Recovering files on a corrupt system

[Guest]

I cannot successfully boot my PC in any way. Safe Mode, and Last Known Good
Configuration do not work. I have tried many peoples advice about using the
recovery console which did not work due to my apparent corrupt file system.
Even the Recovery CD issued with my PC doesn't work, it just restarts when it
can't access any of the files on the hard drive. I have tried an emergency
boot disk with the missing NTLDR files and a boot.ini file, and exactly the
same thing happens. It tells me files are corrupt.

I just need to access some important files SOMEHOW. Is there any way I can
do this? Any way I can get at the files to back them up before I install XP
again???

Thanks
Rory.

 

[shieber]

If no one offers anythignn better, I think if you boot up form the XP cd and
run the recovery console, it includes command for changing directories and
copying files. however the commands don't work exactly the same way as when
run from a "run cmmand" window under windows. But, if the files of interest
are intact, I think you can get at them that way.

good luck.

 

[Doug Sherman [MVP]]

If you boot to the CD and select to install Windows AND setup can find the
existing installation, then you should be able to perform a repair install.
If the OS is so badly damaged that setup cannot find/repair the prior
installation and you have access to another computer, it would be fairly
easy to remove your hard drive, install it as a slave in the other machine,
and see if that machine can read/copy your critical files.

Doug Sherman
MCSE, MCSA, MCP+I, MVP

 

[Rock]

I cannot successfully boot my PC in any way. Safe Mode, and Last Known Good
Configuration do not work. I have tried many peoples advice about using the
recovery console which did not work due to my apparent corrupt file system.
Even the Recovery CD issued with my PC doesn't work, it just restarts when it
can't access any of the files on the hard drive. I have tried an emergency
boot disk with the missing NTLDR files and a boot.ini file, and exactly the
same thing happens. It tells me files are corrupt.

I just need to access some important files SOMEHOW. Is there any way I can
do this? Any way I can get at the files to back them up before I install XP
again???

Thanks
Rory.

Another option, if you have a computer with two CD drives, one of which
is a CD-RW, or use a USB thumb drive, is to boot the system with a linux
distro on CD called Knoppix, and try to backup the data to a CD drive or
USB thumb drive.

http://www.knoppix.net/get.php

Boot with the Knoppix CD, go the start menu and look for k3b - a CD
burning program, and burn the data to CDR or copy to the thumb drive.

 

[Rock]

I cannot successfully boot my PC in any way. Safe Mode, and Last Known Good
Configuration do not work. I have tried many peoples advice about using the
recovery console which did not work due to my apparent corrupt file system.
Even the Recovery CD issued with my PC doesn't work, it just restarts when it
can't access any of the files on the hard drive. I have tried an emergency
boot disk with the missing NTLDR files and a boot.ini file, and exactly the
same thing happens. It tells me files are corrupt.

I just need to access some important files SOMEHOW. Is there any way I can
do this? Any way I can get at the files to back them up before I install XP
again???

Thanks
Rory.

Rory, after I answered your post I found you had posted about this
previously and Malke gave you a much more detailed response about how to
recover your data with Knoppix. Please keep issues in the same thread
rather than posting a new one. Follow Malke's directions. They were
quite detailed.

 

[Guest]

I cannot successfully boot my PC in any way. Safe Mode, and Last Known Good
Configuration do not work. I have tried many peoples advice about using the
recovery console which did not work due to my apparent corrupt file system.
Even the Recovery CD issued with my PC doesn't work, it just restarts when it
can't access any of the files on the hard drive. I have tried an emergency
boot disk with the missing NTLDR files and a boot.ini file, and exactly the
same thing happens. It tells me files are corrupt.

I just need to access some important files SOMEHOW. Is there any way I can
do this? Any way I can get at the files to back them up before I install XP
again???

Thanks
Rory.

The safest way is to install the drive on another computer as a slave and
copy the files to a good hard drive for retrieval after you've got your
system up and running again.

John

 

[dagdabrona]

Hi,

The way I see it one of the best recovery tools is Active@ Undelete. It
has perfect recover algorithms, so it is one of the best utility
available.
http://www.active-undelete.com