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WinXP crash..C and G drives switched around?
    #8644398 -

Ok to make things short and simple, WinXP was running extremely choppy when I came home on my lunch break.  I rebooted my system to see if that alleviated the problem, and upon rebooting, WinXP reverted itself to my last restore point which was 2 years ago.

I go into my windows explorer and notice immediately that my C and G drives have been changed.  ALL files that were previously located on C are now on G, and vice versa.  I've lost all my bookmarks in firefox and everything else.  Without having a current system restore point, is there anything else I can do to fix this shit back to the way it was?  Any and all help is appreciated.


--------------------
:super:D
Manoa said:
I need to stop spending all my money on plants and take up a cheaper hobby, like heroin. :lol:

Looking for Rauhocereus riosaniensis seeds or live specimen(s), :pm: me if you have any for trade

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Re: WinXP crash..C and G drives switched around? [Re: SuperD]
    #8644438 -

In theory you should be able to change your drive letters back using the disk management utility. In practice this may not work with your system drive but it's worth a shot. Go to Start | Run and type "compmgmt.msc". Then select "Disk Management" from the tree view on the left. Right click on the first disk and select "Change drive letters and paths". Click "Remove" to get rid of the letter assignment. Repeat for the second drive. Then do it again but instead of clicking "Remove", click "Add" and specify the correct drive letter. If you are able to successfully reassign both drive letters, good work, reboot and everything should be gravy. If you don't see "C" in the drop-down list of available letters for your system drive, just put them back the way they were and you're no worse off at least.

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Re: WinXP crash..C and G drives switched around? [Re: Ythan]
    #8645226 -

Ythan said:
In theory you should be able to change your drive letters back using the disk management utility. In practice this may not work with your system drive but it's worth a shot. Go to Start | Run and type "compmgmt.msc". Then select "Disk Management" from the tree view on the left. Right click on the first disk and select "Change drive letters and paths". Click "Remove" to get rid of the letter assignment. Repeat for the second drive. Then do it again but instead of clicking "Remove", click "Add" and specify the correct drive letter. If you are able to successfully reassign both drive letters, good work, reboot and everything should be gravy. If you don't see "C" in the drop-down list of available letters for your system drive, just put them back the way they were and you're no worse off at least.


There is one problem with doing this all of your links are pointed at a certain drive example: the icon to your IE may go to "C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\iexplore.exe" if you change the drive to G then all of these links will be incorrect same with most of the keys in your registry. You can swap drives around that you use for storage with no problem but if you swap drive letter for the drive your OS and other software is on you may have problems.


--------------------
Those that govern democracy, Nothing but lies and hypocrisy, Created by those who pretend to heal you, Bearers of the cross who try to control and conceal you, And they will die before it reveals to you, What you haven't been programmed to see.

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Re: WinXP crash..C and G drives switched around? [Re: DesertWolf]
    #8645683 -

Correct, however he said "I've lost all my bookmarks in firefox and everything else" which gave me the impression that the OS was still using the old configuration and it was just the drive letters which were messed up. There's also software which will automatically update paths as needed, I know Partition Magic does it and there are probably free alternatives as well. Partition Magic would also let him change the drive letter of the boot device if Windows won't.

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Re: WinXP crash..C and G drives switched around? [Re: Ythan]
    #8646465 -

Thanks guys, going to give this a try right now and see what happens.  It certainly can't make my situation any worse than it already is.  I could have sworn I had a restore point that was more updated than the one from 2 years back, but apparently my system disagrees.  I hate and love technology all at the same time.


--------------------
:super:D
Manoa said:
I need to stop spending all my money on plants and take up a cheaper hobby, like heroin. :lol:

Looking for Rauhocereus riosaniensis seeds or live specimen(s), :pm: me if you have any for trade

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Re: WinXP crash..C and G drives switched around? [Re: SuperD]
    #8646675 -

> I hate and love technology all at the same time.

You love technology, but hate Microsoft.


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Just another spore in the wind.

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Re: WinXP crash..C and G drives switched around? [Re: Seuss]
    #8646801 -

I think he lost all his book marks in fox cause he restored back 2 years he probably lost everything he installed that is newer than that 2 year restore point.

What really gets me is how did it switch the drives ? At some point did you change the drives from their original position in the computer? Because ive never seen a system restore just randomly switch drive path like that.

Of course i have seen system restore make a damn mess of peoples computer when they used it so its not out of the question. I guess that's why i have it disabled and i keep all my important stuff on another drive

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Re: WinXP crash..C and G drives switched around? [Re: Seuss]
    #8646935 -

Seuss said:
> I hate and love technology all at the same time.

You love technology, but hate Microsoft.


I can't argue with that. :grin:


--------------------
:super:D
Manoa said:
I need to stop spending all my money on plants and take up a cheaper hobby, like heroin. :lol:

Looking for Rauhocereus riosaniensis seeds or live specimen(s), :pm: me if you have any for trade

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Re: WinXP crash..C and G drives switched around? [Re: DesertWolf]
    #8649815 -

> I think he lost all his book marks in fox cause he restored back 2 years he probably lost everything he installed that is newer than that 2 year restore point.

Restore points restore the registry, not data files.  Bookmarks, in firefox and IE, are stored as files, not in the registry.


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Just another spore in the wind.

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Re: WinXP crash..C and G drives switched around? [Re: Seuss]
    #8651829 -

Seuss said:
> I think he lost all his book marks in fox cause he restored back 2 years he probably lost everything he installed that is newer than that 2 year restore point.

Restore points restore the registry, not data files.  Bookmarks, in firefox and IE, are stored as files, not in the registry.


Actually your wrong it does affect data files as well as any thing installed during a given time period. I went and dug up the info so you could see for your self so its not just hearsay. I know because the one time i did use a restore point it was 6 months back and i lost all programs and info i installed after that point if you still dont believe me after reading the article below. Go install a bunch of random software then go back to a restore point in June and i guarantee you that that software will not be there.

Source: technet.microsoft.com

Understanding System Restore

System Restore's purpose is to return your system to a workable state without requiring a complete reinstallation and without compromising your data files. The utility runs in the background and automatically creates a restore point when a trigger event occurs. Trigger events include application installations, AutoUpdate installations, Microsoft Backup Utility recoveries, unsigned- driver installations, and manual creations of restore points. The utility also creates restore points once a day by default.

System Restore requires 200MB of free hard disk space, which the utility uses to create a data store. If you don't have 200MB of free space, System Restore remains disabled until the space becomes available, at which point the utility enables itself. System Restore uses a first in/first out (FIFO) storage scheme: The utility purges old archives to make room for new ones when the data store reaches a set limit.

The file types that System Restore monitors are many but include most of the extensions that you typically see when you install new software (e.g., .cat, .com, .dll, .exe, .inf, .ini, .msi, .ole, .sys). Note that only application installations that use a System Restore restorept.api-compliant installer will trigger the creation of a restore point.

Typically, system recoveries are easiest when you know *or think you know* what caused the problem (e.g., a recently installed device driver). In some cases, System Restore might not be the best choice for correcting a problem you're experiencing. System Restore changes many different files and registry entries, and in some cases might replace too much and actually cause more problems than it solves. For example, say you install Office XP, which triggers System Restore to create a restore point, and the software suite works great. Later in the day, you download and install an updated video driver, and because the driver is signed, the installation doesn't trigger System Restore to create a restore point. Now your system hangs on occasion, and you believe that the video driver is the culprit. In this case, you should use the Device Driver Rollback utility because it will address the device-driver problem only and not change anything else on your system.System Restore would roll your computer back to a preOffice XP state, and you would have to reinstall the entire software suite after you resolved the driver problem.

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb490854(TechNet.10).aspx

Theres the link so you dont think i edited the article in any way.

There is also an article that i can dig up for you if you want that states the only safe place to have files during a system restore is in your My Documents folder any where else is fair game and may be deleted especially anything on your desktop.

Edited by DesertWolf (07/18/08 04:43 PM)

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Re: WinXP crash..C and G drives switched around? [Re: DesertWolf]
    #8652417 -

> Actually your wrong

Unlikely, but does happen from time to time... oh, and it is "you're wrong" as in "you are".

> (system restore) does affect data files as well as any thing installed during a given time period.

Please don't take my word for it... Look at what Microsoft has to say on the matter:

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/community/en-us/management/sysrestore_faq.mspx
Quote:
Q. How is System Restore different from Backup?
A. System Restore monitors only a core set of specified system and application file types (e.g. .exe, .dll etc), while Backup Utility typically backs up all files including users personal data files, ensuring a safe copy stored either on the local disk or to another medium. System Restore does not monitor changes to or recover users' personal data files such as documents, graphics, e-mail, and so on. While system data contained in restore points are available to restore to for only a limited period (restore points older than 90 days are deleted by default), backups made by the Backup Utility can be recovered at any time.


... and ...

Quote:
Q. What is or is not restored on my computer when I use System Restore?
A. Please see below.

Restored:
•Registry
•Profiles (local only; roaming user profiles are not affected by restore)
•COM+ DB
•WFP.dll cache
•WMI DB
•IIS Metabase
•File types monitored by System Restore as specified in the SDK document Monitored File Extensions

Not restored:
•DRM settings
•Passwords in the SAM hive
•WPA settings (Windows authentication information is not restored)
•Specific directories/files listed in the Monitored File Extensions list in the System Restore section of the Platform SDK e.g. 'My Documents' folder
•Any file types not monitored by System Restore (.doc, .jpg, etc.)
•Items listed in both Filesnottobackup and KeysnottoRestore (hklm->system->controlset001->control->backuprestore->filesnottobackup and keysnottorestore) in the registry
•User-created data stored in the user profile
•Contents of redirected folders


In case this still isn't clear, system restore does not perform a full system backup.

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Re: WinXP crash..C and G drives switched around? [Re: Seuss]
    #8653438 -

Im not going to argue with you i have seen first hand what it will do and a simple Google search will yield thousands of people who have lost all sorts of programs book marks and files. Just as i have been saying.

I really appreciate you correcting my grammar that was very overweening of you.

You said: "Restore points restore the registry, not data files.  Bookmarks, in Firefox and IE, are stored as files, not in the registry"

What you were saying in your own words it that it restores the registry not data or files. I was showing that this was incorrect because it restores more than the registry. All file types monitored can be found here
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa378870.aspx
These are the files known as the SDK document Monitored File Extensions which you have in your last post under what is restored. Which confirms what i was saying in the first place.

Your statement that it restores the registry and not data or files was incorrect, that is all i was pointing out.

That and the fact that it will remove programs and all sorts of other stuff if you restore to a previous date. Which could cause the loss of his book marks.

Even your last post contradicts what you said about only restoring registry.
Q. How is System Restore different from Backup?
A. System Restore monitors only a core set of specified system and application file types (e.g. .exe, .dll etc), while
Exe and dll files are not contained in the registry. The only thing in the registry are settings, options and preferences for the OS, installed software and hardware.


--------------------
Those that govern democracy, Nothing but lies and hypocrisy, Created by those who pretend to heal you, Bearers of the cross who try to control and conceal you, And they will die before it reveals to you, What you haven't been programmed to see.

Edited by DesertWolf (07/19/08 02:33 AM)

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Re: WinXP crash..C and G drives switched around? [Re: DesertWolf]
    #8653968 -

> Go install a bunch of random software then go back to a restore point in June and i guarantee you that that software will not be there.

The software will be there, but the registry entries for the software will be gone making the software unusable.  The system restore point doesn't magically remove files and is not a substitute for a backup, which is how I read your original reply.

As far as your guarantee, you might want to rethink the wording a bit.  I did as you said, and the software was still sitting there in the program files folder.  It was not usable, and it was no longer linked from the start menu or the desktop, but the files were still taking up space on the hard drive.  Were the registry entries for the software readded, the software would have started to work... something that couldn't happen if it had been removed ("that software will not be there") as you implied.

We can keep comparing dick size, but in the end, we were both sloppy with our words.  The main point I was trying to make is that system restore is not a full backup of your system, and system restore will not restore your bookmarks (at least on a roaming profile) for any web browser.  It might restore bookmarks for IE on a local profile... I don't know if microsoft considers the favorites folder in the user's profile to be "user-created data" or not.  But certainly, it will not restore firefox bookmarks.


--------------------
Just another spore in the wind.

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Re: WinXP crash..C and G drives switched around? [Re: SuperD]
    #8668933 -

RE OP

Is it possible that you have windows installed on both your c and g drives and that somehow your bios switched your boot disk?

If you check your other drive and it has a windows folder, then hit your bios hotkey during your boot when it says so (del I think), then roam around until you find your boot drive option and switch to the other one.

It's an off chance that this is it, but I thought it was still worth mentioning.

(What could have happened is that it failed to boot off one drive and the other drive was second on the boot list (?))


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Discuss Politics

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Re: WinXP crash..C and G drives switched around? [Re: Ferris]
    #8670092 -

That actually sounds very logical Ferris.  I'll do some investigating in the morning, about to head off to sleep as I have to wake up in 3 hours.  Thanks for the suggestion.


--------------------
:super:D
Manoa said:
I need to stop spending all my money on plants and take up a cheaper hobby, like heroin. :lol:

Looking for Rauhocereus riosaniensis seeds or live specimen(s), :pm: me if you have any for trade

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