless U, Joseph!

Jill

Jilly

Ariesjill

Well......a whole new folder of accolades to Joseph and XXclone!!!!

I decided that though I luv & am moved by Joseph's caution.....being a pseudo/ersatz/faux techie and reckless, it would be safe 4 me 2 just clean both drives completely, reformat Jilly.....the girl with the shell issue, and do full XXclone from Luci onto her.

So I did. And it worked as magically as XXclone defines!

Just had to delete and download new version of Snoop(Dogg)Free....got message saying it was in the slammer with SHINE, taking a fall 4 Diddy .....and I should do this and I did that. Yo.

I may not have all my MARBLES, BUT I once again have all my SHELLS: neither drive issues error message when I shut down Windows.....it is AMAAAAAAAAAZING.

I am very happy, very grateful & very relieved.

Now I will try to get less giddy when deleting duplicate files.....AFTER SEVERAL DOZEN , it gains momentum, and at some point, levitates from the runway and achieves FLIGHT. I am not making this up, OK?

I wonder if normal people use these duplicate file finding utilities?????

Thanks AGAIN, Joseph!!!!

Jilly

BuffaloChips

Jill,

You are still a nut! LOL! The only thing I see here as a possibility is some data may end up being lost. If your update to your back-up drive didn't change the deleted files, there's always a possiblilty that something else might have been missed. So, if there has been anything really important put on your 'puter you might want to thouroughly check your back-up to make sure that data is there so you don't lose it. Otherwise, go for it!

linderman

Jill:


I do not and will not spend more than 3 seconds messing with XP's useless "Restore points" and "Recovery Console" both of those are useless in my opinion.

In the past I have tried spending countless hours in the "recovery room: fixing the boot mbr and plenty of other vodoo I wont bore you with. Most of the time I was able to restore a booting windows but it was very sluggish and slow or else had other anomolies.

Most people get the wrong idea about what restore point "can" and "cant" do
restore point is a driver fixer only if you install a new driver which causes a crash you can use restore point to return your system to the drivers used prior to the install restore point does NOT back-up your data, software etc if you trash some files needed by the OS restore point (a life jacket with a big hole in it!) can not return you to the good ole days

thats why cloning & imaging is the "way" to fly


I dont and wont spend two seconds playing with either one of those severely limited fixers.

if my systems so much as burp, I simply restore the drive with an image file or plug in another cloned drive

no more botched voodo for this old hacker >>>>> dont have the time to mess with tools that dont work well >>>>>> it detracts from my TSF time


I began a year ago imaging and teaching my customers how to image; now when they bring in their downed machines, (gotta love registry cleaners; my clents are drawn to them like a moth to lite) i can say wait 15 minutes then I put in the bootable image recovery CD and shee-bang its back up and running without any further adoo

of course then the whining starts, LOL they havent been keeping up with regular back-ups so the image does not match their last date of computer usage. tisk tisk tisk whoes fault is that ??????? after all I am only a disciple of ole be ells abub not a magician!

Ariesjill

Chips with the new AVG not eating homework, only viruses....AWESOME!

Aaaaaaaan how is firewall project? Yes, I know, U have hardware router thngy.....but once in a while by accident I c how many high level threats my ZA has fended off.....makes me both sick and ahppy I have it.....and, when I shut any system down, I unplug entire surge protector strip from A/C....for many reasons, all good, I think.

But you already sound waaaaay happier! And safer! If and when U get good free firewall....it will be like moving to Island in the Carribean!!!!! Nah....beyond 15 mins that would be boring, maybe.

Thanks, Chips!
Jilly
__________________________________

Joseph, U truly Knock me Out:

First, wut U are manifesting in the above post is essence of autonomy and smart: original eye observation. Not from manuals & bean counters......from inside. Proust said it.....and I think he had an old Sony Vaio :

Object of life is not to visit new horizons, but rather 2 C the existing ones with New Eyes. Not vebatim, but close. I should Google and get the verbatim version.

I honestly thought restore point thingy was one of legit goodies in NT....and the one in XP major! But also true, I only used it couple of times when some utilitiy messed wit my custom colors and I could not restore them in Display....no way wanted 2 spend the time remixing them, and so used Restore.

But this is apparently another dog & Pony of MS!!!!! OMG!!!!!!

Re the Restore Console....YOU turned me onto this....it is in uberthread somwhere, I went, printed whole thing out...made paper folder and, I remember writing when I tried 2 read it, I threw up. Emotionally, I mean.

Whole MS knowledge base......conspiracy, right? And.... I think they shot Tupac!
Now, I totally get that XX is diff from other programs within its genre.....but don't they all image?

Also, still not clear if U mean the clueless are drawn like moths 2 flames re reg cleaners or my drug: the Seek Same type utiliities?????

I use the excellent reg cleaning function in Advanced Wndows Care....also the one in CCleaner......also sometimes manually via regedit......and C no problem.

Again, are these YOU HAVE A GALLION duplicate/triplicate files cluttering things UP.......deal with them! utilities.....dangerous? Necessary? Not bad but only in the hands of someone with a brain?

Nobody can tell me instinctual acuity even in this technology....not key. Making differential diagnoses, evolving solutions and like that....as per your post ABOVE!!!!!! When I came upon Hijack this....on one of my freeware sites I luv, I knew it was fab and got it.....nobody told me how it is officially supposed to B used....so I just did it myself.....but via the above........not always safe, but, i am learning still the Piston of life! OK, maybe not piston.......battery cell/pithy core... somethin.

But am still too scared to turn off restore point thingy in either active system.......that will have to change over time.
Even I am creature of HABIT......like Penguins.

(If anyone makes quantum leap and gets the above, I will send them a Harley in an attachment. Good luck looking on the net for program to open it, though. NO....it's not Powerpoint. )

Jilly luuuuuuvs LEARNING!!! And fixing stuff. Also contributing...when she has that privilege.

J.
__________________________
I Googled; the actual one is way more musically ON....

The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes.
Marcel Proust

linderman

Jill:


just for the sake of clarification, image and clones are diff

xxclone is nice because it only copies data from the drive to the cloned drive its doesnt clone empty space!

image is a diff animal, you can restore from an image file and trash it again, restore again etc

awhile ago I trashed two of my boot cloned drives with my new motherboards chipset drivers, before I read the very fagiue asus website

anyway, i had two boot drives the second came from xxcloning

I trashed them both trying to install the chip set drivers before I read you have to install an earlier version of the chipset drivers first or use a lesser bios revision first blah blah blah

but I was in a pickle and was really torqued then it dawned on me I had stashed a drive image file away on an old ide hard drive bam, I was back in business and very happy

after trashing two more OS boot drive environments, I figured out on my own, that it was the chipset drivers doing the harm.

never lost a thing though! and in that whole mess, I never had to re-install a thing!

now thats fun.

enjoy

Ariesjill

Well.....I think NOW I will get out the old Seagate from the drawer and use it to make an IMAGE!!!!!!!! Now...that I am clear on this.

ORRRRR...I could just use one of my mounted drives since whole image would be around 4GBs only, as U explained, around half the volume!!!

Only thing I do not get is would the image on the volume be separate and so identifiable? Or just identifiable? HOW...identiable exactly????

Re XX not copying empty space, unlike the others....NOW WE CAN C WHY DRIVE CAPACITY is not an issue with it!

Yes.....who could forget your sharing your chipset issue/misery during build....and Gary, as usual, seeing the glass as half full.....saying But U now have way high end hardware and good result!!!!!

Thingy with follow the dots re drivers......in sequence....I do not get, OK? Nor the bios thingy. R the drivers built on foundation of previous drivers????? If U flash the bios in a system and miss an interim one.....does something explode???? I think I did that on my Alienware Sentia....must have missed one when I flashed, cause morongirl who threw it out thinks bios is a 4 credit undergrad course I am sure....did it not explode because it has eyes?

But bottom line....U r not tremblng in corner afraid to violate the Rules as if they were carved in granite and all worthy in anything.......and all of it leads you to sound perspective and creative solutions!!!!

But I still want 2 know....if normal humans R besotted by & use the DUPLICATE FILE DETECTING SOFTWARES.

Or if I have some distorted, wrongheaded attraction 2 them and everyone else knows they are a joke.

Fially....I luv this classy term, "boot environment"....plan to say this casually every couple of hours to whomevah I am around ......remember, I am trained by On Board Gremllns. Only question: would this environment be improved by Feng Shui? Ironically....that is kinda wut U R doing!!!!!

And "trash" is so much nicer than Mess Up/Crash.

Also again, sign of intact dynamic. In orchid growing subculture, they say, until you've killed 100 orchids, you don't know nuthing.

And yes, for most orchids, MS owns the OS and can validate the product codes, OK? You plug in a root (not that most orchids have those per se, but this is not the place for that, that is OSF, Orchid Support Forum).....to an open USB port. MS Validates or sends guys w/AK 47s. Would I lie????

J.

linderman

ahhhhhhh jilly soooooo correct


to answer your question, most all mid level computer users (much higher than noobs) learn of the bloated registry and duplicate files

sure we all want to fix and delete them

but my experience and observations of hordes of others too! is registry fixers / duplicate file erasing programs come in two versions the harmless type that doesnt really do much at all

or the very powerful that will allow you to really smoke your OS


never delete anything unless you know for sure what program or application it belongs to

but if you have cloned drive and or image file then you dont care


your desires to keep a "clean" OS is everyone dream but often is just not reality thats why we have the yearly "clean install" LOL

Ariesjill

Well! I have apparently only had the smoke yr entire OS ones! I have a TRULY DISCERNING EYE, C THAT????

I didn't pass GO, did not bother with the mall; I went directly to the "One mousclick from apocalypse".... boutiques!

But.....re this yearly clean install thingy....I read somewhere that this is not necessary in XP. But can't remember why.
Thanks for sharing that I am not the only duplicate file utility addict.......that is the only way I evah got into serious trouble.

So far.

I also just read recent thread in this forum re poor guy whose external HDD died during IE7 installation and he did the corollation is causation thing.....which it wasn't and often isn't......but SuperMod (Luv This)...posted and mentioned that new drives are cheaply made, like that.

Ya THINK????????????????

I also learned ANOTHER OFFICIAL TERM: "The Click of Death" re HDDs clicking pre mortum. I nevah had this.....plus how would we know if it is that.....or starving woodpecker got in while drive was being made in basement in Thailand?????

J.

PS....not everyone is about keeping their systems lean, mean, clean and learning how with joy and sense of adventure.....trust me, I can name names.

J.

Ariesjill

Pls Delete! I "trashed" somethin while posting and did not know first part had posted. Can someone send first try 2 recycle bin in the sky, please?????

I SAID.....i HAVE ADDICTION TO FILE duplication & related ISSUES, OK? Wut part of that wuz not clear????
Jill

Ariesjill

OK....got the Image Adorable.....almost ran it, but not sure if I should to this in Jilly.....drive I boot into most.....or Luci.

And.....wut the diff if it is going to copy to Luci next time I do incremental update???????

And......can't I burn it onto a CD? Or is that only if U use it with Bart......not that I evah used Bart except 4 Simpsons.

I did once look at Bart page for my friend with the trashed Inspiron I am still intent on recovering his data from....but it made me nauseated so I left. The Bart page.

I am uploading where I am stuck/confused.


J.

Attached Images

Which one Should I do it on.JPG (104.1 KB, 3 views)

BuffaloChips

REG-CLEANERS! Maybe that's what happens to my system over the long haul. I strive to keep my registry clean and as small as I can. so when I remove some progs that I never really use, I run a reg-cleaner. I just have never seen anything they have picked up that looked like it was needed to keep the system running. usually all looked related to what I deleted.

Jilly,

To the saga of my sisters 'puter. I discovered yesterday that she wasted 30 bucks on the recovery disks. They wouldn't work. I called tech support for HP, apparently none of those people speak english as a first language (I even asked). The first person tried to tell me her MB was bad. What a laugh! I was sitting there looking at it running on a different install of windows!

Finally I got someone else on the phone and, SHE, FINALLY understood that the ORIGINAL HD went tits-up and we got a NEW HD. She asked if it was the identical brand model and capacity. I said I wasn't sure because I didn't buy the replacement. She said if it wasn't the disks were not guaranteed to work because the original HD was part of that install.

A NEW REASON TO NEVER BUY A MANUFACTURED COMPUTER THAT DOES NOT COME WITH A FULL VERSION OF WINBLOWS!!!!!!!!!!!

linderman

Mr. Chips you are sooooooo correct


The worse two IMHO is Compaq followed by a close second HP

they both have been known to make a system dependant on their hardware, many of them wont even boot up with a hard drive that was not provided by the manufacturer. When the machine boots it looks for a code or serial number on the drive.

no thanks on that one!!



Jilly: it doesnt matter which drive you make an image of

pick which ever one runs the best ???????? or wasnt involved in the "shell" game

and yes; to make to a bootable CD you must use Barts PE and a cd-rom or DVD rom drive that is capable of burning. Then the software you use for burning must be able to burn .ISO files

You must also add the plug-in to Bart's "guts"

If you want; if you dont get the jist of that voo-doo just email me your mailing address and I will send you a Barts CD with drive image plug-in included

I know if you try you can succeed its looks complicated, but its not we all have a way to making things harder than they are!


here is an excellent rendition:
http://www.techsupportforum.com/arti...-os-drive.html

Ariesjill

Chips;

Eeewwwwww! I am speechless! And Joseph, now also speechless that U know this reality re HP/Compaq!!!!

An early, now gone puter I found in garbage was a P1 Compaq Presario; it was thrown out without HDD, I got one on eBay (used), and the restore disks the guy threw out (thank God) with the thing worked.

This disgusting U confirm re Chips' poor sister's system is little like when printer makers invented the smart chnps to preclude refilling the cartridges. But then someone invented a zapper to disable the chips. In the above, sounds like no way of getting around....and there oughta B a law.

But Chips...your pain & misery re commercially amalgamated systems......I think you have the ultimate downside example......and I do get why skilled humans R moved to build their own.

And yet again, the now realized underlying agenda of the trade agreements is part of the infection here....Mr, Clinton's unforgivable was no way Monica (yawn), but that he signed off on the NAFTA......NUCLEAR BAD AND IMPACTS ALL OF US....the Chips siblings no exception.

Maybe your sister can sell her useless restore disks on Craigslist....which eBay now owns 25% of and is no way as it was even 2 years ago, but it would be free posting. I am very sorry you guys had 2 go thru this.
J.
***************************************

Joseph!

O! Yes, I either have zero intimidation re a given thing and just start, figure it out as I go...or, the opposite. I did a while back, find the Bart page intimidating, but also like to try to get stuff done myself......of course in this stuff, as we can C......with a major, worldclass entourage of pundits going, "Pick up left foot, place it before right foot...." like that.

Bless U 4 yr offer......but I have good burners on both desktop and lappy, deepBurner free on the former and Nero on latter, and both include ISO option....that is how I flashed the bios of the lappy.

So let us C how much trouble I can get into on my own as usual......but it is now clear I should do the image using Luci who nevah had a shell problem.....doesn't even like them, only wears little tube & racerback tops.

In my own defense, I would like 2 say that in many of these endeavors.....the official pages of instructions make something wsaaaaaaay more complex and intimidating than it ends up being!!!!!

Hence the famous "guy thing"....i often do myself as well: do not read the instructions, eyeball it and start.

Related fascinating thingy: not everone has the gift to write instructions! Or TEACH! Takes the ability to empathize with The Other, the Student. Only this gift permits someone to delineate relevant data anticipating given confusions and the need for more data/less data at each given point. No software can impart this gift, oK?

Finally, both U guys.....yet another reason to buy a commercial system made for businesses, e.g. my beloved Optis, is......with these, Mfg anticipates all kinds of fiddling......new HDDs, mem upgrades, like that, all kinds of applications, open end.
So I think such systems are less Fascistic& unforgiving than those made for average consumers. But no secret I am big fan of the Optis.

Thanks, guys,
Jill

Edit: Chips, the reg cleaning functionin the amazing Advanced Wndows care....is, well amazing. I think given his review, Joseph might agree. Again, I have only gotten into doo-doo re deleting "duplicate" files. Some of which were....well, NOT.

Look how dear we R and how hard we try!!!!! And how deprived I (at least) now feel nevah having had a full version of any OS!!! Group hug, OK?
j.