copy will not accept wildcards

[gwlogue]

I'm trying to repair an ASUS Eee PC 900HA netbook (WinXP) which will not boot. Before starting I want to copy the data to a USB stick but the COPY command available when I boot from the WinXP distribution CD does not support wildcards (*.*).

What can I use to copy the data before starting to try to repair this system?

[Ol'Tunzafun]

Use the xcopy command. Type xcopy /? to get a list of arguments and switches available for this command.

[gwlogue]

XCOPY is an unknown command

[Ol'Tunzafun]

XCOPY is an unknown command

Right, I failed to notice that you were in the Recovery Console.

At this point you should forget about FreeDOS because it has no NTFS support. That's why you can't see the system drive.
Follow Rocketmech's advice and use a Linux live CD or build a UBCD4Win disc.
Copy and paste.

[bruceb]

Either use a boot cd, like Barts PE or UBCD for Windows to do it.
Another option is to slave the drive to another computer and copy
the files to the thumb drive. You may need to take ownership of
them to see and access them.

http://www.nu2.nu/pebuilder/

http://www.ubcd4win.com/index.htm

[Midknyte]

COPY command available when I boot from the WinXP distribution CD does not support wildcards (*.*)

Booting to the recovery console is different than using regular DOS.
http://michaelstevenstech.com/r_c_cmds.htm

You can also try booting from a Live Linux CD.

[gwlogue]

I have it booting from the UBCD disk but I am having a heck of a time finding a tool that I can use to copy the contents of the hard drive to a directory on a USB flash drive.

[bruceb]

XCOPY source:\file_location destination:\file_location

[gwlogue]

My problem is I can't find a utility or option that takes me to the command line so I can use the xcopy command.

[Rocketmech]

I'll 2nd a live linux CD or my pref. UBCD4Windows. Then its just copy and paste. I don't think the new UBCD has any file management tools.

http://www.ubcd4win.com/downloads.htm
http://www.ubuntu.com/desktop/get-ubuntu/download

You could also pull the drive and connect it with another pc...

[gwlogue]

I'm running Ultimate Boot CD V5.0RC1.

I have found UBCD4WinV350 on download.cnet.com. I will try this one.

[Rocketmech]

You would need to run FreeDOS from the UBCD v5 to use Xcopy.

[gwlogue]

I've tried FreeDOS but I can't find a command line option in it either

[Rocketmech]

http://www.linfo.org/freedos_commands.html

[gwlogue]

I'm not sure I am seeing the hard drive in this netbook. When I display the available drives I get a Q and a T drive. If I insert my USB drive it shows up as C.