Data Recovery Help Needed

[Byron172]

My friends computer will not boot up Windows. The error message is that his "windows\system32\config\system" file is corrupted or missing.
If I put his drive into my system as a slave, can I then copy this file from my system to his? We are both running the exact same version of Windows XP.

I have tried to do a repair installation of XP but I am not given the option to do a repair installation. I am given the choice to run the Recovery Console, but I have been told that this isn't the best option.......any advice?:bigggrin:

[Shorty]

Thrax wrote a great article to fix this problem:

http://www.short-media.com/articles/repair_windows_xp

:)

[Thrax]

To note:

There are several <i>actual</i> causes that cough up this symptom. My article is hit and miss, but it has solved the issue for several members of the forum. It's always worth a shot, but it's not a sure one.

[Byron172]

Thanks to you both. However, unfortunately on this occasion this method has not worked.
I was unable to ascertain if the drive was using the buffer overflow protection so i had to take a chance. I chose to only use /FASTDETECT as an OS load in option and not use /NOEXECUTE=OPTIN.

Now, I get the "NTLDR is missing" error message.

Due to the fact that the OS load in was the only variable in this equation I figure it may be that part that has sent me astray.
The HDD is now unreadable even if I set it up as a slave in my PC. It is now recognised as RAW format.
I am currently running a data recovery utility on the drive to find the users photos, and to my suprise it is finding them. The process is going to take about 4 days to read all sectors based on the current time lapsed.....
Is there any way that I can change the format from RAW to NTFS or FAT without losing all the data. I just need to be able to access the data to see what I can save.......:confused:

[profdlp]

...Is there any way that I can change the format from RAW to NTFS or FAT without losing all the data. I just need to be able to access the data to see what I can save.......:confused:

Try TestDisk (http://www.cgsecurity.org/index.html?testdisk.html). :)

[Thrax]

La la la. If only my data recovery article would get published. zzzzz.

[Byron172]

Thanks Prof, I'll give it a go.
Appreciate your help as always.....

Hi Thrax, where can I find your data recovery article?

[Byron172]

Have tried "testdisk" to no avail. It recognises the partitions and can see that they are NTFS and reads correct size of each partition, however the final stage where I am given the option to boot I get an error message, again regarding the file system being damaged or corrupted.

(Prof, if you know how I might achieve a better result using testdisk any advice will be greatly appreciated - I'll shout you a Coopers- I am not completely familiar with the program)....

I have also run a program called "data unerase" which is finding a lot of files (literally thousands), which will be a nightmare to try to reorganise!!!

I am still wondering if their is a way for me to get Windows to read the drive as a slave so that I can attempt a more "organised" backup. When I attempt to open the drive in Windows I get an error message - "drive is inaccessable due to damage or corrupt file system" (this may not be word perfect as I am not currentl in front of this particular PC). As mentioned earlier, Windows is seeing the drive in a RAW format, other utilities I have run are recognising the NTFS.:confused:

[Byron172]

I have found a program that locates all of the folders and files on the corrupt drive (DiskInternals NTFS recovery), but it's going to $100 to buy the software. Does anyone know of a freeware program I can use to recover?? I have used many programs so far but they all seem to ask for money once you go to save the recovered files!!!:sad2:

[Byron172]

Any ideas?

[Byron172]

Does anyone know of any decent Data Recovery programs (preferably freeware)???, I'm trying to extract data from a corrupted hard drive (NTFS)
I'm starting to get desperate...........

[profdlp]

...if you know how I might achieve a better result using testdisk any advice will be greatly appreciated...
I've had wonderful success using TestDisk, but would be the first to admit that it is not the most intuitive program I've ever used.

Can you give a detailed account of what it finds and what options it presents? :)

[Byron172]

Thanks Prof,
I'm at work today so will get back onto it tonight and post some detail.....
Cheers,
B

[Byron172]

OK Long story short, I've spent the best past of the last few days looking at File recovery programs. Many of them were recognising the files so I figured the best way to finish this was to download and PAY for a recovery program. I have now done so, and all the crucial data is finally recovered.
Thanks for all your advice.

[profdlp]

Glad you got the data back, but sorry you had to pay for it. :) / :(

[Leonardo]

all the crucial data is finally recoveredThat's very good news. Your friend must now consider you a computer god.

What software did you purchase?

[Byron172]

The program is called "File Scavenger" and I'm charging my mate for the purchase (the purchase price was cheap compared to data recovery companies)......so it's all good, he gets his data back and I get a data recovery program.:D