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MS/Windows Backup and Recovery Plan: (if something fails in dual boot installation)

MS/Windows Backup and Recovery Plan: (if something fails in dual boot installation)

For those who will be creating a dual boot computer and wish to maintain a windows partition or drive:

Backup important partitions.
Create a DOS boot floppy to restore a ``Master Boot Record'' if it gets corrupted.
Create DOS/Windows recovery disks for DOS/Windows partitions. (For dual boot configurations)

It would be wise to make a backup of anything important that may reside on disks or partitions you don't intend on disturbing. The Linux installation has the option of installing one of the operating system loaders Lilo or GRUB. GRUB was introduced as the default Linux boot loader in Red Hat 7.2. The boot loader allows one to boot one or more operating systems and is usually installed on the master boot record of the hard drive (boot drive). In the case of Windows NT (or variants), the Microsoft boot loader is used to launch the Linux boot loader which will then boots Linux. As a precaution, it would be wise to have a rescue plan for the Master Boot Record.

DOS recovery disk: From DOS create a floppy:

C:\>FORMAT /U A:/S
C:\>COPY C:\DOS\FDISK.EXE A:\
C:\>COPY C:\DOS\FORMAT.COM A:\
C:\>COPY C:\DOS\MSD.EXE A:\

This creates a boot floppy with some rescue tools. To restore a Master Boot Record, boot the PC from the floppy and enter the following shell command:

DOS/Win9X:
```
   A:\>FDISK /MBR C:
```
Win 2000/NT: (boot from CD and enter "Recovery Console")
```
   fixmbr
```
Win XP: (boot from CD and enter "Recovery Console")
```
   bootcfg /rebuild
```

Explanation of MBR: The Master Boot Record is on a sector of your hard drive which cannot be seen from your file system. It is separate. Upon booting, the system reads the MBR first. This points the computer to the portion of the disk where the operating system resides and the OS is loaded from there. When running a dual boot system, LILO (or Grub) in the MBR can point to more than one operating system from which to boot.

Windows 95 recovery diskette: To create a windows ``start-up'' disk, select ``Start'' + ``Settings'' + ``Control Panel'' + ``Add/Remove Programs'' then select the ``Startup Disk'' tab. This may require your Windows 95 CD-ROM.

Red Hat re-install on an existing system: Save configuration info

Configuration files are held in the directory /etc/. Save a backup or hard copy of the "conf" files you need to re-configure your system. The command ls -lrt will list files in a reverse time ordered fashion. The newer files are listed last and are the ones most likely changed.
Backup or print file /etc/sysconfig/rhn/systemid to preserve the configuration information for up2date.