Repair XP installation with too little disk space

[Guest]

My brother-in-law was running out of disk space on his PC and decided to
delete some files and has deleted one called (from memory) ntldr.?
Consequently the PC won't boot and says the file is missing. I have tried to
do a repair job but there isn't enough available disk space. Is there any
way around this or is there an easy way to delete some files rather than
formatting the drive and starting again? The PC is running XP Professional SP
2.

Any assistance would be appreciated from this semi-computer literate chick.

 

[jmatt]

Any assistance would be appreciated from this semi-computer literate chick.

Safest option is to Slave the HD to another HD/comp ( no need to bolt
it in, just cable it & leave it outside the case ) & copy your stuff
onto the other HD or other media.
You may have a choice of jumper settings on the master HD, such as
master with slave or ms.

Backup all his important stuff, including the Address Book & emails.

Now clean out all the temp's & other files he dos'nt need to get back
space.
Use this for cleaning.
ATF Cleaner
http://www.atribune.org/content/view/25/2/
This program is for XP and Windows 2000 only
Double-click ATF-Cleaner.exe to run the program.
Under Main choose: Select All
Click the Empty Selected button.
If you use Firefox browser
Click Firefox at the top and choose: Select All
Click the Empty Selected button.
NOTE: If you would like to keep your saved passwords, please
click No at the prompt.
If you use Opera browser
Click Opera at the top and choose: Select All
Click the Empty Selected button.
NOTE: If you would like to keep your saved passwords, please
click No at the prompt.
Click Exit on the Main menu to close the program.
For Technical Support, double-click the e-mail address located at the
bottom of each menu.
This will remove all files from the items that are checked so if you
have some cookies you'd like to save. please move them to a different
directory first.

 

[John John]

Try simply booting the installation with the Windows XP cd, that failing
try booting with a boot floppy. http://www.nu2.nu/bootdisk/ntboot/

John

 

[Guest]

Thanks heaps for that. I managed to boot in to XP using John's suggestion for
the boot floppy and deleted some files and then was able to repair XP only to
find that it corrupted the office installation so had to reinstall SP 2.
What a performance but all up and running now. Thanks. Hopefully the
brother-in-law is a little wiser next time!!!

 

[Guest]

Thanks John. I managed to boot with this floppy, deleted necessary files and
repaired the XP installation but had to reinstall SP 2 as it corrupted the
Office installation. All fixed now though. Thanks heaps.

 

[John John]

You're welcome. Your brother-in-law should consider getting another
hard disc for data storage. It's a invitation to serious problems to
let a drive run low on space.

John

 

[jmatt]

Thanks heaps for that. I managed to boot in to XP using John's suggestion for
the boot floppy and deleted some files and then was able to repair XP only to
find that it corrupted the office installation so had to reinstall SP 2.
What a performance but all up and running now. Thanks. Hopefully the
brother-in-law is a little wiser next time!!!

Well done Rosemary, here are other space saving tips.

System Restore Point
http://www.helpwithwindows.com/WindowsXP/tune-07.html
Start > My Computer > right click & select Properties.
Select System Restore & untick > Turn off System Restore.
Select the drive with the operating system on, click Settings & set it
on Min.
Any other drive or partitions, click Settings & tick > Turn off System
Restore on this drive.

==========================================

If your computer is NOT a laptop/notebook then you can stop Hibernate.
Hibernation, reserves disk space equal to your RAM.
http://www.tweaktown.com/document.php?dType=guide&dId=145&dPage=5
The mysterious hiberfil.sys
http://www.softwarepatch.com/tips/hiberfil-sys-xp.html
Go to Control Panel, select Performance and Maintenance, Power
Options, Hibernate tab, and uncheck the Enable hibernation box.
http://www.tweaktown.com/document.php?dType=guide&dId=145&dPage=5
http://www.softwarepatch.com/tips/hiberfil-sys-xp.html

 

[jmatt]

On Feb 3, 5:51 pm, Rosemary Francis

Also.

Auto Delete Temporary Folder

http://www.tweakxp.com/display.aspx?id=2021