Data Recovery Help

[Craig]

Hi all,

Here's my sad tale of woe

I tried to start my computer yesterday, but instead of the Windows XP
logo I got a blank screen that displayed a message about a missing or
corrupt "hal.dll" file. Needless to say, I could no longer boot my computer.

Note that this was not a new XP installation. I had been happily using
this installation for over a year (I was running XP Pro with Service
Pack 2), & had not recently insalled any new hardware/software).

To cut a long story short, I tried to fix the problem by booting up from
the Windows XP CD & then using the Recovery Console (RC). The RC
however, could not read any of the data on the hard drive (the 'DIR' &
'CD' commands didn't work etc). Consequently, I realised that the
problem was far more serious than a damaged "hal.dll" or "boot.ini" file
(as some have suggested to be a possible cause of the problem).

I then removed the hard drive & installed it as a slave drive in another
computer (which was also running Windows XP Pro, Service Pack 2), to see
if the second computer could read any of the data on the currupt disk.

The 2nd computer automatically ran CHKDSK against the newly-installed
disk and was able to find & repair many, many errors. Following this,
the second computer recognised the corrupt disk as drive "E" & was able
to read the data on it. However, here is my problem:

Most of the data I am interested in recovering is in the Administrator
account on the corrupt disk. When I try to access the folder that
contains this data (ie: "E:\Documents And Settings\David"), I get an
"Access Denied" message. Obviously, the 2nd computer is recognising that
this folder contains privileged data & is honouring the original access
control restrictions.

Does anybody know how I can access the data in this folder?

By the way, I replaced the (missing) "hal.dll" file after CHKDSK had
performed its running repairs, returned the hard drive to its own
computer & tried booting again. This time I got a message about a
missing or corrupt "system32\config\system" file. When I fixed that, I
got a message about a different file. In other words, the disk is no
longer bootable, & I will have to reinstall Windows from scratch.

I cannot reinstall, though, until I have recovered the data from the
Administrator account (I assume that at least some of this data is
recoverable, but I won't know until I can access the folder & see what's
there).

Once again, I would greatly appreciate any help offered

Muchos Gracias,
Craig.

PS: In case you're wondering, yes I tried FIXBOOT, FIXMBR, booting from
a boot disk etc, even though I knew none of these would work.

 

[Jupiter Jones [MVP]]

Craig;
Take Ownership, #9 on this page:
http://www3.telus.net/dandemar/adsecurity.htm

 

[Craig]

Craig;
Take Ownership, #9 on this page:
http://www3.telus.net/dandemar/adsecurity.htm

Thanks Jupiter,

That did the trick.

However, I do have one more problem. On closer inspection of the data
left on my drive, I realised that the "Shared Documents" folder has
disappeared without a trace. Any idea how I can recover this folder &
its data?

Thanks again,
Craig.

 

[Kerry Brown]

Thanks Jupiter,

That did the trick.

However, I do have one more problem. On closer inspection of the data
left on my drive, I realised that the "Shared Documents" folder has
disappeared without a trace. Any idea how I can recover this folder &
its data?

Thanks again,
Craig.

It should be in the All Users profile.

Kerry

 

[Craig]

Craig;
Take Ownership, #9 on this page:
http://www3.telus.net/dandemar/adsecurity.htm

Thanks Jupiter,

That did the trick.

However, I do have one more problem. On closer inspection of the data
left on my drive, I realised that the "Shared Documents" folder has
disappeared without a trace. Any idea how I can recover this folder &
its data?

Thanks again,
Craig.

 

[Kerry Brown]

Thanks Jupiter,

That did the trick.

However, I do have one more problem. On closer inspection of the data
left on my drive, I realised that the "Shared Documents" folder has
disappeared without a trace. Any idea how I can recover this folder &
its data?

Thanks again,
Craig.

Look under C:\Documents and Settings\All Users

Kerry

 

[Craig]

Look under C:\Documents and Settings\All Users

Kerry

Yeah, I've already tried that (the corrupt disk is actually "E", so it
was "E:\Documents And Settings\All Users").

I've also tried searching the disk for a few files that I know were in
the Shared Documents folder, but without success. The folder seems to
have disappeared without a trace. I assume however, that the data is
still on the disk somewhere, it's just not showing up in the damaged
file system index.

I therefore need a method of retrieving this data. Maybe there's an
application out there (Microsoft or otherwise) that can retrieve such
data? Does anyone have any ideas??

Thanks again,
Craig.

 

[Kerry Brown]

Yeah, I've already tried that (the corrupt disk is actually "E", so it
was "E:\Documents And Settings\All Users").

I've also tried searching the disk for a few files that I know were in
the Shared Documents folder, but without success. The folder seems to
have disappeared without a trace. I assume however, that the data is
still on the disk somewhere, it's just not showing up in the damaged
file system index.

I therefore need a method of retrieving this data. Maybe there's an
application out there (Microsoft or otherwise) that can retrieve such
data? Does anyone have any ideas??

There are many applications that attempt to do this. Google will find many.
Another resource is www.download.com There are several that will scan the
drive and show you what they can recover. To do the actual recovery you have
to pay to unlock the software. You could download a few of the trials and
see if any of them can see the missing files.

Kerry

 

[Craig]

There are many applications that attempt to do this. Google will find many.
Another resource is www.download.com There are several that will scan the
drive and show you what they can recover. To do the actual recovery you have
to pay to unlock the software. You could download a few of the trials and
see if any of them can see the missing files.

Kerry

Thanks Kerry,

I'll give some of them a try & let you know if I'm successful.

Craig.

 

[Kerry Brown]

Thanks Kerry,

I'll give some of them a try & let you know if I'm successful.

Craig.

Let us know if you find one that works particularly well. I like this one
personally but it is expensive for one time use.

http://www.ontrack.com/easyrecoveryprofessional/

Kerry