Need help from somebody familiar with dos,...update: All better now

[Phill]

I need your help.

My ageing laptop has thrown a wobbly and I desperately need it working.

Here's the problem.
1) I have two swapable cd-rom drive inserts. 1 has a DVD drive which barely works. The other has a cd-rom which deosn't work and a floppy drive.
2) I can't re-install from the dvd rom as win98 won't install uinless you have a floppy installed.
3) windows98 is kapput but, luckily, I have the contents of the install CD on the hard-drive.

So, I need to clean everything off but the install directory and run the install programme. The problem is that there is no way to do this without going into every single directory and deleting the files then removing the directory. There is no recursive delete command, as far as I can find. At least not in the version of dos my 98 boot disk has on it.

I also have some data on the copmputer I need. About 150Mb of it.

What should I do?

i have an XP machine here at work, I could make an XP boot disk if there are more powerful tools on it than on the 98 boot disk. eg, the abilty to delete entire directory structures or the drivers for a pen drive. In fact, I have access to a lots of cool kit at work so if you have any suggestions that require any kit, I can probably borrow it.

Yours in hope,
Phill

[maledave]

How about getting a USB floppy drive?
'
Oh, and re the recursive delete, will 'del /s *.*' not work, or even use 'rd' (remove directory) or deltree (might only be on Win98) (removes directory).

[red marauder]

deltree foldername /y

Should do it.

Make sure you run smartdrv.exe before though as this speeds it up.

[pkr]

You could get one of those 2.5" adaptors that would allow you to connect the laptop HD to a desktop. Once attached to the desktop, copy out the data and delete everything ( make sure system & hidden stuff is visible ). Or copy out the data & install directory, format the laptop HD and then copy the install dir back. For the latter option, you'd need a boot floppy to allow you to access the install directory as you'd lose the boot info etc.

[bumfrog]

deltree foldername /y

Should do it.

Make sure you run smartdrv.exe before though as this speeds it up.

seconded.

deltree, ahh what a command........ :dork:

[Phill]

Okay, I've tried deltree and get

bad command or filename

smartdrv doesn't work either

I also tried a windows me boot disk usint del /s *.* It said /s is an invalid switch.

In don't have an adaptor.

[bumfrog]

http://freepctech.com/pc/002/files010.shtml

there's a boot disc on here with deltree on it.

[Phill]

Thanks bumfrog, I just found that myself. I'm rebooting to test it now

That works great.

I think I see the problem I was having deltree and smartdrv are seperate programmes aren't they. I guess I couldv'e just found them on my PC here and copied them to any boot disk.

All that remains is to try it when I get home tonight on my laptop.

Thanks again to everybody who's posted.

Phill

[Phill]

I tried it on the laptop and managed to clear everything off apart from the files I needed and ran the install, it was easy with the right boot-disk.

ALL HAIL DELTREE!!! ALL HAIL THE FORUMS!!!

Cheers guys.