Nathan DeWitt's questions

I'm trying to create a system that will use native boot VHDs, as described on Technet.

I followed that entire whitepaper throughout, making modifications for my system (I have three VHDs to boot from). I completed Step 13 and pulled the flash drive before rebooting. After booting I got an error: BOOTMGR Missing. Press CTRLALTDEL to reboot your system.

The only thing remaining on my system are the three VHD files I copied over. All the BCD entries I made are gone, the VDISKs I created in DISKPART are gone, etc.

Is there an implicit "save your work by typing this command" step that I'm missing? I went over everything again and I don't see that I'm missing anything.

I'm running Windows 7 Ultimate, and I'd like to use Windows Virtual PC to run both XP-Mode and other VHDs I've created. Is it possible to do both?

I have file system access to a web server, but not access to IIS admin snap-in. I need to determine the ports that certain web sites are running on. Is there a XML config file or something I can look at to find this information?

I've turned on Audit Account Management to monitor for deletion of user accounts from Active Directory. Can I view these events in the Security log on the domain controller? We have two domain controllers - will the event be in both logs, or will I need to check both machines? What Category should I be looking for?

I ask because I have a recurring problem where a SharePoint list stops receiving email. This is because some user/process/gremlin is deleting the email alias account in Active Directory every so often. This has just happened again and I would like to see the event recorded in a log so I can identify the user/process/gremlin.

Edit
This is a Contact, not a User. I don't know if that makes a difference...

I have a Dell laptop with a 250 GB 5400 RPM system drive and a 200 GB 7200 RPM drive from Dell I would like to replace it with.

I thought I could put this drive in the laptop, clone the disk, and then replace the 250 w/ the 200 and be good to go, but Dell has a proprietary SATA interface that is different for HD1 and HD2. Both of my disks have the HD1 attachment. sigh

I also have a SATA-USB connector. I would like to use this to connect the second drive, but now I'm not sure which utilities I can use to clone the drive.

The factors I am concerned about are this:
1. New drive is smaller than old (only 72 GB used on old drive)
2. new drive will be attached via USB, not directly to the SATA
3. old OS runs Vista, so I can't use my full copy of Norton Ghost 10 (or can I?)

Any live CDs I can use to boot to that will do a full copy meeting my conditions above? I'm comfortable using command-line or Linux tools to accomplish this, I just need it to go smoothly. (wife's computer...)

edit:
I would also be willing to use gparted or something similar to resize my current disk partition to meet the reduced capacity of the newer drive, as a last resort.

Most programmers know about the Joel test - 12 yes/no questions to quickly evaluate where a company stands in its development department. These questions are things like "do you use source control" and "do you have a spec".

What are the equivalent questions for sysadmins? What are the 10 or 12 yes/no questions that indicate the cluefulness of the employer?