NTDLR!!??!

[gwdarmo]

This problem reared its ugly head last night...All I care about is getting back my files on the HD. I don't mind losing the programs that have been installed, etc.

I just need to recover the files!! Can I re-install XP? I read in another post that the person simply reinstalled XP, didn't have to reformat their HD, and was able to access their files but lost all of their installed programs.

Is this an option??

[MrPurple]

If you overwrite your current installation without formating the only thing you lose is the links between the programs and Windows.

You can try reinstalling just make sure that when its asks you to format you select the "Leave things as they are" option or something similar to it.

[gwdarmo]

so if i do reinstall XP, it won't overwrite or delete the My Documents folder, etc. I'll def select that "leave as they are" option.

[John Prophet]

If you have the Xp CD, all you really have to do is copy the ntldr file from the i386 folder on the cd to your hard drive....to the c:\ of the hard drive I do believe.

like this from this other thread http://www.techimo.com/forum/showthr...threadid=85016

I dont think you need to run any kind of "repair"...if you are still getting the ntldr missing errors etc, you just need to start the recovery console and then copy those files over from the Windows CD to the hard drive.

So after you boot to the cd and you select "repair" using the recovery console....you do something along theselines

It will probably be sitting there at c:\windows

So first you type in a simple "d:" without the quotes.

That should have you then sitting at a d: prompt.

From there you type in "cd i386" again, all these commands with no quotes. That command just means "Change Directory to the i386 folder". so that should leave you at the D:\i386 folder.

that is the folder that contains the files you need.

So from there just type copy ntldr c:\ and do the same for the other file names such as copy ntdetect.com c:\
(and yes, you do need the last little \ at the end, lol.)


Is that correct guys?

JP

[meese]

IMHO

If you have the ability to stick this drive into another XP system as a slave, then you can copy the data off the drive. I've seen too many people who are not real sure what they are doing, try to reload OS's and end up reformatting the drive or something. At this point your data is on the drive. You just can't boot the drive.

If you don't have another pc, an option would be to get a new hard drive. Load XP on this drive. Make your old drive a slave and copy all the data to the new drive.

[gwdarmo]

My number one goal is to recover the data on that drive...it has several years of documents, pictures, etc and I've only backed up vital documents while pictures, etc I haven't backed up for quite some time.

Is my best bet: is it possible to take the problem HD, insert into my brother's computer as a slave and copy everything I need to copy onto his computer? then most likley I am going to buy a brand new HD to install into my computer or even buy a new computer since this one is several years old.

Again, I just want to make sure I can get all of the files off of that HD. By turning it into a slave, would I have access to its folders, etc even though there is a problem with the XP OS. I assume as a slave, once its denoted as that on my brother's computer, he would be booting from his HD and simply accessing files from mine once XP booted up and a new HD would be present.

[John Prophet]

lol. Did you even look at the post and link I put up there????

The link is to a guy that had youre same exact problem (except on Win2000)

He asked the same exact questions you are asking and I am sure if you read thru that other thread you will have most of those questions answered.

He put his hard drive in as slave on another system (needs to be another xp system preferably, in your case) and he had to do a little "shuffling" of user accounts etc.

Here is the link again....do yourself a favor and read thru it...if you notice at the end he did get into his drive. http://www.techimo.com/forum/showthr...threadid=85016

JP

[meese]

Your brothers pc needs to be XP or W2K. As far as getting you data, you may have to change the permissions on the partition. Like John posts, this info is in that other thread.

But in any case, your data seems real important to you. So definitely make it a slave, whether in another system, or in your system with a new hard drive. When you get this far post back if you are not sure how to proceed.

[gwdarmo]

John, sorry. I thought your link was about the i386 soultion and copying the NLDRL file, etc. I didn't realize that post was about slave drives, etc.

I think this is my best bet since I don't want to fool around and reformat by accident since the data on the drive is still OKAY i am just having a problem with rebooting.

I am still confused about the slave/master but I'll re-post when i get to that step. There shouldn't be any problems putting my drive into my brother's computer, designating it as a slave. i.e. i don't want to mess with my brother's computer or worry him that my boot problem could carry over to his.

I am also confused about the admin access once i turn the drive into a slave on my brother's computer, but it seems like with enough tinkering i'll be able to access all of the drive once i get past the admin block.

[John Prophet]

Well, Im not sure if you know anything about the "jumpers" on the back of hard drives and cdroms etc..but that is where you set the whole master/slave thing.

But the easiest way I have tried, is just to take your hard drive out, open up his computer....unplug the IDE cable from the back of his cdrom and plug your hard drive there. You want to hook your drive up on his SECONDARY IDE channel.....usually his hard drive will be on his PRIMARY channel...so you want to be on the other cable..the one his drive is not on. Usually he will have his cdrom(s) on that cable. Either way you want to go to the cable his hard drive is NOT on, lol...unplug the one or two cd drives that are hooked to it, then plug your hard drive up there. The ide cable is the wide flat cable...about 2 inches wide and flat. Of course you will need a power plug to the drive also...so you can snag one from a cd drive or see if there is a spare one hanging loose.

Then just reboot and see if it recognizes the hard drive....if it does you are good to go. If not you might have to go into the BIOS by rebooting and hitting the "delete" or possibly the "f2" button repeatedly while booting.

Oncce in the BIOS, go to "standard cmos" or "standard settings" or whatever the first choice is, lol. Go to secondary IDE and the two things to "auto"....hit "esc" hit "f10" and choose "save and exit".

Then reboot and it should find the drive.

From there it is a matter of making sure you have permissions to access the drive. Look in that other thread and see what he did for that.

JP