Help - I don;t want to reformat ...

marystewart78

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Hi all,

I have some really important and irreplaceable work on my PC HDD but the tower fell over on its side yesterday and now it won't start. Originally I couldn't get it to start Windows (Win 2K installed) but I done chkdsk and fixmbr then recieved a message re: missing or corrupt ntfs.sys file - I tried to copy in repair console but this failed so decided to try a parrallel install of Windows in WINNT1 folder but had to stop it before completion. I have tried to do this again and repair existing Win 2K installs but getting nowhere I get "setup has determined that drive c: is corrupted and cannot be repaired" message - pls help I really need the stuff on the HDD - any suggestions?

Microsoft forums did suggest an issue with disk overlay but I don;t know how to check this also the forum suggests that I should be able to back up crtitical data from this drive but how?

Thanks,

Mary
 
pull the disk out, take it to another computer and make sure your jumper on the HDD is set to cable select.

Hook it up, restart the other system. You SHOULD be able to see your disk and all your files as a new hdd in the other computer. Copy the files you need and either burn them to a CD or throw them to a network drive...

Good reason to backup your data!!
 
rainman89 suggestion is good it's a quick and easy fix but can you clarify something, you say you tried to repair Windows again and it failed with the error you described but can you get into the recovery console ? (rather than the repair Windows) - when you boot with the disk in gets to the screen that asks if you want to set up Windows now, repair an existing Windows installation using the Recovery Console, or quit - hit R.

If you can you'll get to a command prompt and type fixmbr then type exit, reboot and maybe you'll get either an option of login in to either installation of Windows (one will work and one won't) or you may just get 1 option (the original) to log in.

If that doesn't work try the process again but type bootcfg at the command prompt - oh there a a few switches you can use that will help you determine how corrupt your boot file is damaged clicky such as bootcfg /scan that will scan your drives and display the results.

Try these if that doesn't work there are a few other things you could (providing you can get to a command prompt) do but a bit more 'nerdy' without taking the HD to another PC if that's going to be a hassle, such as create a new partition manually - move the data you need via dos commands format the other partition and reinstall Windows but that's an essay in itself but I can give you a step by step guide - so let us know how it goes :)

As rainman89 said this is exactly why you should back up your important data regularly - hard drives fail even if they not physically damaged ;)
 
I would also just make sure your cable into your IDE / SATA connection (on both ends) is firmly connected and all power cables are good and connected; that nothing came loose. Make sure your memory chips are also seated well. First thing first is to make sure nothing popped loose.
 
if all else fails, copy what you can of the partition (ignoring errors) to a new drive (using some sort of partitioning/ copying software), and then reinstall the OS on top of itself (repair method). Given with what you've stated, there's a good chance you messed up your hdd pretty good, but not past being able to recover quite a bit hopefully :)
 

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