Corrupt NTFS filesystem

kony wrote:
On Sun, 29 Oct 2006 07:24:29 GMT, (Citizen Bob)
wrote:


Of course if I did it that way I would first copy over the Profiles
and install a minimum number of apps to keep productive for my most
important projects. The other stuff I would have to put on hold.

But them if I do that, why not install XP Pro and use its wizard to
move everything from Win2K.

The wizard cannot move everything, you're still left with
misc things out of order that will have to be moved
manually.

Recall that you're starting out with a clean install. Once
that is confirmed working correctly, a necessary step, the
copying of apps and export/import registry entries is a
matter of minutes' time. You will have to set user
preferences again, so that's your call to make- if you want
to go to XP, ok, but I would go to XP because you really
wanted XP besides this issue, for it's own merits and
detractions relative to 2K.

I suppose I can learn to live with XP if I
use the compatibility mode. I was wanting to wait for Vista but I
never install a new version of Windows without the first SP out and
tested, and that could be a couple years with Vista. Therefore I
should consider XP for the interim. My son has been running XP for
years and he likes it, so it can't be all that bad.

He's not trying to run a several years old upgrade from NT4
that's acting odd and has 100+ apps either... it's all about
context. Do not think XP will magically make all your old
stuff run with it's wizard, it isn't going to happen, but it
will do some useful things and you may find you still need
to copy files, merge registry entries, etc.



Then I can slowly install my other apps, taking the opportunity to
upgrade them as I install each one.

If you're going to slowly install your apps, there was no
point to any of this... The main thing is, to, umm, do it,
whichever way just get past this perpetual data corruption
and put it behind you forever, ASAP.


It sounds like a plan, but first I want to squeeze the last bit of
life out of Win2K. That's why I am going to convert back to FAT32 and
give it a chance to hang itself by running it a couple weeks.

There's no reason to think you're squeezing the
last life out of 2K, it's a fine OS and no reason to
go with XP if you're going to reinstall everything,

Wrong, XP has a number of enhancements over 2K.

Particularly for a bonehead as bad as this one.

actually with XP you may find that you have just an extra step
of running the Wizard PLUS the other steps of files and registry.

Nope. The worst he might have to do is to manually configure
an app or two that it hasnt managed to cover very well.

Remember it is not magic, nobody could have envisioned a system
in the situation you have with a realistic testing of that scenario.

Separate issue entirely to how the registry settings can be moved.

And its completely trivial to try the wizard and see if it does manage
to avoid the main problem he keeps whining about, the corruption
and the duplicate entrys for the partitions in a couple of apps.

On Mon, 30 Oct 2006 05:45:44 +1100, "Rod Speed"
wrote:

And you dont even try a
clean NTFS drive, you CONVERTED a FAT32 drive.

Once again you do not know what you are talking about.

I created a new NTFS partition and copied all the files in the FAT32
partition to it.


--

"Nothing in the world can take the place of perseverence. Talent
will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent.
Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education
will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and
determination alone are omnipotent."
--Calvin Coolidge

On Mon, 30 Oct 2006 07:20:27 +1100, "Rod Speed"
wrote:

Remember it is not magic, nobody could have envisioned a system
in the situation you have with a realistic testing of that scenario.

Separate issue entirely to how the registry settings can be moved.

Why don't you guys admit it - you don't know what is wrong here so you
are putting me thru a merry chase to look like you do.

There is nothing wrong with the removable bay.

There is something very wrong with the Registry and exporting any part
of it is possible to get the corruption problem all over again.

The only solution, as has always been the case with Microsoft
products, is to start over from the beginning - install a new Win2K
and install all the apps over again.

That's something I will be forced to do one day when Win2K becomes
obsolete. In the meantime I can live with the problem, and I am
curious to see if there is anyone who can attack the problem who knows
what they are talking about instead of all this hacking around.


--

"Nothing in the world can take the place of perseverence. Talent
will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent.
Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education
will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and
determination alone are omnipotent."
--Calvin Coolidge

On Mon, 30 Oct 2006 07:20:27 +1100, "Rod Speed"
wrote:


There's no reason to think you're squeezing the
last life out of 2K, it's a fine OS and no reason to
go with XP if you're going to reinstall everything,

Wrong, XP has a number of enhancements over 2K.

Maybe they're important, or maybe not. He's got a shedload
of software installed already, so he may not need some, or
even all, the supposed enhancements.



Particularly for a bonehead as bad as this one.

But, he IS using Win2k right now! If he's familiar with any
OS, it would tend to be what's presently on the system.

Plus, XP may have some app or driver issues which means even
more time hunting down newer/patched/etc code.




actually with XP you may find that you have just an extra step
of running the Wizard PLUS the other steps of files and registry.

Nope. The worst he might have to do is to manually configure
an app or two that it hasnt managed to cover very well.

An app or two? Hardly, recall that he has myrid things that
may even pre-date Win2k. The other thing it may do is carry
over more bloat which is part of what it'd be good to get
rid of on an installation so old and already migrated as it
were, not to mention whatever's causing the problem.

It's quite possible the XP Wizard helps expedite the
process, also possible it will not reproduce the current
problem with the system, but XP itself is a further cost, a
further learning curve for some things, time to check or
source the drivers/apps


Remember it is not magic, nobody could have envisioned a system
in the situation you have with a realistic testing of that scenario.

Separate issue entirely to how the registry settings can be moved.

And its completely trivial to try the wizard and see if it does manage
to avoid the main problem he keeps whining about, the corruption
and the duplicate entrys for the partitions in a couple of apps.

Yes he could try it, but then he could (have) tried the
clean win2k install too but hasn't. In the end buying and
using XP for this process could have negligable to no gain.

On Sun, 29 Oct 2006 21:48:50 GMT, (Citizen Bob)
wrote:

On Mon, 30 Oct 2006 07:20:27 +1100, "Rod Speed"
wrote:

Remember it is not magic, nobody could have envisioned a system
in the situation you have with a realistic testing of that scenario.

Separate issue entirely to how the registry settings can be moved.

Why don't you guys admit it - you don't know what is wrong here so you
are putting me thru a merry chase to look like you do.

Actually the last resort of reinstalling the OS is pretty
much the industry standard and accepted practice when the
solution is not known.... or it could be we know what's
wrong and are just leading you around for kicks. Either
way, you should recognize that a clean reinstall of the OS
should rectify the problem.

Citizen Bob wrote
Rod Speed wrote

Remember it is not magic, nobody could have envisioned a system
in the situation you have with a realistic testing of that scenario.

Separate issue entirely to how the registry settings can be moved.

Why don't you guys admit it - you don't know what is wrong here

We have both said repeatedly that there are a number of
possibilitys and that the only viable option is to TRY what
we have suggested to prove where the problem actually is.

so you are putting me thru a merry chase to look like you do.

Great way to get advice on how to work out where the problem is.

And lets not forget that you have been mindlessly thrashing around
for MORE THAN A YEAR and havent managed to fix it yourself.

There is nothing wrong with the removable bay.

You dont know that until you still get the corruption with the drive directly connected.

And I've just won that bet too, I bet that you wouldnt actually try
what is completely trivial to try to eliminate that POSSIBILITY.

There is something very wrong with the Registry and exporting
any part of it is possible to get the corruption problem all over again.

Yes, but you dont know that it wont fix the problem too.

THE ONLY WAY TO WORK OUT WHAT IS CAUSING THE
CORRUPTION IS TO TRY VARIOUS POSSIBILITYS AND TO
SEE WHICH IS IN FACT THE CAUSE OF THAT CORRUPTION.

And it makes a lot more sense to try something easy to try like
eliminating any possibility that its the removable drive bay than
it is to try a completely clean install of all the apps from scratch,
only to find that its actually a hardware problem in the first place.

The only solution, as has always been the case with
Microsoft products, is to start over from the beginning
- install a new Win2K and install all the apps over again.

That wont neccessarily fix the problem either if its a hardware problem.

And it isnt the case with XP anyway.

That's something I will be forced to do one day when Win2K becomes obsolete.

No it isnt. The XP files and settings transfer wizard should
work fine and might at most need a bit of minor config of a
couple of apps out of the 100s you claim to use all the time.

Corse it makes sense to try that on a spare drive and see if
you still get the corruption, because its always possible that
that is due to a hardware problem and not the OS install at all.

In the meantime I can live with the problem,

Gunna be hilarious if it ends up fanging
you on the arse very spectacularly indeed.

and I am curious to see if there is anyone who can attack the problem
who knows what they are talking about instead of all this hacking around.

There is no other way to decide if its a hardware problem or a ****ed OS install.

Presumably thats the reason the chinese woman wiped her hands of your, she
decided that you are terminally bone headed and a complete waste of time.

Bet the US retailler did too, decided that you were a complete waste of time too
and gave you a full refund because you werent worth wasting any more time on.

kony wrote
Rod Speed wrote

There's no reason to think you're squeezing the
last life out of 2K, it's a fine OS and no reason to
go with XP if you're going to reinstall everything,

Wrong, XP has a number of enhancements over 2K.

Maybe they're important, or maybe not.

Some of them are very useful.

He's got a shedload of software installed already, so he may
not need some, or even all, the supposed enhancements.

Nothing 'supposed' about some of them like the system restore.

That alone would clearly have helped him in the past.

And none of his apps provide anything like that capability.

Particularly for a bonehead as bad as this one.

But, he IS using Win2k right now!

Irrelevant to what makes sense in his situation now.

If he's familiar with any OS, it would tend
to be what's presently on the system.

Not a shred of evidence that he's actually familiar with anything OS wise.

He's so stupid that he cant even manage to work out what
chkdsk is about and how to check whether corruption of the MFT
is actually happening at other than boot time or shutdown time.

He's so stupid that he cant even try one VERY simple check,
see if the corruption is due to the removeable drive bay by
seeing if it still happens with the drive directly connected.

Plus, XP may have some app or driver issues which means
even more time hunting down newer/patched/etc code.

Easy enough to try a migration to a clean XP install using
the files and settings transfer wizard to see if that fixes
the problem and if there are any of those glitches.

Not a shred of rocket science required at all,
he even has a spare hard drive to try that with.

His problem is that he doesnt have anything viable between his ears.

actually with XP you may find that you have just an extra step
of running the Wizard PLUS the other steps of files and registry.

Nope. The worst he might have to do is to manually configure
an app or two that it hasnt managed to cover very well.

An app or two? Hardly,

You dont know that.

recall that he has myrid things that may even pre-date Win2k.

There isnt much that does that has
a problem with XP if it runs fine on 2K.

The other thing it may do is carry over more bloat
which is part of what it'd be good to get rid of on an
installation so old and already migrated as it were,

God knows what this is about.

not to mention whatever's causing the problem.

It wont necessarily even do that, it could be a hardware problem.

It's quite possible the XP Wizard helps expedite the
process, also possible it will not reproduce the current
problem with the system, but XP itself is a further cost,

He doesnt bother with legal copys.

a further learning curve for some things,

Nope, he can continue to do whatever he does with 2K.

time to check or source the drivers/apps

He already said that he has kept the app zip files etc.

Remember it is not magic, nobody could have envisioned a system
in the situation you have with a realistic testing of that scenario.

Separate issue entirely to how the registry settings can be moved.

And its completely trivial to try the wizard and see if it does manage
to avoid the main problem he keeps whining about, the corruption
and the duplicate entrys for the partitions in a couple of apps.

Yes he could try it, but then he could (have)
tried the clean win2k install too but hasn't.

Because of the considerably greater effort required to go that route.

In the end buying and using XP for this
process could have negligable to no gain.

Oh bull****. The system restore alone would have saved quite
a bit of his time instead of hobbling along on an obsolete OS.

And if the OS had got into one hell of a mess due to his
terminal stupiditys, it would be a hell of a lot easier now
to move to a clean XP install from the ****ed XP install
using the files and settings transfer wizard now.

Citizen Bob wrote
Rod Speed wrote

I created a new NTFS partition and copied
all the files in the FAT32 partition to it.

Pity you didnt mention that till now and were
asking about a conversion from NTFS to FAT32.

Hardly any of us can read minds.

In spades when they are inside bone heads.

On Mon, 30 Oct 2006 12:30:12 +1100, "Rod Speed"
wrote:

kony wrote
Rod Speed wrote

There's no reason to think you're squeezing the
last life out of 2K, it's a fine OS and no reason to
go with XP if you're going to reinstall everything,

Wrong, XP has a number of enhancements over 2K.

Maybe they're important, or maybe not.

Some of them are very useful.

He's got a shedload of software installed already, so he may
not need some, or even all, the supposed enhancements.

Nothing 'supposed' about some of them like the system restore.

That alone would clearly have helped him in the past.

Do tell how system restore overrides a corrupted HDD
filesystem. The resolution for that is what he is already
doing, continually restoring a backup and losing any
data/changes/etc made in the interim.



And none of his apps provide anything like that capability.

Particularly for a bonehead as bad as this one.

But, he IS using Win2k right now!

Irrelevant to what makes sense in his situation now.

Sledge hammer?



If he's familiar with any OS, it would tend
to be what's presently on the system.

Not a shred of evidence that he's actually familiar with anything OS wise.

Well there's that part about running it... which is more
than can be said about XP.


Easy enough to try a migration to a clean XP install using
the files and settings transfer wizard to see if that fixes
the problem and if there are any of those glitches.


Why would we need to use the files and settings transfer
wizard to see if that fixes the problem?

Clean OS install will certainly fix it, only through trying
to move this frankensteined 2K installation to XP without
control over exactly what's being added, would it tend to
allow unresolvable reoccurance of the problem.

To put it another way, IF he chooses to go with XP, IMO he
should not use that wizard until after he has first tried
mergining a few registry keys, leaving it alone for testing,
then adding the application files. The least additions and
changes at first will make it easier to see if the cause is
reproduced.



actually with XP you may find that you have just an extra step
of running the Wizard PLUS the other steps of files and registry.

Nope. The worst he might have to do is to manually configure
an app or two that it hasnt managed to cover very well.

An app or two? Hardly,

You dont know that.

I know that the odds are, with over 100 apps carried over
from several years pre-2K era, there will be more than a
couple things needing attention. Problem is Bob wants a
comprehensive overview of what these things will be when we
haven't even seen his system, left alone tried to migrate
that particular combo of old and problematic software and/or
settings.



recall that he has myrid things that may even pre-date Win2k.

There isnt much that does that has
a problem with XP if it runs fine on 2K.

Yes most things that'll run on 2k will on XP too, but that
doesn't mean the XP wizard can get it all working without
software reinstallation, user config, and possibly hidden
key/validations recreation.



It wont necessarily even do that, it could be a hardware problem.

I won't rule it out but it's quite doubtful considering the
duplicate volume entries shown in windows.



It's quite possible the XP Wizard helps expedite the
process, also possible it will not reproduce the current
problem with the system, but XP itself is a further cost,

He doesnt bother with legal copys.

Even if this is true, with XP there's validation and
escalated checking for patch purposes... so we'd have to
suppose he's inclined to hack that out when he isn't even
wanting to reinstall windows at all.




a further learning curve for some things,

Nope, he can continue to do whatever he does with 2K.

If he doesn't configure or make use of anything else in XP
over 2k, thus no learning, then XP's only benefit may be the
wizard. Quite an expense just to get a wizard.

Then again, he's been going on about Vista, and buying XP
right now from the right vendors might get him an upgrade
coupon for vista, so at least XP's cost is contributory
towards another goal he has, regardless of whether we feel
his aging system is a good vista candidate.



time to check or source the drivers/apps

He already said that he has kept the app zip files etc.

yes, but presumably for what he has/had, NT/2K. We can't
really ignore than jumping into (probably SP2 revision of)
XP may require some updates to these. Maybe not, but
remember that Bob is trying to use a crystal ball to see
everything possible.



Yes he could try it, but then he could (have)
tried the clean win2k install too but hasn't.

Because of the considerably greater effort required to go that route.

Only if you assumed a magic wizard is a cure-all, otherwise
he may have similar tasks to do PLUS the wizard with XP,
though it'll transfer user preferences instead of that
manually- though that is not so production inhibiting as not
having any vital software working.



In the end buying and using XP for this
process could have negligable to no gain.

Oh bull****. The system restore alone would have saved quite
a bit of his time instead of hobbling along on an obsolete OS.

He's made backups, what would you claim a system restore
would do for him over an entire partition backup from the
same moment in time? Apparently he doesn't have any such
event to fall back on, so a system restore now is a day (ok,
Years...) late, and preempted by the full partition backups
he'll most certainly want to make if he has any hope of
painlessly salvaging what's left on the drive after this
continual corruptive cycle.



And if the OS had got into one hell of a mess due to his
terminal stupiditys, it would be a hell of a lot easier now
to move to a clean XP install from the ****ed XP install
using the files and settings transfer wizard now.

.... except for the things that don't (then) work, requiring
the other steps anyway. If he wants XP, ok, but at this
point the problem is not which OS he chooses, it's that he
hasn't started a replacement installation of either.

kony wrote
Rod Speed wrote
kony wrote
Rod Speed wrote

There's no reason to think you're squeezing the
last life out of 2K, it's a fine OS and no reason to
go with XP if you're going to reinstall everything,

Wrong, XP has a number of enhancements over 2K.

Maybe they're important, or maybe not.

Some of them are very useful.

He's got a shedload of software installed already, so he may
not need some, or even all, the supposed enhancements.

Nothing 'supposed' about some of them like the system restore.

That alone would clearly have helped him in the past.

Do tell how system restore overrides a corrupted HDD filesystem.

Never said it would. It may well have helped with the
partitions ending up with duplicated entrys in some apps tho.

The resolution for that is what he is already doing,
continually restoring a backup and losing any
data/changes/etc made in the interim.

Duh.

And none of his apps provide anything like that capability.

Particularly for a bonehead as bad as this one.

But, he IS using Win2k right now!

Irrelevant to what makes sense in his situation now.

Sledge hammer?

Nope, working out what is corrupting the MFT, hardware or
****ed OS install, since it cant be one of the apps he runs now.

If he's familiar with any OS, it would tend
to be what's presently on the system.

Not a shred of evidence that he's actually familiar with anything OS wise.

Well there's that part about running it...
which is more than can be said about XP.

Wrong again. He can run XP just like he runs 2K now if he wants to.

Easy enough to try a migration to a clean XP install using
the files and settings transfer wizard to see if that fixes
the problem and if there are any of those glitches.

Why would we need to use the files and settings
transfer wizard to see if that fixes the problem?

Because that is the easiest way to do a clean OS install, stupid.

Clean OS install will certainly fix it,

You dont know that. It could be a hardware problem.

only through trying to move this frankensteined
2K installation to XP without control over exactly
what's being added, would it tend to allow
unresolvable reoccurance of the problem.

Mindless silly stuff when its a clean install of XP, not an upgrade.

Its actually significantly easier to try a clean OS install with XP
instead of 2K, just because the wizard isnt available with 2K.

And if he still gets the MFT corruption after using the wizard, he
can try another clean install of XP, dont migrate any of the apps
at all and see if he still gets the corruption of the MFT. If he
doesnt he can cut to the chase and manually install those apps then.

Corse he's so bone headed that he wont do that, because
he so bone headed that he would prefer to waste MUCH
more time over the next year or so fixing the corrupted MFT
manually every week than to manually install the apps again.

To put it another way, IF he chooses to go with XP,
IMO he should not use that wizard until after he has
first tried mergining a few registry keys, leaving it
alone for testing, then adding the application files.

It would be better to not bother with any registry keys
at all, just see whether a clean install of XP corrupts
the MFT when running ImPerfect Disk. That would be
one way of completely eliminating any possibility of a
hardware problem being the cause of the corrupted MFT.

Corse he's so bone headed that he wont even try that VERY easy test either.

The least additions and changes at first will
make it easier to see if the cause is reproduced.

Yes, but it makes more sense to try the virgin XP install
first when its so easy to use ImPerfect Disk to see if it
corrupts the MFT since it does with the 2K install.

actually with XP you may find that you have just an extra step
of running the Wizard PLUS the other steps of files and registry.

Nope. The worst he might have to do is to manually configure
an app or two that it hasnt managed to cover very well.

An app or two? Hardly,

You dont know that.

I know that the odds are, with over 100 apps
carried over from several years pre-2K era, there
will be more than a couple things needing attention.

You dont even know how many of the apps are actually that old.

Problem is Bob wants a comprehensive overview of what
these things will be when we haven't even seen his system,
left alone tried to migrate that particular combo of old and
problematic software and/or settings.

The real problem is that he's so bone headed that he
is actually stupid enough to prefer to manually repair
the MFT corruption weekly, over more than a year,
instead of even trying the most basic test like checking
if a clean virgin XP install sees any MFT corruption.

Presumably thats what saw him getting the
bums rush from his last paid employment.

recall that he has myrid things that may even pre-date Win2k.

There isnt much that does that has
a problem with XP if it runs fine on 2K.

Yes most things that'll run on 2k will on XP too, but that
doesn't mean the XP wizard can get it all working without
software reinstallation, user config, and possibly hidden
key/validations recreation.

Never said it is guaranteed to. In fact I repeatedly said that
the worst that might happen is that a few apps might have
to be dont manually. Its very unlikely to be more than a few tho.

It wont necessarily even do that, it could be a hardware problem.

I won't rule it out but it's quite doubtful considering
the duplicate volume entries shown in windows.

Those dont show in Win, only in a couple of his apps.

It's quite possible the XP Wizard helps expedite the
process, also possible it will not reproduce the current
problem with the system, but XP itself is a further cost,

He doesnt bother with legal copys.

Even if this is true, with XP there's validation
and escalated checking for patch purposes...

Not if you have a clue and use a corporate XP.

so we'd have to suppose he's inclined to hack that out
when he isn't even wanting to reinstall windows at all.

You dont need to if you have enough of a clue to use a corporate XP.

Corse its a big ask to assume he actually has a clue about
anything at all or have enough viable between his ears to
be able to even accept that recommended approach either.

a further learning curve for some things,

Nope, he can continue to do whatever he does with 2K.

If he doesn't configure or make use of anything else in XP over
2k, thus no learning, then XP's only benefit may be the wizard.

Wrong, there are quite a few other conveniences too. Many
of them just see XP making it harder for stupids to do things
dangerously and others just making life easier like with the
completely automatic detection and appropriate app launching
when you plug in stuff as basic as a camera etc even if he's
such a dinosaur that he would touch an ipod if you paid him etc.

Quite an expense just to get a wizard.

No expense whatever if you choose not to pay for it.

Then again, he's been going on about Vista, and buying XP right now
from the right vendors might get him an upgrade coupon for vista,

He doesnt appear to buy any software that its possible to download.

so at least XP's cost is contributory towards another goal he has,
regardless of whether we feel his aging system is a good vista candidate.

I bet vista is just more talk and he wont ever buy it.

time to check or source the drivers/apps

He already said that he has kept the app zip files etc.

yes, but presumably for what he has/had, NT/2K.
We can't really ignore than jumping into (probably SP2
revision of) XP may require some updates to these.

No big deal if that only involves a couple/few.

Maybe not, but remember that Bob is trying
to use a crystal ball to see everything possible.

That's just his excuse to justify actually doing anything
except continuing to waste heaps of time manually
repairing the MFT corruption weekly, and the cloning
that has to be done at a high rate because that happens.

He's actually too stupid to use TI's incremental backups.

Yes he could try it, but then he could (have)
tried the clean win2k install too but hasn't.

Because of the considerably greater effort required to go that route.

Only if you assumed a magic wizard is a cure-all,

Doesnt have to be a cure all, ALL it needs to do is substantially
reduce the number of apps that need to be manually configured.

otherwise he may have similar tasks to do PLUS the wizard with XP,

Mindlessly silly.

though it'll transfer user preferences instead of that manually-

Which alone is a substantial saving of effort.

though that is not so production inhibiting
as not having any vital software working.

Its completely trivial to try the XP wizard and see if
that very unlikely outcome happens and reconsider the
migration to XP if that does fix the MFT corruption problem.

In the end buying and using XP for this
process could have negligable to no gain.

Oh bull****. The system restore alone would have saved quite
a bit of his time instead of hobbling along on an obsolete OS.

He's made backups,

And doing that by cloning at the high rate that needs to be done
because of the high rate of MFT corruption is alone one hell of a
lot more effort than even manually doing a clean install of 2K.

what would you claim a system restore would do for him
over an entire partition backup from the same moment in time?

If the clean install of XP doesnt see any MFT corruption,
it would allow him to do the backups at a much lower rate
and while he is too stupid to actually use TI incremental
backups instead for the effortlessness of those, it would
allow him to do a system restore when something else
goes pear shaped in the future, as its absolutely guaranteed
to do given the terminal stupidity of so much of what he does.

System restores are MUCH faster than restoring by cloning.

Apparently he doesn't have any such event to fall back
on, so a system restore now is a day (ok, Years...) late,

Yes, but he's learnt his lesson from that one. He
didnt have the clone backups for that one either.

and preempted by the full partition backups he'll most certainly
want to make if he has any hope of painlessly salvaging what's
left on the drive after this continual corruptive cycle.

Yes, but if the XP install does eliminate the MFT corruption,
he may well stop cloning at such a high rate, and then he
will benefit from being able to do a system restore when he
****s up in the future, and that is absolutely guaranteed to
happen given the terminal stupidity of so much of what he does.

And if the OS had got into one hell of a mess due to his
terminal stupiditys, it would be a hell of a lot easier now
to move to a clean XP install from the ****ed XP install
using the files and settings transfer wizard now.

... except for the things that don't (then)
work, requiring the other steps anyway.

It always works fine when using it from one XP install to another.

If he wants XP, ok, but at this point the problem
is not which OS he chooses, it's that he hasn't
started a replacement installation of either.

Yes, but doing a clean install with XP is sure to require much
less effort because of the wizard, so its more likely that it will
eventually get thru his thick skull that its worth trying, if only
to avoid the effort of manually repairing the MFT corruption
weekly, with the the real risk that it might end up fanging
him on the arse very comprehensively indeed one day.

He isnt completely stupid, he did manage to grasp the need for backups.

He's got one hell of a capacity for painting himself into a corner and
did so with that stupid raid approach and kept adamently insisting
that it was working fine until even he managed to realise that it wasnt.

Its going to be interesting to see if he actually is so stupid as to
continue to manually repair the MFT corruption weekly for another
year or two. Corse he wont have the balls to admit that now.