The Repair Disk Utility
By: Staff
Date: October 04, 2006
Level: All |
The Repair Disk Utility, RDISK.EXE, is the first step in protecting your Registry. It will create a partial copy of the Registry. Having that copy on the local computer's hard disk is a fast and easy way to recover from minor errors. This cannot be a regular copy from Explorer or File Manager, but must be created with RDISK.EXE. You can also create a disk copy of the information with it. Then, even if the system's hard disk is unusable, and the hard disk cannot read the repair data, there is still a way to recover the Registry.
When you installed Windows NT, you were prompted to create an Emergency Repair Disk, or ERD. You were also given an option to do it later. By the time you got to that point in the installation, you were probably tired of sitting there and chose not to create the disk. Unfortunately, that decision may come back to haunt you.
However, you must do more than simply create an ERD. You must also maintain a current copy. The ERD holds the system section of the Registry. It includes the pointers to the drivers that are used to control the hardware and the settings for each of those drivers. Imagine the problems you would face if, after you changed or added a device (like a disk-drive controller), the Registry failed. If you repaired the current Registry with a Registry that has other settings or devices, the system might not work. Unfortunately, that has led to many a reinstallation of NT. So, you should update your Emergency Repair Disk every time you make a significant hardware or software change to the system.
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