copy system & other 'Files In Use'

hii what is ur intension ? is it to backup or to have an image drive to save
u from a bad hair day. copying the directory is nvr a good method for one it
wont work if u are trying to load windows from that directory. secondly ur
files constantly get updated with udpates and patches and those copied files
will become abosolute with in no time. if u are planning to save certain
files for recovery if at all there is a crash enable system restore in ur
windows this will save u from a load of crashes! my computer > rightclick
properties> system restore. this will only save ur windows files and
configurations not all ur personal or use files so space wastage is not a
problem! if u are trying to have an image (clonning) as a backup then try
casper xp all ur problems are gone here. (http://www.fssdev.com/) if u are
worried about recovering from a non bootable instance just copy this folder
and save it at a differnt loaction [windows\system32\config] this is ur
registry and u need to cpy this from outside windows else u wont be albe to
use boot floppy or bartpe. also read the following articles so that you are
ready for such problems to fix.

How to recover from a corrupted registry that prevents Windows XP from
starting
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;307545
How to troubleshoot registry corruption
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;822705

Hope this helps...,
Umesh Thota
www.windowsworkshop.com

"Adam Skeaping" <adamskeaping DeleteThis @NOTCOLDmail.com> wrote in message
news:9B3E1375-8CC2-4081-9ABF-F73903A4CC6A@microsoft.com...
>I won't bore you with the reasons, but I need to make a complete duplicate
>of
> my windows directory including all system & hidden files (i.e. 'Copy of
> Windows') without the dreaded 'File In Use' stopping me.
>
> It must be possible because my Acronis backup software does it, but using
> that entails dumping the entire Windows directory to somewhere else and
> then
> I probably won't have sufficient disk space to restore it to a renamed
> directory, when all I want to do is copy it directly...
>
> I've tried booting to Safe Mode with Command Prompt, but that's not like
> Boot to DOS was in good-ol' W98, because it loads stuff that will
> presumably
> prevent me using xcopy anyway as soon as it encounters some damn .dll or
> something that's In Use.
>
> What is Shadow Copy, and would it do the trick? I'm using a beaten-up
> laptop with XP Pro + SP2.