I have one hard drive which boots with Windows 3.11. I want to make a copy of this onto another hard drive. I have done a format /s and used the backup utility to copy all the files over to the new hard drive, but it STILL won't boot. Any ideas why? What do I need to do?

Well, your details are a little sketchy. But here goes. There's more to booting from a new hard disk that just format d: /s to get it going. You need to play with bits and pieces inside your PC. What I would do (any other suggestions appreciated) would be to switch hard disks. If each hard disk is attached to a different data cable, just switch the cables around. If not (and it's usually so in my case) and both disks are attached to one cable, unscrew the mounting screws and switch places. Refit the data cable and part 1 is done. Then you've got to find the DIP switches on each hard disk. Set the original hard drive to slave and the new hard drive to master. This ensures your new hard disk is considered the place for your system to look for the bootstrap. Depending on the age of your PC, you may have to enter the BIOS (known as Setup or CMOS) and notify your system that you've juggled your drives. If the BIOS is recent enough there should be a choice that allows you to detect what you've got attached. That just about covers it. Anyone noticed some details I've missed? Surfer

OK, no offense, but ignore the last message. All you need to do is copy the system files like command.com over. You probably neglected to do this (because some of the system files are hidden) when you copied the other stuff. Try booting from a DOS boot disc and use SYS C: to make drive c: a system disc. Then remove the floppy and reboot from the harddrive. Also, make sure you set the jumper on the new drive to master (make sure it's not on slave). In the future, the easiest thing to do would be. 1) format the new harddrive (I'm assuming you've already set it as the slave) 2) use XCOPY to copy everything over. the format (assuming your old drive is still C: and the new drive is D:) would be... XCOPY C:\*.* D:\ /e This copies every single file and directory from C: to D: (the /e flag tells xcopy to copy all subdirectories as well). I use this procedure to back up my entire clean DOS/Win3.1 installation with windows completely tweaked and configured and all apps installed so that if it ever gets screwed up or degraded over time, all I have to do is format my harddrive and use XCOPY to copy the fresh, clean archived copy from the zip to the harddrive. XCOPY is your best friend for backups. If you want to just copy your WINDOWS directory, you can do that too. XCOPY C:\WINDOWS D:\WINDOWS /E This copies the windows directory and all files and subdirs in it to D:\ Hope this helps.

Oops, sorry Surfer. Just reread your msg. Misread it the first time. (That's what I get for skimming). Your advice is sound. :)

No offence taken, Philowar. I figure: after 10 or so people answer, there's bound to be an answer in all the dialog that'll help out the person who asked the question. That's worked for me a dozen times. ;o) Again: no offence. We're here to help. Surfer