Data Recovery

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FredBloggs

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my hard drive is fubar.

xp will not load

i can get a c: prompt though.


how do i get back my data?

can i use the xp install cd as someone suggested.

tank you all very much indeed.
 
Quote from FredBloggs:

my hard drive is fubar.

xp will not load

i can get a c: prompt though.


how do i get back my data?

can i use the xp install cd as someone suggested.

tank you all very much indeed.
More...
Hi Fred,

You could try with a NT boot diskette.
How to?
(1) start with a diskette formatted with NT-format
(2) copy from your system partition on HD (I suppose C: ) the following files onto this diskette:
boot.ini
NTDETECT.COM
ntldr
(3) reboot from this diskette. This should (could) restart your NT.

PS: better always have a well tested boot diskette ready rather than having to put one together at critical times.

XP install CD will help provided you followed the instructions for making emergency backup diskettes as explained in the docs. If you didn't, this may not help too much.

You could always try a fresh install of a new NT on a DIFFERENT partition. If everything goes well, you can then pick up whatever you want to retrieve from the old XP system. If you are not too sure about partitioning disk, it may be wise to first recover your data onto another medium.

Other possibility, boot from a Koppix linux CD. This does not require an HD install of linux. Once you are in knoppix, you should see the NT partition with its contents and start saving onto any available secondary medium from thereon.

Good luck with recovering your data (and system?).
nononsense

PS: as catastrophic event will ALWAYS sometime occur, plan ahead by always having disk image backup copies ready. This enables you to restore the image and get going again.
 
Quote from FredBloggs:

my hard drive is fubar.

xp will not load

i can get a c: prompt though.


how do i get back my data?

can i use the xp install cd as someone suggested.

tank you all very much indeed.
More...
If you care about the data on the drive the safest thing this is to install a fresh copy of XP on a new (different) hard drive and then attach the failed hard drive as secondary/non-bootable drive on that system (alternately if you have a second PC you can just mvoe the failed drive to that PC, again as a secondary/non-bootable drive).

You will then be able to view the drive contents and recover any data that is recoverable.
 
Quote from FredBloggs:

i am only trying to recover basic ms office type files.

as i only have xp, how do i create an nt disk?
More...
If you can get to a C prompt and you only want to save a few small files you may just want to copy them to floppy disk from the C: prompt (assuming the system in question has a floppy drive)
 
Quote from winter:

If you can get to a C prompt and you only want to save a few small files you may just want to copy them to floppy disk from the C: prompt (assuming the system in question has a floppy drive)
More...

yea - that was my first thought - but i cant see the rest of the c: from the prompt.

if i do a dir, i just get a few system bits and i cant use a lot of the dos commands like 'tree' to see the structure.

i think i'll try to reinstall xp on the old m/c tonight and see where that takes me.

thanx
 
Quote from FredBloggs:
yea - that was my first thought - but i cant see the rest of the c: from the prompt.
More...
Ugh, that may not be a good sign.

Quote from FredBloggs:
i think i'll try to reinstall xp on the old m/c tonight and see where that takes me.
More...
Not sure what you mean by the old m/c but I would not try to do anything with that hard drive except read from it if you are really concerned about the data. Depending on what's wrong with it its possible that trying to reinstall XP on it may permanently overwrite data files or critical file system areas.

Good luck.
 
Quote from winter:

Ugh, that may not be a good sign.

Not sure what you mean by the old m/c but I would not try to do anything with that hard drive except read from it if you are really concerned about the data. Depending on what's wrong with it its possible that trying to reinstall XP on it may permanently overwrite data files or critical file system areas.

Good luck.
More...

can i look at the old m/c drive contents by creating a network rather than ripping my new m/c open and installing fubar drives?
 
Quote from FredBloggs:

can i look at the old m/c drive contents by creating a network rather than ripping my new m/c open and installing fubar drives?
More...
Sorry but I really dont understand. What is "m/c"?
 
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