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Windows XP not starting - I need my files

Discussion in 'Windows - General discussion' started by nene88, Dec 26, 2009.

  1. nene88

    nene88 Member

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    Hmmm when I got that CHKDSK thing all of a sudden when Windows was loading, I didn't see it reporting any bad sectors. The last few lines appeared and disappeared so quickly that I didn't have time to read them...so I can't be sure if there are any bad sectors.
     
  2. tucker001

    tucker001 Regular member

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    Spinrite will work
     
  3. nene88

    nene88 Member

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    And it costs 89 dollars... And I doubt if it would detect my HDD since even the manufacturer's diagnostic program didn't detect it.
     
  4. tucker001

    tucker001 Regular member

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    I'm not recommending this but there is always bittorrent, trust me it will work my school has a site license and I run around fixing computers that have these same problems and Spinrite works 99.9999999% of the time.
     
    Last edited: Jan 6, 2010
  5. nene88

    nene88 Member

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    After several attempts it seemed that it wasn't possible to repair my Windows, so I finally decided to use my recovery CD. So a full formatting and re-installing.

    Everything seems to work fine now. I ran chkdsk (with repair-option checked) and after it finished it said that the HDD is ok, but when I checked it's log, I didn't find any mentions about any bad sectors (I thought it would mention whether there are any bad sectors or not). I guess my HDD is fine then...

    Thanks for the help!
     
  6. scorpNZ

    scorpNZ Active member

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    Now would be a good time to use macrium reflect to image C there are also commercial imaging software like ghost or true image,it'll save the hassle next time.


    EDIT:Don't piss about with incremental or differential use one time imaging
     
    Last edited: Jan 9, 2010
  7. scum101

    scum101 Guest

    The simple matter of this is windoze is rubbish.. every so often.. especially if it dies while running.. it will just self destruct.

    I repair bad cap motherboards.. and 9 times out of 10 the windoze on the hdd is broken beyond repair.

    Now I'm very crafty.. I don't even transfer files off to do a repair/new install.. I just use puppy and make a \backup directory and instead of wasting 4 hours copying files (and running out of space) I just move the lot into the \backup.. reinstall.. pick through the \backup and move back things like all the media and docs and settings etc to where they were before.. no files actually move.. they just get relocated in the directory tree....

    Now then creakster.. who's sharp?

    btw.. these commercial payware imaging programs are a ripoff.. use TAR .. freeware and designed for the job.. or even easier.. just mirror the whole clean new install straight on to a dvd.. Done that a lot of times too.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Jan 9, 2010
  8. creaky

    creaky Moderator Staff Member

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    Well i never, i didn't think i'd see the day where you said Windows isn't always rubbish hehe :p

    Hehe, good one; that's the kind of approach i'd take with a Solaris machine. I do like the 'reinstall over the top' method though, with XP anyways, haven't tried it with say Win7 yet, maybe i'll try it whenever i get rid of my two Win7 installs (as Win7 buys be nothing over my XP and linux installs).

    No arguments from me, these days there's a freeware alternative to almost everything, and the freeware does often do a better job. As time goes on and i find sufficiently good freeware programs i replace the paid stuff as i go.
     
    Last edited: Jan 10, 2010
  9. nene88

    nene88 Member

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    Thanks for a great idea to do a mirror backup of the HDD content after everything necessary is installed! That didn't even come into my mind. It would save from lots of work. Actually I didn't even know there are free programs that can do it. What would be the best (and rather easy to use) program for creating that mirror image?
     
  10. scorpNZ

    scorpNZ Active member

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    All i know is it's free well parts of it are,don't know if it creates image files or whether it needs another hdd to clone too,if the free version doesn't create image files i wouldn't bother with it personally,can't comment if it's the best as i use true image & ghost

    http://www.macrium.com/reflectfree.asp
     
  11. StephenLi

    StephenLi Guest

    SPAM removed
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Jan 25, 2010

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