HELP! Hard Drive crash....

[bakala_2000]

Oy vey.

Windows wont boot. Tells me the NTOKRNL.exe and HAL.dll files are
corrupt and need to be reinstalled. I cant access the hard drive. I
could reformat the HDD and reinstall Windows XP, but that would wipe
out important data (work files, mortgage clients, no backup made
recenty)

How can I boot into DOS, copy the files into the windows dir and more
on with my life? I can make a a bootable CD with the files on it,
anyone know where I can get it? I google'd it and downloaded a few .iso
files to burn on CD, but it wont boot on the laptop (BIOS settings are
set to boot from CD, the XP boots it).

HELP!

 

[Jerry]

Boot from the XP CD and do a repair install (assuming you have a retail
version).

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

Oy vey.

Windows wont boot. Tells me the NTOKRNL.exe and HAL.dll files are
corrupt and need to be reinstalled. I cant access the hard drive. I
could reformat the HDD and reinstall Windows XP, but that would wipe
out important data (work files, mortgage clients, no backup made
recenty)

How can I boot into DOS, copy the files into the windows dir and more
on with my life? I can make a a bootable CD with the files on it,
anyone know where I can get it? I google'd it and downloaded a few .iso
files to burn on CD, but it wont boot on the laptop (BIOS settings are
set to boot from CD, the XP boots it).

HELP!

Here are a couple of ways to access your files:

- Temporarily install your disk as a slave disk in some other
WinXP/2000 PC, then retrieve your files.
- Boot the machine with a Bart PE boot CD (www.bootdisk.com),
then save the files to a spare hard disk. To make a Bart PE CD
you need this:
* A WinXP Professional CD (but no licence number)
* A CD burner
* About three hours of your time

How often you back up your data is a business decision:
What is the maximum loss of data your business could afford
without suffering serious damage? For some businesses it's
a few hours, for others one week.

Seeing that one can now buy a large hard disk in an
external USB case for less than $100.00, there is no valid
reason not to have a daily backup. You could use this same
disk for either of the two salvage operations described above.

 

[bakala_2000]

My XP disk does't have the repair install.

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

My XP disk does't have the repair install.

You have to tell your BIOS to select the CD drive as the
first boot device, then boot from the WinXP CD. You will
then get the option of installing or repairing WinXP.

If I was in this situation then I would do things in this
order:
1. Back up all data
2. Attempt a repair installation

There is a substantial risk in Step 2 that something goes
wrong and that the disk gets totally corrupted or formatted.
If so then all your data would be lost. If your data is essential
then you must back it up before doing anything else.

 

[bakala_2000]

cant backup data!

 

[Bob I]

Umm, the backup is performed in ANTICIPATION of this occurrence.

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

I hate it when I have to deal with excessively verbose problem reports.

 

[NoNoBadDog!]

cant backup data!

Ummm...you are supposed to backup your data *BEFORE* your hard drive
crashes!

What you are attempting to may not be possible.

Live an learn.

Bobby