Restore backup

Sorry if this is not the appropriate place for this post but you all seem to know just about everything.
I have a Win2K box that the primary partition went bad on. I have a full tape backup done with the Win2K backup program. I need to restore it. Do I have to reinstall Windows on the new drive before I can use the backup, or is there an easier way?
If I do reinstall windows, how will the version on tape overwrite the registry and such while windows is running.
I've made backups for years, just never had to restore one.
TIA,
Jim

Win2k backups up the registry from (usually) c:\winnt\system32\config folder to the c:\winnt\repair folder whenever you perform a backup that you checked the 'system state' checkbox on. So if you backed up the entire computer, including the c:\winnt\(and all sub folders) then it should restore everything, including the registry.

If I understand you right, then since the computer will not even boot, you will have to re-install windows first.

I am not sure how windows handles overwritting the registry on-the-fly, but I assume that windows either supports it, or you would have to reboot.

Thanks for your reply. That's about what I thought.
I'm currently taking another tack. I found that the drive was readble, just not bootable. Also, it couldn't be repaired with various utilities, Including chkdsk (unrecoverable errors), Partition Magic, etc. It also would not let me reinstall windows, due to drive errors

What I did is use PM to image the partiton to another drive. It seemed to work. Now I'm copying that partiton back to a new drive. I should then be able to use the windows repair option to fix the windows boot problems. This seemed like it might be faster. I'll let you know if I can get it bootable.

If it was not bootable, then try the fixmbr and the fixboot commands. also, if you can read from the drive then, back up the registry from the c:\winnt\repair directory there are five files:

sam
security
default
software
system

These files don't have any extensions, collectively they should be near 50mb or so. just copy them from the c:\winnt\repair to c:\winnt\system32\config directory. I don't think that they are saved with the backup (.bkf) file.

Thanks again for the new info! It'll be a while yet before I get to try any of that. LOL
It's still copying. Large partition... probably another 10 min or so
I tried fixmbr and fixboot on the old drive. Fixboot said no way. That's what made me buy the new drive. Weirdly, all the files seem to be readable, but the drive can't be made bootable(at least not by windows)

Your welcome. try formatting and re-installing, after you get all of the important files off. If that doesn't work, then goto the manufacturers website, and get their low-level formatting software.

Well, it didn't go as well as I hoped. I got windows re-installed. It works. All the programs have been put back on the partition with the backup. Windows sees them, they exist, but it won't run most of them. Some it will run, but all the user settings have been lost.
It's really been a hassle. There must be some way to reset the registry and other files, so it will recognize the way it was...

One thing...did the name of the hdd change...like now its d: instead of c:?

Nope, it's still C: