Can copying Dos to a CD work for reinstalls \ VOGONS

Can copying Dos to a CD work for reinstalls

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First post, by GabrielKnight123

Posted on 2018-08-10, 13:20

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I have been reinstalling Dos over and over trying to get a boot manager working and I asked before about putting a HDD with Dos into another PC and the answer was swapping the HDD would work but what about if I install Dos then plug the HDD into my main i7 PC and copy everything like C:\Dos and all hidden files autoexec.bat + config.sys etc to a CD would I be able to then copy from the CD to a reformatted HDD to get Dos back? This would save me so much time but does Dos change anything at a hard drive level at all?

Reply 1 of 6, by Jo22

Posted on 2018-08-10, 14:11

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As far as I understand you posting, yes, that works. However, you would have to copy the system files using SYS (SYS C:).
This should work if the new HDD was partitioned with FDISK first and then formatted with the /B parameter (reserves spare space for boot sector and MSDOS.SYS/IO.SYS).
If it was formated with the /S parameter, the system files and the boot sector should be there already.

If you like to install MS-DOS 6.22 off a CD-ROM, you could also look out for an old DOS 6.22 CD-ROM.
Be it physical or.. Anyway, make sure you've got a DOS 6.22 license (COA ceritificate). 😉

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Reply 2 of 6, by GabrielKnight123

Posted on 2018-08-10, 15:10

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Thanks jo22 yes I bought my original Dos 6.21 disks of ebay that were sealed with COA but if I dont use SYS C: or format /B and just copy everything over will that work?

Reply 3 of 6, by Azarien

Posted on 2018-08-10, 16:09

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GabrielKnight123 wrote:
if I dont use SYS C: or format /B and just copy everything over will that work?

Then your HDD will not be bootable.

Reply 4 of 6, by oeuvre

Posted on 2018-08-12, 19:22

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honestly just copy via USB to IDE adapter

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Reply 5 of 6, by Jo22

Posted on 2018-08-13, 04:21

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I'd use an USB pen drive or SD/MMC/CF card+card reader. On both types DOS can be installed on (bootable, even).

"Time, it seems, doesn't flow. For some it's fast, for some it's slow.
In what to one race is no time at all, another race can rise and fall..." - The Minstrel

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Reply 6 of 6, by chinny22

Posted on 2018-08-14, 11:56

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GabrielKnight123 wrote:
Thanks jo22 yes I bought my original Dos 6.21 disks of ebay that were sealed with COA but if I dont use SYS C: or format /B and just copy everything over will that work?

To use your wording this is the only part of dos that does "Dos change anything at a hard drive level"
so you will still need to run the command,

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