Of critical importance that you thoroughly test each CD, DVD or partition; the following are some questions and concerns
Does the CD/DVD or partition boot up fully and without errors?
If you have disk autocheck support, does chkdsk work properly and clear errors from a dirty shutdown?
If you have WPS support:
- Does the mouse work?
- Do you have access to every program?
- Does any program partially, or fully, open off screen? If so, can use use keyboard sequences to fix it?
- Can you use keyboard sequences to operate program menu choices?
If you have commandline boot:
- Can you open and run each commandline program?
- Can you use keyboard sequences to operate program menu choices (Back Again/2000 crash recovery utility is a good example to test)?
If you have a system crash recovery program:
- Can you operate it fully and completely to recover
- Test recovering a non bootable partition or disk:
- If something goes wrong, you can restore it later, using your normally booted system
- Of course, you have previously tested your capability to do that from your fully up system
My experiences with Back Again/2000:
- Commandline crash recovery program, baiicr.exe:
- Executed from Back Again crash recovery diskettes:
- Balked when restoring the desktop files:
- Stopped with an error
- Shutting it down was the only recourse available
- Computer Data Strategies (CDS), now Intradyn, could not provide a solution
- My workaround:
- Excluded the desktop directory from my Back Again system backups
- Used Sentry (a GammaTech product) to make generation backups of the desktop (you can also use UniMaint)
- Restored the boot partition as a two (2) step process, using Back Again backups and the separately created desktop backups
- Had a REXX script (and a separate OS/2 commandline batch file) to help automate the process
- Run under the bootAble CD system:
- Balked when restoring my booting partition
- It successfully restored a non-booting partition
- Why?? Unknown!!
- WPS program, baii.exe (Back Again/2000, version 3), executed from a bootAble CD/DVD:
- Program requires the back up file to be listed in the Back Again catalog library before it can be used for a restore
- Normally, Back Again will allow you to retrieve a back up not listed in the catalog:
- Search for the desired file, using the file browse facility
- Select the file; Back Again will then list it in the catalog
- From there you can select it to partially or fully restore
- Problem is that Back Again writes the information to the "catalogs" directory of the Back Again installation on your hard drive (I think!!)
- Therefore, you need the Back Again system already residing in its usual place, on your hard drive, before you can restore your files, or system
- If Back Again exists there, the program will then run from the bootAble CD
- The bootAble configuration file for Back Again now as an attempted fix for the above (do not know if it is of any help):
- Back Again logs are included on the CD/DVD or partition
- Catalogs are included
- Back Again sets are included
- I've been told Back Again/2000, version 4, requests user registration information, when run from the bootAble CD/DVD??