Does anyone know the UNC syntax for accessing an entire disk under 
Windows? I don't mean one partition, but the entire disk, and in 
particular the MBR and partition table.

\\.\C: does it for the C: partition, the first 512 bytes of which are 
the boot record, for example.

But I want to be able to read the MBR, and I'm wondering if there's 
something the equivalent of Linux's /dev/hda, given that the equivalent 
of /dev/hda1 exists on Windows.

Thanks for any suggestions to try. Note that \\.\physicaldrive0 doesnt 
work. :-)

I will say this for Linux: it's a heck of a lot easier to figure out how 
to move system files around. Windows does its damnedest to keep you from 
copying the registry to a new, bigger disk. :-)

I can't figure out the "automated system restore" at all. The backup 
program won't write to DVDs, and the restore program won't read from the 
network or USB drives. How the heck are you supposed to restore the 
backup it made without installing a second disk drive or something? 
Stupid, stupid, stupid. Even with a windows LiveCD it's tedious and 
painful, and assumes your new drive is at least twice as big as the old 
partition.

-- 
   Darren New / San Diego, CA, USA (PST)
     "That's pretty. Where's that?"
          "It's the Age of Channelwood."
     "We should go there on vacation some time."

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Darren New wrote:
> Thanks for any suggestions to try. Note that \\.\physicaldrive0 doesnt 
> work. :-)

Nevermind. The right google term (after 3 days of googling) is "physical 
drive". That goes to http://support.microsoft.com/kb/q100027/ which says 
\\.\physicaldrive0 should work. I must be doing it wrong.

-- 
   Darren New / San Diego, CA, USA (PST)
     "That's pretty. Where's that?"
          "It's the Age of Channelwood."
     "We should go there on vacation some time."

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whatever it is, if there is such a thing it may be hidden behind a button
somewhere... ;)

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uh-oh

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Darren New wrote:
> Darren New wrote:
>> Thanks for any suggestions to try. Note that \\.\physicaldrive0 doesnt 
>> work. :-)
> 
> Nevermind. The right google term (after 3 days of googling) is "physical 
> drive". That goes to http://support.microsoft.com/kb/q100027/ which says 
> \\.\physicaldrive0 should work. I must be doing it wrong.

And then, five minutes later, trying it one last time out of 
frustration, exactly the same as before, it now works. W. T. F??

I guess something had the drive locked or some such, and I wasn't 
getting back particularly informative error messages?

Oh well, I guess I'll see if it works where I really want it to work.

-- 
   Darren New / San Diego, CA, USA (PST)
     "That's pretty. Where's that?"
          "It's the Age of Channelwood."
     "We should go there on vacation some time."

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Darren New wrote:
> 
> And then, five minutes later, trying it one last time out of 
> frustration, exactly the same as before, it now works. W. T. F??
>

You're slowly getting enough Linux -oriented to get Windows jamming as 
others of us have gotten for years ;).

> I guess something had the drive locked or some such, and I wasn't 
> getting back particularly informative error messages?

Actually, that's probably a lot better reason.

> Oh well, I guess I'll see if it works where I really want it to work.

Note that if it's about locking oslt, you can't be sure that it'll work 
always when needed :(.

-- 
Eero "Aero" Ahonen
    http://www.zbxt.net
       aer### [at] removethiszbxtnetinvalid

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Eero Ahonen wrote:

>> Oh well, I guess I'll see if it works where I really want it to work.
> 
> Note that if it's about locking oslt, you can't be sure that it'll work 
> always when needed :(.

You think that's random? On one of our servers, there are some folders 
in the recycle bin which *cannot* be deleted. Every time you try it 
complains that they're "in use". Despite the fact that the server has 
been rebooted God knows how many times over the years. But still these 
files cannot be removed.

Fortunately they're small...

-- 
http://blog.orphi.me.uk/
http://www.zazzle.com/MathematicalOrchid*

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Invisible wrote:
> 
> You think that's random? 

Nope. I think that if information needed for one process can be locked 
out by some other process, they might get to hit at the same time.

> On one of our servers, there are some folders 
> in the recycle bin which *cannot* be deleted. Every time you try it 
> complains that they're "in use". Despite the fact that the server has 
> been rebooted God knows how many times over the years. But still these 
> files cannot be removed.
> 
> Fortunately they're small...

Have you tried booting to fail safe mode and removing there? Right now 
someone (I'd guess Darren;) could tell you a Windows-utility equal to 
*n?x -sides lsof (LiSt of Open Files), meaning a utility which can tell 
you which process is using which open file (we have one at work, but I 
don't remember the name, so I won't get it until next week).


-- 
Eero "Aero" Ahonen
    http://www.zbxt.net
       aer### [at] removethiszbxtnetinvalid

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Eero Ahonen wrote:

>> On one of our servers, there are some folders in the recycle bin which 
>> *cannot* be deleted. Every time you try it complains that they're "in 
>> use". Despite the fact that the server has been rebooted God knows how 
>> many times over the years. But still these files cannot be removed.
>>
>> Fortunately they're small...
> 
> Have you tried booting to fail safe mode and removing there?

People get kinda annoyed if you do stuff to the server they're trying to 
use...

> Right now 
> someone (I'd guess Darren;) could tell you a Windows-utility equal to 
> *n?x -sides lsof (LiSt of Open Files), meaning a utility which can tell 
> you which process is using which open file (we have one at work, but I 
> don't remember the name, so I won't get it until next week).

I believe you can find this information from the "server" applet from 
the control panel.

Nope, wait, that's only for Windows NT. They removed it in Windows XP. 
Hold on... Ah yes, Computer Management. There's a "Shared Folders" item 
in the right pane, with an "Open Files" subitem.

Alternatively, either PS Tools or Process Explorer from System Internals 
might help you. [Altough given that M$ now ownes that, maybe not...]

-- 
http://blog.orphi.me.uk/
http://www.zazzle.com/MathematicalOrchid*

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Invisible wrote:
> 
> People get kinda annoyed if you do stuff to the server they're trying to 
> use...

That's why there are times called "service windows". On a service window 
people are *not* using the server so you can do stuff on it.

> I believe you can find this information from the "server" applet from 
> the control panel.
> 
> Nope, wait, that's only for Windows NT. They removed it in Windows XP. 
> Hold on... Ah yes, Computer Management. There's a "Shared Folders" item 
> in the right pane, with an "Open Files" subitem.

I'm not actually sure if that subitem tells you everything, but have you 
checked there? Of course, you should check it form the server, not your 
workstation (I surely hope your servers are not running XP).

> Alternatively, either PS Tools or Process Explorer from System Internals 
> might help you. [Altough given that M$ now ownes that, maybe not...]

Possibly. Go and find out, who's (ab)using your recycle bins ;).

-- 
Eero "Aero" Ahonen
    http://www.zbxt.net
       aer### [at] removethiszbxtnetinvalid

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Eero Ahonen wrote:
> Invisible wrote:
>>
>> People get kinda annoyed if you do stuff to the server they're trying 
>> to use...
> 
> That's why there are times called "service windows". On a service window 
> people are *not* using the server so you can do stuff on it.

I doubt anybody is going to pay overtime so I can remove a couple of 
items from the recycle bin.

>> I believe you can find this information from the "server" applet from 
>> the control panel.
>>
>> Nope, wait, that's only for Windows NT. They removed it in Windows XP. 
>> Hold on... Ah yes, Computer Management. There's a "Shared Folders" 
>> item in the right pane, with an "Open Files" subitem.
> 
> I'm not actually sure if that subitem tells you everything, but have you 
> checked there? Of course, you should check it form the server, not your 
> workstation (I surely hope your servers are not running XP).

This particular server is running Windows 2000 Server, which has the 
same Control Panel layout.

>> Alternatively, either PS Tools or Process Explorer from System 
>> Internals might help you. [Altough given that M$ now ownes that, maybe 
>> not...]
> 
> Possibly. Go and find out, who's (ab)using your recycle bins ;).

Well, these folders are managed by our automated project ****-up system, 
so I imagine that's probably the source of the trouble...

-- 
http://blog.orphi.me.uk/
http://www.zazzle.com/MathematicalOrchid*

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Invisible wrote:
> 
> I doubt anybody is going to pay overtime so I can remove a couple of 
> items from the recycle bin.
> 

Don't doubt it - ask for it. If not allowed, at least you'll know 
service windows are not considered needed, which means the servers can 
be maintained during work ours (you should explain this while asking for 
service windows).

> This particular server is running Windows 2000 Server, which has the 
> same Control Panel layout.

I assumed so :).

> Well, these folders are managed by our automated project ****-up system, 
> so I imagine that's probably the source of the trouble...

Sound very possible.

-- 
Eero "Aero" Ahonen
    http://www.zbxt.net
       aer### [at] removethiszbxtnetinvalid

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Eero Ahonen escribió:
> Invisible wrote:
>> Alternatively, either PS Tools or Process Explorer from System 
>> Internals might help you. [Altough given that M$ now ownes that, maybe 
>> not...]
> 
> Possibly. Go and find out, who's (ab)using your recycle bins ;).
> 

And not only find out, you can also force the file handle closed and 
delete the files. But there is a high chance of having the owning 
process crash if it tries to do something with that file handle it 
thought was open...

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Eero Ahonen wrote:
> You're slowly getting enough Linux -oriented to get Windows jamming as 
> others of us have gotten for years ;).

Well, this is the first time I've tried to do something really 
system-level in Windows. And I no longer have a working C compiler 
installed under Windows (using all interpreters/VMs), so I can't put in 
the exact calls I need.

MS doesn't exactly make the baroque stuff easy to find on their web 
site, either - especially when they're trying to push you to use the new 
stuff. :-)

I've always had minor annoyances with Windows, and never said Linux was 
bad as such. Never disputed that. They're just *different* annoyances 
than with Linux. :-)

It's like arguing over whether compiled or interpreted code is "better". 
Meaningless unless you talk about specific situations.

>> I guess something had the drive locked or some such, and I wasn't 
>> getting back particularly informative error messages?
> 
> Actually, that's probably a lot better reason.

Except it didn't work when booting off a liveCD, so I can't imagine 
what's locking drives at that level.

>> Oh well, I guess I'll see if it works where I really want it to work.
> 
> Note that if it's about locking oslt, you can't be sure that it'll work 
> always when needed :(.

It would probably work reliably if I actually had a compiler so I could 
make the right calls. :-)  It's not enough of a hassle yet to actually 
find and download a free windows compiler. Yet.

-- 
   Darren New / San Diego, CA, USA (PST)
     "That's pretty. Where's that?"
          "It's the Age of Channelwood."
     "We should go there on vacation some time."

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Invisible wrote:
> You think that's random? On one of our servers, there are some folders 
> in the recycle bin which *cannot* be deleted. Every time you try it 
> complains that they're "in use".

They're probably not really in use. :-)

In addition to the advice already given (safe mode, etc) there are also 
utilities that will set up entries in the registry that will make the 
boot process rename or delete the file before anything else starts
<http://lifehacker.com/software/how-to/delete-a-locked-file-in-windows-266433.php>
or you can boot a liveCD (google "bartPE") so you're not booting the 
server system at all.

-- 
   Darren New / San Diego, CA, USA (PST)
     "That's pretty. Where's that?"
          "It's the Age of Channelwood."
     "We should go there on vacation some time."

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Darren New escribió:
> It would probably work reliably if I actually had a compiler so I could 
> make the right calls. :-)  It's not enough of a hassle yet to actually 
> find and download a free windows compiler. Yet.

I used these instructions:
http://arrozcru.no-ip.org/ffmpeg_wiki/tiki-index.php?page=MSys_MinGW

You could also get cygwin, which is probably easier to set up.

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Nicolas Alvarez wrote:
> I used these instructions:
> http://arrozcru.no-ip.org/ffmpeg_wiki/tiki-index.php?page=MSys_MinGW

Thank you!

-- 
   Darren New / San Diego, CA, USA (PST)
     "That's pretty. Where's that?"
          "It's the Age of Channelwood."
     "We should go there on vacation some time."

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Invisible schrieb:
> Eero Ahonen wrote:
> 
>>> Oh well, I guess I'll see if it works where I really want it to work.
>>
>> Note that if it's about locking oslt, you can't be sure that it'll
>> work always when needed :(.
> 
> You think that's random? On one of our servers, there are some folders
> in the recycle bin which *cannot* be deleted. Every time you try it
> complains that they're "in use". Despite the fact that the server has
> been rebooted God knows how many times over the years. But still these
> files cannot be removed.
> 

http://ccollomb.free.fr/unlocker/
Using this tool at least once a week

kk

> Fortunately they're small...
>

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nemesis wrote:
> whatever it is, if there is such a thing it may be hidden behind a button
> somewhere... ;)
> 
> 

It got lost between the 'z' and the 'windows' key

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Darren New wrote:
> Eero Ahonen wrote:
>> You're slowly getting enough Linux -oriented to get Windows jamming as 
>> others of us have gotten for years ;).
> 
-clip-
> I've always had minor annoyances with Windows, and never said Linux was 
> bad as such. Never disputed that. They're just *different* annoyances 
> than with Linux. :-)

Yep. Now I have to make sure you did notice the smiley on my text ;). 
You just seem to have a bad habit to find out mysterious things from 
Windows - the ones listed as missing options etc...

>> Actually, that's probably a lot better reason.
> 
> Except it didn't work when booting off a liveCD, so I can't imagine 
> what's locking drives at that level.

Agh, then it's surely something else. Go figure...

-- 
Eero "Aero" Ahonen
    http://www.zbxt.net
       aer### [at] removethiszbxtnetinvalid

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