system recovery/repair and retention of data on other drives

[Guest]

I was unable to install and external harddrive until I contacted HP and they
told me that my admin user account was corrupted, and I needed to set up a
new one and delete the old one. I think part of it may still be there,
because I was able to install the drive, but now am unable to do most
updates, install some programs and some programs are glitching. I fear I may
have to do a system recovery, as there are no restore dates prior to the user
account getting deleted. I have the original hard drive (C,D) and another
internal that has been added with no glitches, and the external which
performs correctly, it is the OS that messes up. I have copied all data and
most of the programs onto the otherinternal hard drive. I will try a repair,
but if I am in the program to repair/reinstall, and I return it to original
settings from the recovery disks, will the data and programs I have on the
other internal and the external drive remain? There is about 300 GB total on
the other 2 disks and I have no way to copy them anywhere but those other
hard drives. I cannot afford to lose my information and programs though. Any
suggestions?

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

I was unable to install and external harddrive until I contacted HP and they
told me that my admin user account was corrupted, and I needed to set up a
new one and delete the old one. I think part of it may still be there,
because I was able to install the drive, but now am unable to do most
updates, install some programs and some programs are glitching. I fear I may
have to do a system recovery, as there are no restore dates prior to the user
account getting deleted. I have the original hard drive (C,D) and another
internal that has been added with no glitches, and the external which
performs correctly, it is the OS that messes up. I have copied all data and
most of the programs onto the otherinternal hard drive. I will try a repair,
but if I am in the program to repair/reinstall, and I return it to original
settings from the recovery disks, will the data and programs I have on the
other internal and the external drive remain? There is about 300 GB total on
the other 2 disks and I have no way to copy them anywhere but those other
hard drives. I cannot afford to lose my information and programs though. Any
suggestions?

You have two contradictory statements in your post:
a) I have no way to copy them anywhere.
b) I cannot afford to lose my information.

If b) is true then a) is false. In other words, if you really
cannot afford to lose your data then it is a small matter
to purchase another disk and copy your data there before
you attempt any repair. This is, in fact, what you should
have done the moment your data became important: Back
it up every week to an independent disk. Important data
must ***always*** reside on at least two independent
media that are kept in different places. Everything else
is asking for trouble.

To answer your specific question: A repair attempt ***should***
retain your data. However, accidents do happen.

About your programs: It is not possible to "copy" them
across. They must be re-installed. This is why you must
always keep your installation media and product keys.
When you download programs from the Internet then you
must store the downloaded files on your backup disk.

Deleting a user account will not normally delete user data.
Have a look in c:\documents and settings\xxx - your data
should still be there. If you are refused access then you
must seize ownership of this folder. (xxx=name of
deleted account).

 

[Guest]

You have two contradictory statements in your post:
a) I have no way to copy them anywhere.
b) I cannot afford to lose my information.

If b) is true then a) is false. In other words, if you really
cannot afford to lose your data then it is a small matter
to purchase another disk and copy your data there before
you attempt any repair. This is, in fact, what you should
have done the moment your data became important: Back
it up every week to an independent disk. Important data
must ***always*** reside on at least two independent
media that are kept in different places. Everything else
is asking for trouble.

To answer your specific question: A repair attempt ***should***
retain your data. However, accidents do happen.

About your programs: It is not possible to "copy" them
across. They must be re-installed. This is why you must
always keep your installation media and product keys.
When you download programs from the Internet then you
must store the downloaded files on your backup disk.

Deleting a user account will not normally delete user data.
Have a look in c:\documents and settings\xxx - your data
should still be there. If you are refused access then you
must seize ownership of this folder. (xxx=name of
deleted account).

I stated it incorrectly, I am sorry. I do have them on the other internal
hard drive, I meant to state I have nowhere near the amount of storage on
removable media, (cds, dvds, etc) available to me. Technically all I want to
do is restore the admin accounts to the beginning, but since the main one was
corrupted, there are numerous glitches popping up. The main program I was
worried about losing is Office 2003, as I have misplaced the cds for them in
an office move. I still however have the 2000 discs available so I don't
guess all is lost. I want to make sure I understand correctly though. Since
my data such as documents, pictures, and video are on other internal and
external drives, a repair/evern restore should not affect them in those
secondary areas they are stored. They would only be deleted on the c drive?
Also, someone recommended to me that I should partition the C Drive so that
the windows is in an area by itself, so if I ever have to do this again, it
would be much easier to do. Is that correct? Thank you for all your help.

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

I stated it incorrectly, I am sorry. I do have them on the other internal
hard drive, I meant to state I have nowhere near the amount of storage on
removable media, (cds, dvds, etc) available to me. Technically all I want to
do is restore the admin accounts to the beginning, but since the main one was
corrupted, there are numerous glitches popping up. The main program I was
worried about losing is Office 2003, as I have misplaced the cds for them in
an office move. I still however have the 2000 discs available so I don't
guess all is lost. I want to make sure I understand correctly though. Since
my data such as documents, pictures, and video are on other internal and
external drives, a repair/evern restore should not affect them in those
secondary areas they are stored. They would only be deleted on the c drive?
Also, someone recommended to me that I should partition the C Drive so that
the windows is in an area by itself, so if I ever have to do this again, it
would be much easier to do. Is that correct? Thank you for all your

help.

If you have checked that your irreplaceable data is complete
and fully accessible on your external disk then you can safely go
ahead with your repair effort. You have nothing to lose. Make
sure that the external disk is kept out of the way while you're
fixing things, preferably in a different room.

Yes, drive C: should only contain Windows and your installed
programs. All important data should reside on drive D: on your
internal disk. This makes your data backup effort far, far easier.
It also allows you to image drive C: with an imaging product
such as Acronis TrueImage, allowing you to restore Windows
in minutes in case of a disaster.