1. Download the mutliple floppy disk set used to install XP on PCs that can
not boot form a CD. This set also includes some of the XP recovery console,
which has some command s that might help, assuming that the problem is
software (e.g., master boot record, bad BOOT.IBI file, etc) not hardware
(i.e., disk crash).
2a. There are free read/copy type drives that will permit DOS to see NTFS
partitions. See the following link:
http://www.systeminternals.com/ntw2k/freeware/NTFSDOS.shtml
2b. However, your problem might be more serious and if so, DOS+NTFS drivers
may not help. You might want to try the program FDISK, in read-only mode,
to see what it thinks in on the disk. If it sees a non-DOS partition, that
is good, meaning the NTFS partition. If it see no partition, that is bad.
If it sees no hard drive, that is really bad. Be very careful with FDISK,
as it can destroy the contents of a disk.
3a. A third option is to use a (free) LINUX that runs form a CD. KNOPPIX
version 3.6 is pretty good, and has some support for NTFS. However, it is a
700 Meg download as an ISO file, which needs something like Easy CD Creator
or Nero to burn to a CD.
3b. A variation of the LINUX theme is Bart's PE Builder, which you make on
a PC running XP. It acts like a more user-friendly recovery console, and
has full NTFS support. However, I do not know whether a Bart's CD made on
one PC will work on another. Still, it may be worth a try.
