Today I was using my computer (Windows XP Pro) when it completely locked up. I had to power down using the power switch, and when I rebooted I got the “Invalid system disk” error. I booted from a Win98 floppy that I had on hand and I can look at the files and directories on the C: drive, and I can examine the contents of some of the text files, so I know that (at least most of them) are still there.
Being the resourceful person that I am, I tried to hook up a second hard disk, so that I could copy the files from C: to D: and then re-install XP and recover gracefully. Unfortunately, the OS on the floppy disk will not recognize the second hard drive, even if I put it on the other IDE bus.
OK, sez I, I’ll install a clean copy of XP on this second disk, and then re-connect the original drive as a slave and copy the files. Windows installs and runs fine, but when I connect the slave drive (formerly my system drive) it tells me it’s not formatted.
Does anyone know of a utility program I can download that will let me recover the files from my drive? I have some of them backed up, but not a lot of the more recent stuff (I know, I know!).
All I got for you is a weak work-around. In other words, if everything else fails, try this.
You can use Maxblast 3 (search for it at www.maxtor.com) to clone the entire drive. Now, this is weak for the following reasons;
1.) If the drive itself is damaged, it may get halfway through a clone and quit. The only nice thing, though, is that I have had experience where maxblast says it can’t copy a certain file, and gives you the option to skip or continue without copying. I skipped and got 99.9% of my stuff off of a physically damaged drive.
2.) If the file structure is screwed, you’re going to have as much success accessing the new clone as you did the old drive.
The upside is that there’s nothing lost except some of your time. The method I would use is to create another partition on your new drive, and clone to that partition. This way at least it’s sitting safe somewhere that you can play with it.
A reinstallation of XP should not affect your data files. However, if you want to be 100% get Bart PE. You can copy it to a CD-ROM (using another computer, of course), then can boot your own from the BART CD-ROM. Once booted, you can back up any files.
I tried to do a repair install, but the installation program refuses to acknowledge that there is even a file system on the drive. This is what really puzzles me, because I can boot from a Win 98 floppy and examine the files & directories, but all XP wants to do is format the disk.
