How Roadkil's Disk Image 1.1 killed my computer by Carpediem2100 =============================================== Feb2006 First, I don't blame Roadkil. My computer crashed and died because I am not good with technology and I couldn't interpret the options Windows had offered. Disk Image probably works fine if you use it appropriately. I downloaded from Roadkil's site, http://www.roadkil.net a small app called Disk Image version 1.1. I was fooling around with it and attempted to make an image of a 3.5" floppy disk to my harddrive. This was on an older computer with a Windows98 platform. So, using the floppy disk as the source and the harddrive as the destination, I proceeded. Windows blurted out a warning/error box saying there is an incompatibility as the DOS version seems to be older. At this point there were 2 choices, and only 2 choices. Choice 1 said the program will proceed but will not print if you press "yes". Choice 2 said press "no" and the program will end. So, like a dummy, I murdered this old loyal Windows98 hound by pressing "no" (How many of you out there would have pressed "yes"?). My computer would not reboot afterwards. Looking back on this it is kind of funny. The frustration of it all. ---------------------------------------- Here is what happened. (note, I tried a reboot after each item listed below.) Windows would not boot into safemode. I used a Windows98 recovery floppy disk (which I made 6 years ago and didn't lose). From here I performed a Chkdsk, and a Scandisk. Scandisk said it found errors and fixed them. Next it recommended to do a SYS C: at the a:\> command prompt. The computer responded with "there is not enough space to do a sys c:". My CD-backups were useless because its proprietary system requires a working Windows OS to function properly. Now, I still don't have a clue of what to do so I decide to reinstall Windows from CD. Windows replied, "can't perform setup as there is a compressed drive." I have to try something else. I was not going to bring my computer to a shop to have it repaired for hundred(s) of dollars. (I think I seen for sale, a pre-owned computer of the same vintage, in the newspaper ads, for about $62.00). I tried using an UltimateBootDisc (UBCD). This CD performs the functions of the recovery floppy disk and likely has more features. Even though I don't know what I'm doing, I highly recommend it. Search on the internet for it. I tried some of the features on the UBCD, and most of them wouldn't finish because it found a fault. ie, a typical message would be "...mcb corrupt...". Now I used the OEM diagnostic disc. Following its instructions I made the program "perform all tests". The program indicated all tests "passed". Next I decided to do a complete recovery with the computers OEM discs. These discs are supposed bring the computer back to the original retail-store-like condition, although it will delete all your existing data. The OEM disc would not proceed saying there is no drive available. At the command prompt, I tried to list the contents of the C: drive using the "dir" command. I have done this years past with success, but this time, it listed the contents of my ORIGINAL floppy disk!!! This is what I think occurred. Disk Image wrote my floppy disk to the C:drive and called the image (which is about 1.4 Megabytes) the new C:drive. That's the most likely reason why I couldn't do a SYS C:, or a Reinstall, or an OEM-factory reinstall. Somehow (I forget the sequence of events), I repartitioned the drive by using the FDISK command and subsequently the FORMAT C: \s command. After this, my OEM discs were able to function properly, and I performed a factory reinstall. Now I was able to use my proprietary backup CDs. The bad news is the backup is a month old. I lost 4 weeks of data, but I consider myself lucky as the damage could have been much worse (- This is another argument for regular/frequent backups -). I spent all day resurrecting this old machine. I can recommend another app for archiving floppy disk images: Rawwrite for Windows is freeware and appears to work quite well. All this headache and pain occurred because I pressed the "no" button, when I should have pressed the "yes" button.