DOS anyone?

This is not really a Poll, but I am still curious just how many PC enthusiasts today still use DOS to help them get out of problems in Windows that Windows can't handle. ???

Back when DOS was more popular, I developed a library of DOS Utilities disks, Flash Drives, etc.
That was then and now it's 2019, but.... there are still times when the all mighty "Windows" just can't seem to hack it!

I suppose that I could spend hours, just searching the internet for utility programs to do what Windows either can't or WON'T do. But I really don't need to do that.

Like this morning.... I was doing some cleanup on my 1TB External (Backup) USB hard drive. I came upon an old Video file (movie, I think) that I really wanted to delete. Windows announced that it encountered an IO error in the file and refused to do Anything with the file. Arggg!
My External drive is formatted NTFS, (I should have known better) and I could not access it in DOS.

So I booted up my PC using my DOS Utilities Flash Drive, and I ran the little program "NTFS4DOS", which allowed me to access all my NTFS drives from a DOS prompt.
Then it was just a matter of navigating down to the errant file and delete it. Then I used the old "RD" command to remove the directory that the file had lived in. About 5 min's and the job was done.

That's actually the second time in the last month, that I've had to use DOS to fix some problem on my Windows 7 PC.

I know we've got some real Windows experts here on the forum, but I'm just wondering how many of Y'all still use DOS when it's appropriate. ???

Well, that's my 'Question of the day'.

diskgenius has a boot to dos function. Pretty unusual nowadays

Right!


When I shut down my Commodore 64 business and went full IBM Compatible, I had to learn the OS of the day, which was MS DOS 2.0. It worked great on my first hard drive, the Seagate 20 MB half height drive.


There were many DOS upgrades before I finally got and used Windows 95. I still like MS DOS 6.22 the best. I've had a few arguments about this, but I still think that "Deltree" was the most powerful command in the whole DOS language. It could WIPE a hard drive in one keystroke.
I seldom used it outside of a Batch File, because one little typing mistake could ruin my day.


Thanks for your response,
TechnoMage

How much do you want for a set of those Cds and DVDs of your DOS stuff?

Roland, you can get many from MS-DOS Boot Disk Download | AllBootDisks - Providing Free Boot Disk Downloads. MS-DOS to Windows XP.

RolandJS said:

How much do you want for a set of those Cds and DVDs of your DOS stuff?

Roland,
Although I've shared things with other techs around the world, I'm not sure it would be legal to sell them.


Everything I've got is out there floating around in the clouds somewhere, and it's taken me years to get them all together in one place. For instance....just for grins and giggles, I did a web search one day for Ghost 11.5 (the last DOS version of the Ghost backup program) and there is was, as an ISO, free for the downloading. I know Symantec has abandoned it, but finding it like that was a big surprise. And yes, I still use it for all my drive/partition backups and disk cloning.

I just figured that every dedicated Computer Tech, Geek or Enthusiast would have his own collection of DOS tools, and I'm just curious how many actually do, and how many actually use them. ???

At 76, I'm definitely winding down, and hardly doing any Computer work at all anymore, except for myself and a few friends. I've cut down my own collection of PC's, Desktops and Laptops from 14 to just 8. And the phone doesn't ring like it used to. And when I need to use DOS to fix one of my PC's, I really have to dig through the old grey matter to just remember simple DOS commands.

It's been fun though. I wouldn't trade my life as a Computer Builder/Tech for anything.

As an afterthought....I was searching for "'XCOPY" just a few days ago, and I couldn't find it on any of my DOS disks, but Lo and Behold, I found it in The \Windows\System32\ directory.

Like, who would of thunk it?

TechnoMage2016, if you ever decide to donate CDs and DVDs, put me on your list :) Shipping will be provided. What we can reaaly do -- trade lists of our old stuff and funny stories. Do you remember Netscape and Netsonic for Windows 3.1?

I go so far back with electronics........ well, I was still in grade school when I was building Crystal Set Radios and selling them to my friends for $5. I was in High School when my dad bought me my first Transistor Radio. Now, that was cool!


There was no actual "Internet" when I ran a 300 Baud Modem on my Commodore 64 computer, and worked several local Bulletin Boards. I didn't really like the OS on the C-64, so I de-compiled the Kernel ROM chip and re-wrote the OS and burned my own ROM chips, and sold them across the midwest at Hamfests and Computer shows. My customized OS really sped up the little C-64.



But, now that's all ancient history, sort of like MS-DOS.



Netscape? OH, heck YES!!! I ran that beastie as long as I possibly could. I can't even remember how many versions I burned through.


Today, get lots of email, and I work about ten forums, including the Kia Soul forum, and I'm real happy just slogging along with Windows 7, Pro, x86, Firefox and Startpage.com.


Rolland, why don't you drop me a PM or email and we'll talk about CD's and related subjects.


TM

You can talk about it here. Could be interesting for people who don't know much about it.


diskgenius can make an img file
Create ".img" Image File - DiskGenius

SIW2 said:

You can talk about it here. Could be interesting for people who don't know much about it.
diskgenius can make an img file
Create ".img" Image File - DiskGenius

That's really a pretty nice web site, but, when I downloaded the program for DOS 6.22 (I've lost my original disks) the program that ran was what looked like a batch file converted to an .exe file. Well that's OK, but when it ran it wanted to build the DOS disks on 3.5" Floppy Disks. I've not had a computer with a floppy disk drive in it, for a very long time. (although I still have several hundred 3.5" Floppy Disks)
Heck, I've got hundreds of 5.25" Floppy Disks, but no drive to read them. Anyone want to buy some 5.25" disks?



I just wonder if I could use my USB external Floppy Disk Drive. I've not used that in so long that I don't remember if it will come up in Explorer as drive "A:" or not. Eh?
It would really be fun, to once again have DOS 6.22 on disk.


Happy Labor Day, Mates!