Getting data off an XP laptop (or better still fixing the system!!)

  • Thread starter Thread starter Yobbo
  • Start date Start date
Y

Yobbo

Hi All

Wonder if you can help.

I have a WinXP pro laptop that appears to be in a 'boot loop', as it gets to
the point where its just going to bring up the desktop and then restarts.

Tried the XP CD repair options and although it said there was a problem with
the system/boot rec and had fixed it the same thing keeps happening.

Tried going through in safe mode and last good config, but no joy it seems
like the sys is buggered!

I'm not too bothered about restoring the OS, as I have the laptop recovery
CD, but I need to get some of the data off the laptop because the user
hasn't backed it up!!

I know ghosting the drive to another HD may suss it so that I could mount
the cloned HD on another machine, but I don't have the tools to hand.

I noticed that the laptop will boot from a USB device so could I put a base
system (say Win98 boot disk) on my 1GB USB pen, boot from this and then copy
the files from the laptop to my USB pen? Is this asking too much?

Is there anyway I can take the HD out of the laptop and say piggy back in
another laptop or desktop so that I can get the files? There doesn't seem
to be an option to connect a 2nd HD on a laptop, but could this be done with
a desktop?

Your help and suggestions would be appreciated.

Rgds
 
Don't give up yet on a solution to your woes. Do you have SP2 installed
with all updates?
 
Very difficult situation, lots of problems with almost all workarounds.
Many responders here suggest a bootable optical disk with a version
of Linux. Allows you to mount the NTFS drive and burn data, if the
notebook in question has an optical burning unit.
What I use is a little Firelite 40-Gigabyte USB drive (formatted with
FAT32). I boot the notebook with a DOS-Based set of utilities. One
of those is the Acronis True Image program. I Image the unbootable
drive to the USB unit ( Really needs USB2 or it will take forever).
To do this also requires that the BIOS of the unit supports Legacy USB.
(To be able to see/mount the Firelite drive from a traditional DOS
boot.) I then plug the Firelite into a working system and use the True
Image program to extract specific segments of the users data.
One other option is a "Side-by-Side" install on the unbootable drive.
You would need to install XP to another partition or shrink the existing
one to create unallocated/free space. Again an Acronis tool, Disk
Management Suite allows you to do this.
This process is more complicated than most average users can do,
plus it takes software tools that many folks do not own.
 
http://www.apricorn.com/shopping.php?ID=162

Check the above site for this 'kit'. There might be something else of
use there too. You can 'clone' your current laptop drive to a 'new' drive
but still use the 'new' drive as a second/external drive. Years ago I used
the kit to "upgrade" my old laptop, changing the drive drive from a 10gb
drive to 20gb drive.

John
 
I think so


Don't give up yet on a solution to your woes. Do you have SP2 installed
with all updates?
 
Yobbo said:
Hi All

Wonder if you can help.
Click to expand...
Linux to the rescue. :-)
I have a WinXP pro laptop that appears to be in a 'boot loop', as it gets
to the point where its just going to bring up the desktop and then
restarts.

Tried the XP CD repair options and although it said there was a problem
with the system/boot rec and had fixed it the same thing keeps happening.

Tried going through in safe mode and last good config, but no joy it seems
like the sys is buggered!

I'm not too bothered about restoring the OS, as I have the laptop recovery
CD, but I need to get some of the data off the laptop because the user
hasn't backed it up!!

I know ghosting the drive to another HD may suss it so that I could mount
the cloned HD on another machine, but I don't have the tools to hand.
Click to expand...
Download an ISO of Knoppix LiveCD, burn a CDR and then boot your laptop with
that CD. You will then have access to the files on your hard drive when you
mount your NTFS partition.
I noticed that the laptop will boot from a USB device so could I put a
base system (say Win98 boot disk) on my 1GB USB pen, boot from this and
then copy
the files from the laptop to my USB pen? Is this asking too much?
Click to expand...
Because you have a USB pen drive, you have everything you need to get that
data off the hard drive and on to your pen drive using the Knoppix LiveCD.
You're lucky you have a drive like this available.

Cheers.
 
Well... Back up all the files to a Compact Disc, then put them on the other
one, OR buy sofware.
 
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