Ron Schenone

Reader Needs Help With XP Backup – Laptop Has No Floppy

Posted by on Feb 9, 2010 | 8 Comments

During the past few days, I have been trying to help one of our readers who is having a problem with using XP Backup. His laptop does not have a floppy disk which XP wants to create a boot disk for. The conversation started like this:

Bill:

I have a Segate External 500 GB. I want to perform a systems back up to both my desktop and laptop. I use Windows to back up thus forcing me to use a floppy recovery 3.5 disk. This is fine for my desktop but my laptop does not have a floppy. How can I get around this floppy problem and just go to a straight systems back for both computers and avoid the floppy issue?

My response:

Hi Bill,
On your laptop, does it have a burner? Or does your desktop have a burner? If either one does, you can make a recovery disk onto a CD or DVD.

Of course both must have the same OS as well.

Hope this helps.

Bill:

Ron:

Yes, both have burners and both have the same OS which is XP Pro. But how do I get from the prompt to make a floppy when it comes up to my respective burners? Something new to this old man trying to keep up with the ever changing technology.Ron:

My response:

Bill,
I am not sure if this will work, but try burning the floppy to a CD and see if it will boot. Unfortunately XP I believe doesn’t support burning to CD, just floppy.

Let me know if this works. If not we will try something else.

Bill:

Ron;

But when I do the backup on my Laptop XP forces me to create a floppy. And at that point I have to X out then I get a message that my backup may not be complete or may not have been fully successful. Even if I am successful in doing the burn from the floppy to the CD the fact still remains my laptop back up is incomplete unless I create a floppy then and there.

I must admit I am at a loss for two reasons. I haven’t used XP for about 3 years and second, when I did use XP I never used the built in backup program. I use Acronis.

Any suggestion for Bill would be appreciated.

Comments welcome.


  • http://www.goretsky.com Aryeh Goretsky

    Hello,

    Perhaps different backup software is needed? A file-based backup, such as performed by Microsoft’s own SyncToy or 2BrightSpark’s SyncBack might be a better solution than the rather dated NT Backup program included with Windows XP.

    Regards,

    Aryeh Goretsky

  • http://wp3.lockergnome.com/nexus/blade/ Ron Schenone

    Thanks Aryeh. Great suggestion.

    Bill,
    I don’t think I was clear about copying the floppy to CD. I was referring to copying the floppy from your desktop backup to CD and determine if the laptop would boot from the CD and if you would be able to do a restore.

    If the backup is not complete on the laptop, it most likely is due to the failure to not have completed a floppy disk. I believe the backup itself is complete.

    As Aryeh has stated, trying other software may be a better choice.

    Hope this helps. Ron

  • http://www.gavincampbellonline.com Gavin

    The floppy is mainly used if your system dies and you need to fully restore the system.

    To create a boot cd version of it will require a lot more work than just burning the files to a cd. Probably more work than what is really required.

    However the backup you performed was completed and all of your files are backed up to the network share.

    I currently use this as my automated backup solution. However if my system ever dies I then reinstall everything from scratch and restore the files from the backup file that I need.

    This also gives me the opportunity to build “clean” system again which I like to do every now and then.

    One thing I don’t like about ‘image’ backups is that most of the times the problems that were on your system that caused it to crash are also present in the backups. So starting clean is probably the best thing to do.

    Hope this helps.

  • http://wp3.lockergnome.com/nexus/theoracle/ the oracle

    Paragon has a Backup & Recovery program, revision 10.1, which is available in both 32 bit and 64 bit versions. It can currently be had gratis from this address [ http://www.paragon-software.com/home/db-express/download.html ]

    I have used version 9 of this software to move from a smaller hard disk to a larger one on my floppy-less laptop. It uses a few convoluted steps, but it is always clear in what it is doing, and never at any time is a floppy needed. All that I backed up was restored perfectly to the new disk , and since this would simulate the loss of a hard drive, it should meet all the user’s requirements.

  • http://tracker1.info/ Michael J. Ryan

    I’d probably just break down and buy a cheap USB floppy drive. Would need to confirm the laptop can boot from a USB based floppy though. Many newer BIOS will actually mount the USB floppy detected at boot to the A: drive.

  • http://www.goretsky.com/ Aryeh Goretsky

    Hello,

    if there is a need to do a “bare metal restore” to boot from recovery media and restore a complete backup of the computer, including the operating system, then Acronis True Image, Paragon Backup & Recovery or Symantec Ghost might be a good choice. NovaStor’s NovaBack also has this functionality, I believe, although I have not used it for that purpose myself.

    Regards,

    Aryeh Goretsky

  • Gary Bing

    I would just get Norton 360 with 3 licenses. It has back up included virtually eliminating any need for discs.(You can put in a disc download it and burn it if you wish) Seeing as you get state of the art security that’s no longer the resource hog it once was, my $45 spent on Amazon was a bargain (it’s normally twice that) They do have a more expensive version which has a larger capacity for back-up but I don’t know that many people who really need that.

  • http://www.justenrobertson.com Justen

    There may be some software available to create a virtual floppy drive for this purpose. After finishing, copy files from the fake drive to a bootable USB, that should solve the problem. Second solution, buy or borrow a USB floppy drive, they work just fine and cost $15-$25.