Recovery XP

[Pitt Larry]

My system crashed and on reboot it will not boot into XP and wants a format
to reinstall. I downloaded some recovery software only to learn that a fee
is required when the program finds some files. I am not sure that I want to
trust these programs, really at any cost. Data recovery by the pros is just
too expensive for my needs, but I would like to grab some files that show up.
Anybody have any ideas on a good product at a good price.

 

[HeyBub]

My system crashed and on reboot it will not boot into XP and wants a
format to reinstall. I downloaded some recovery software only to
learn that a fee is required when the program finds some files. I am
not sure that I want to trust these programs, really at any cost.
Data recovery by the pros is just too expensive for my needs, but I
would like to grab some files that show up. Anybody have any ideas on
a good product at a good price.

We used Easy Recovery Professional and the program did, in fact, recover
what it said it could. If you pay for the recovery and the recovered files
are corrupt, I'm sure a reputable company would refund your money.

Alternatively, you can mount the un-bootable hard drive as a slave in a
second machine and see if the second machine can read the files.

The second technique is totally non-destructive and the cheapest to try.

 

[db ´¯`·.. >]

the term "crash" is
subjective and doesn't
exactly explain where
in the process the crash
is occurring.

however, you mentioned
something about a "format"
which may be implying that
the ntfs crashed.

if the ntfs did crash then
it can be recovered only
with a third party program
like acronis disk director.

unfortunately, the windows
cd does not provide a method
to recover a crashed ntfs.

since you have downloaded
some recovery tools, then you
also have access to a functioning
computer and can also download
the trialware of acronis mentioned
above.

it will scan your system for free
and if it discovers that your
ntfs did crash, then you will have
to buy it to restore the ntfs system.

if however, the ntfs is in good shape
as per the software, then you might
want to boot up with a windows
setup cd and select the recovery
console and log into your disk to
run some commands.

a basic command like dir
can provide some info if
your disk is readable and
has any data on it.

you can try the recovery method
before the acronis method if you
want.

keep us apprised..

 

[John Wunderlich]

My system crashed and on reboot it will not boot into XP and wants
a format to reinstall. I downloaded some recovery software only
to learn that a fee is required when the program finds some files.
I am not sure that I want to trust these programs, really at any
cost. Data recovery by the pros is just too expensive for my
needs, but I would like to grab some files that show up.
Anybody have any ideas on a good product at a good price.

Assuming that only your operating system crashed and that your disk is
in moderately good shape, try booting from a free Live Linux CD such as
Knoppix. I have found that Linux is not as picky as Windows when
reading NTFS disks and it may be able to read it even if Windows
cannot. If successful, you can backup/recover your files using either
a USB storage device or the network.

<http://www.knopper.net/knoppix/index-en.html>

HTH,
John

 

[Pitt Larry]

Assuming that only your operating system crashed and that your disk is
in moderately good shape, try booting from a free Live Linux CD such as
Knoppix. I have found that Linux is not as picky as Windows when
reading NTFS disks and it may be able to read it even if Windows
cannot. If successful, you can backup/recover your files using either
a USB storage device or the network.

<http://www.knopper.net/knoppix/index-en.html>

HTH,
John

I wish I could see the data under my computer, but no such luck. Iwas
hoping that there was a "cheap" way out.
Thanks for all your help. Any other ideas please post.

 

[Who?]

http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/XPrepairinstall.htm