[H] Need MAJOR help with fubar'ed WinXP install

[Bino Gopal]

Hey guys, so I think I majorly screwed up my WinXP install on my IBM T61
laptop and am *hoping* (I think against all hope at this point) that I can
at least recover the data on the HD, if not even fix the WinXP install.  So
here's what happened:

 

I had a normal working WinXP SP2 install on my laptop.  I have a USB key
from work with Win7 Enterprise on it, and apparently it's a bootable,
SELF-INSTALLING image of Win7 (the bootable, self-installing part will
become key in a second).

 

My plan was to grab all my data off of the laptop and back it up and then
install Win7 on it.  The laptop is having issues where it loses internet
access (which gets fixed on reboot) so w/o thinking about it, I rebooted it
with the USB key still attached! *sigh*

 

So of course the laptop boots up off the key (and I'm not paying attention
right then) and Win7 starts the setup process (no prompts too; it just
goes!!), and it's about 30 secs or so, and it gets to a point where it opens
a cmd window and starts showing percentages and it gets to 1% and then I
close the cmd window by hitting the X in the top right corner and that
restarts my computer.

 

It said it was doing some stuff before that and maybe I should've stopped it
a little sooner but I was afraid I'd screw things up if I stopped it in the
middle of redo'ing partitions or something, but once I saw the percentages I
figured I'd better stop it sooner rather than later.

 

In any case it rebooted and came up with "windload.exe is missing".  That's
when I started troubleshooting.  So here's what I did:

 

1)  Put in my IBM rescue and recovery CD (which took a while to load; I
don't think it was doing anything to my install, though it's possible, but
seems unlikely) and looked at the options but decided nothing there would
help me.

2)  So then I found and put in my WinXP CD and got to its blue screen,
and started the recovery console.  I read some stuff so I did "fixboot" and
restarted.

3)  Then I got the "ntldr is missing" message.  So reading some more I
copied ntldr and ntdetect.com from the winXP CD to c:\ using the recovery
console and restarted.

4)  THEN I got the "hal.dll is missing or corrupt" error message this
time!  Read even more and I tried to expand the file from the recovery
console but got an error (which is weird)!  No idea why that happened and
that's when I paused and decided to take stock and ask for help and not make
things worse.

 

At this point, I went back to the recovery console and looked at my HD and
that's when I got the sinking feeling...  I don't see a lot of the dirs I
expect in WinXP, and all the dirs have a date of 01/02/10, and there's no
Doc Settings dir, but a Users dir, but my username isn't there and it looks
like somehow Win7 wiped the disk and started the install in like 30 secs or
something!!  How did it do that?!  I also noticed the dirs are there, but no
files in any of the dirs, which looks like an aborted install of Win7.

 

So at this point, is there any way to recover my data?  Do I need to send my
HD to Tim or can I use a program to recover stuff (assuming it's not
overwritten)?  I'm hoping that I can get the data but give it to me
straight; if I'm screwed, then let me know so I can stop wasting my time
trying to recover it, and just write the data off as lost and move on.

 

Thanks so much for any help guys, and Happy New Year!!

 

 
BINO

Re: [H] Need MAJOR help with fubar'ed WinXP install

[Richard Quilhot]

If it's just data files your after you can do a new install of xp.
Just make sure you pick the do not format option.
If you don't need the oridginal xp info you can overwrite the windows
directory, otherwise specify
a different location.  Once installed, copy your data off drive.

Next option is to boot from a live linux cd/dvd & transfer your data, then
do your fresh install.

Richard E. Quilhot C.N.A.
quilh...@gmail.com


Stephen 
Leacock
- "I detest life-insurance agents: they always argue that I shall some
day
die, which is not so."

On Fri, Jan 1, 2010 at 10:58 PM, Bino Gopal  wrote:

> Hey guys, so I think I majorly screwed up my WinXP install on my IBM T61
> laptop and am *hoping* (I think against all hope at this point) that I can
> at least recover the data on the HD, if not even fix the WinXP install.  So
> here's what happened:
>
>
>
> I had a normal working WinXP SP2 install on my laptop.  I have a USB key
> from work with Win7 Enterprise on it, and apparently it's a bootable,
> SELF-INSTALLING image of Win7 (the bootable, self-installing part will
> become key in a second).
>
>
>
> My plan was to grab all my data off of the laptop and back it up and then
> install Win7 on it.  The laptop is having issues where it loses internet
> access (which gets fixed on reboot) so w/o thinking about it, I rebooted it
> with the USB key still attached! *sigh*
>
>
>
> So of course the laptop boots up off the key (and I'm not paying attention
> right then) and Win7 starts the setup process (no prompts too; it just
> goes!!), and it's about 30 secs or so, and it gets to a point where it
> opens
> a cmd window and starts showing percentages and it gets to 1% and then I
> close the cmd window by hitting the X in the top right corner and that
> restarts my computer.
>
>
>
> It said it was doing some stuff before that and maybe I should've stopped
> it
> a little sooner but I was afraid I'd screw things up if I stopped it in the
> middle of redo'ing partitions or something, but once I saw the percentages
> I
> figured I'd better stop it sooner rather than later.
>
>
>
> In any case it rebooted and came up with "windload.exe is missing".  That's
> when I started troubleshooting.  So here's what I did:
>
>
>
> 1)  Put in my IBM rescue and recovery CD (which took a while to load; I
> don't think it was doing anything to my install, though it's possible, but
> seems unlikely) and looked at the options but decided nothing there would
> help me.
>
> 2)  So then I found and put in my WinXP CD and got to its blue screen,
> and started the recovery console.  I read some stuff so I did "fixboot" and
> restarted.
>
> 3)  Then I got the "ntldr is missing" message.  So reading some more I
> copied ntldr and ntdetect.com from the winXP CD to c:\ using the recovery
> console and restarted.
>
> 4)  THEN I got the "hal.dll is missing or corrupt" error message this
> time!  Read even more and I tried to expand the file from the recovery
> console but got an error (which is weird)!  No idea why that happened and
> that's when I paused and decided to take stock and ask for help and not
> make
> things worse.
>
>
>
> At this point, I went back to the recovery console and looked at my HD and
> that's when I got the sinking feeling...  I don't see a lot of the dirs I
> expect in WinXP, and all the dirs have a date of 01/02/10, and there's no
> Doc Settings dir, but a Users dir, but my username isn't there and it looks
> like somehow Win7 wiped the disk and started the install in like 30 secs or
> something!!  How did it do that?!  I also noticed the dirs are there, but
> no
> files in any of the dirs, which looks like an aborted install of Win7.
>
>
>
> So at this point, is there any way to recover my data?  Do I need to send
> my
> HD to Tim or can I use a program to recover stuff (assuming it's not
> overwritten)?  I'm hoping that I can get the data but give it to me
> straight; if I'm screwed, then let me know so I can stop wasting my time
> trying to recover it, and just write the data off as lost and move on.
>
>
>
> Thanks so much for any help guys, and Happy New Year!!
>
>
>
>
> BINO
>
>
>
>

Re: [H] Need MAJOR help with fubar'ed WinXP install

[Bino Gopal]

Mother of cr*p.  So now that I'm facing reality, I think the Win7 USB key
did more than I expected b/c when I'm in the recovery console and go to C:\
and type "dir" I see very few files and dirs and I also see 99,756,855,296
bytes free on a 100GB HD (which had a lot more data on it)... *SIGH*

So I figure Win7 wiped the MBR or something right?  It's also installed and
written a bunch of dirs but no files b/c I assume that's what I prevented
when I aborted the process at 1%...

So I tried fixboot and copying over ntldr and ntdetect.com from WinXP but I
am apparently trying to fix a Win7 install (since as mentioned there's no
Doc Settings dir like in XP, but a Users dir, which I'm sure is Win7
right?)...

So don't I need to do something with some sort of repair program to try and
figure this out (i.e. fixing the MBR and stuff) or is my data all lost at
this point?  Thoughts?

BINO


-Original Message-
From: hardware-boun...@hardwaregroup.com
[mailto:hardware-boun...@hardwaregroup.com] On Behalf Of Richard Quilhot
Sent: Friday, January 01, 2010 8:30 PM
To: hardware@hardwaregroup.com
Subject: Re: [H] Need MAJOR help with fubar'ed WinXP install

If it's just data files your after you can do a new install of xp.
Just make sure you pick the do not format option.
If you don't need the oridginal xp info you can overwrite the windows
directory, otherwise specify
a different location.  Once installed, copy your data off drive.

Next option is to boot from a live linux cd/dvd & transfer your data, then
do your fresh install.

Richard E. Quilhot C.N.A.
quilh...@gmail.com


Stephen
Leacock<http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/s/stephen_leacock.html>
- "I detest life-insurance agents: they always argue that I shall some
day
die, which is not so."

On Fri, Jan 1, 2010 at 10:58 PM, Bino Gopal  wrote:

> Hey guys, so I think I majorly screwed up my WinXP install on my IBM T61
> laptop and am *hoping* (I think against all hope at this point) that I can
> at least recover the data on the HD, if not even fix the WinXP install.
So
> here's what happened:
>
>
>
> I had a normal working WinXP SP2 install on my laptop.  I have a USB key
> from work with Win7 Enterprise on it, and apparently it's a bootable,
> SELF-INSTALLING image of Win7 (the bootable, self-installing part will
> become key in a second).
>
>
>
> My plan was to grab all my data off of the laptop and back it up and then
> install Win7 on it.  The laptop is having issues where it loses internet
> access (which gets fixed on reboot) so w/o thinking about it, I rebooted
it
> with the USB key still attached! *sigh*
>
>
>
> So of course the laptop boots up off the key (and I'm not paying attention
> right then) and Win7 starts the setup process (no prompts too; it just
> goes!!), and it's about 30 secs or so, and it gets to a point where it
> opens
> a cmd window and starts showing percentages and it gets to 1% and then I
> close the cmd window by hitting the X in the top right corner and that
> restarts my computer.
>
>
>
> It said it was doing some stuff before that and maybe I should've stopped
> it
> a little sooner but I was afraid I'd screw things up if I stopped it in
the
> middle of redo'ing partitions or something, but once I saw the percentages
> I
> figured I'd better stop it sooner rather than later.
>
>
>
> In any case it rebooted and came up with "windload.exe is missing".
That's
> when I started troubleshooting.  So here's what I did:
>
>
>
> 1)  Put in my IBM rescue and recovery CD (which took a while to load;
I
> don't think it was doing anything to my install, though it's possible, but
> seems unlikely) and looked at the options but decided nothing there would
> help me.
>
> 2)  So then I found and put in my WinXP CD and got to its blue screen,
> and started the recovery console.  I read some stuff so I did "fixboot"
and
> restarted.
>
> 3)  Then I got the "ntldr is missing" message.  So reading some more I
> copied ntldr and ntdetect.com from the winXP CD to c:\ using the recovery
> console and restarted.
>
> 4)  THEN I got the "hal.dll is missing or corrupt" error message this
> time!  Read even more and I tried to expand the file from the recovery
> console but got an error (which is weird)!  No idea why that happened and
> that's when I paused and decided to take stock and ask for help and not
> make
> things worse.
>
>
>
> At this point, I went back to the recovery console and looked at my HD and
> that's when I got the sinking feeling...  I don't see a lot of the dirs

Re: [H] Need MAJOR help with fubar'ed WinXP install

[Greg Sevart]

You need to put the drive in another machine and run a recovery utility
against it. Given the amount of free space, it's unlikely that the W7
installer got much further than formatting and making a few directories, so
a decent data recovery tool should be able to scan the drive and reassemble
most of what was on it.

I've used and had good results with Runtime Software's GetDataBack before.

> -Original Message-
> From: hardware-boun...@hardwaregroup.com [mailto:hardware-
> boun...@hardwaregroup.com] On Behalf Of Bino Gopal
> Sent: Friday, January 01, 2010 11:54 PM
> To: hardware@hardwaregroup.com
> Subject: Re: [H] Need MAJOR help with fubar'ed WinXP install
> 
> Mother of cr*p.  So now that I'm facing reality, I think the Win7 USB
> key
> did more than I expected b/c when I'm in the recovery console and go to
> C:\
> and type "dir" I see very few files and dirs and I also see
> 99,756,855,296
> bytes free on a 100GB HD (which had a lot more data on it)... *SIGH*
> 
> So I figure Win7 wiped the MBR or something right?  It's also installed
> and
> written a bunch of dirs but no files b/c I assume that's what I
> prevented
> when I aborted the process at 1%...
> 
> So I tried fixboot and copying over ntldr and ntdetect.com from WinXP
> but I
> am apparently trying to fix a Win7 install (since as mentioned there's
> no
> Doc Settings dir like in XP, but a Users dir, which I'm sure is Win7
> right?)...
> 
> So don't I need to do something with some sort of repair program to try
> and
> figure this out (i.e. fixing the MBR and stuff) or is my data all lost
> at
> this point?  Thoughts?
> 

Re: [H] Need MAJOR help with fubar'ed WinXP install

[tmservo]

Depends.  You might find data recovery programs that will run a format recovery 
and get some back.  But anything that has been over-written with the new 
structures on the disc is toast. 

So, when was your last backup?
Sent via BlackBerry 

-Original Message-
From: "Bino Gopal" 
Date: Fri, 1 Jan 2010 21:53:40 
To: 
Subject: Re: [H] Need MAJOR help with fubar'ed WinXP install

Mother of cr*p.  So now that I'm facing reality, I think the Win7 USB key
did more than I expected b/c when I'm in the recovery console and go to C:\
and type "dir" I see very few files and dirs and I also see 99,756,855,296
bytes free on a 100GB HD (which had a lot more data on it)... *SIGH*

So I figure Win7 wiped the MBR or something right?  It's also installed and
written a bunch of dirs but no files b/c I assume that's what I prevented
when I aborted the process at 1%...

So I tried fixboot and copying over ntldr and ntdetect.com from WinXP but I
am apparently trying to fix a Win7 install (since as mentioned there's no
Doc Settings dir like in XP, but a Users dir, which I'm sure is Win7
right?)...

So don't I need to do something with some sort of repair program to try and
figure this out (i.e. fixing the MBR and stuff) or is my data all lost at
this point?  Thoughts?

BINO


-Original Message-
From: hardware-boun...@hardwaregroup.com
[mailto:hardware-boun...@hardwaregroup.com] On Behalf Of Richard Quilhot
Sent: Friday, January 01, 2010 8:30 PM
To: hardware@hardwaregroup.com
Subject: Re: [H] Need MAJOR help with fubar'ed WinXP install

If it's just data files your after you can do a new install of xp.
Just make sure you pick the do not format option.
If you don't need the oridginal xp info you can overwrite the windows
directory, otherwise specify
a different location.  Once installed, copy your data off drive.

Next option is to boot from a live linux cd/dvd & transfer your data, then
do your fresh install.

Richard E. Quilhot C.N.A.
quilh...@gmail.com


Stephen
Leacock<http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/s/stephen_leacock.html>
- "I detest life-insurance agents: they always argue that I shall some
day
die, which is not so."

On Fri, Jan 1, 2010 at 10:58 PM, Bino Gopal  wrote:

> Hey guys, so I think I majorly screwed up my WinXP install on my IBM T61
> laptop and am *hoping* (I think against all hope at this point) that I can
> at least recover the data on the HD, if not even fix the WinXP install.
So
> here's what happened:
>
>
>
> I had a normal working WinXP SP2 install on my laptop.  I have a USB key
> from work with Win7 Enterprise on it, and apparently it's a bootable,
> SELF-INSTALLING image of Win7 (the bootable, self-installing part will
> become key in a second).
>
>
>
> My plan was to grab all my data off of the laptop and back it up and then
> install Win7 on it.  The laptop is having issues where it loses internet
> access (which gets fixed on reboot) so w/o thinking about it, I rebooted
it
> with the USB key still attached! *sigh*
>
>
>
> So of course the laptop boots up off the key (and I'm not paying attention
> right then) and Win7 starts the setup process (no prompts too; it just
> goes!!), and it's about 30 secs or so, and it gets to a point where it
> opens
> a cmd window and starts showing percentages and it gets to 1% and then I
> close the cmd window by hitting the X in the top right corner and that
> restarts my computer.
>
>
>
> It said it was doing some stuff before that and maybe I should've stopped
> it
> a little sooner but I was afraid I'd screw things up if I stopped it in
the
> middle of redo'ing partitions or something, but once I saw the percentages
> I
> figured I'd better stop it sooner rather than later.
>
>
>
> In any case it rebooted and came up with "windload.exe is missing".
That's
> when I started troubleshooting.  So here's what I did:
>
>
>
> 1)  Put in my IBM rescue and recovery CD (which took a while to load;
I
> don't think it was doing anything to my install, though it's possible, but
> seems unlikely) and looked at the options but decided nothing there would
> help me.
>
> 2)  So then I found and put in my WinXP CD and got to its blue screen,
> and started the recovery console.  I read some stuff so I did "fixboot"
and
> restarted.
>
> 3)  Then I got the "ntldr is missing" message.  So reading some more I
> copied ntldr and ntdetect.com from the winXP CD to c:\ using the recovery
> console and restarted.
>
> 4)  THEN I got the "hal.dll is missing or corrupt" error message this
> time!  Read even more and I tried to

Re: [H] Need MAJOR help with fubar'ed WinXP install

[Rick Glazier]

I've had good results with a freeware "TestDisk".
Brief description:
"Tool to check and undelete partition (FAT, NTFS, EXT2/EXT3,
ReiserFS, BFS) under DOS, Win9x, Linux, BSD. [GNU Public License]"
http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/TestDisk
As with all data recovery, STOP letting ANYTHING write
to that drive.
This program, run from a different drive, will non destructively
analize first, before committing ANY changes, and then only on demand.
That basically means installing it somewhere else, or booting with floppies, 
CDs, DVDs etc.

AS said below, some data might already be lost.
WinXP and Win7 use TOTALLY different boot procedures, so you
may be looking at data recovery "only". (IMHO.)

Rick Glazier

From: Depends.  You might find data recovery programs that will run a format recovery and get some back.  But anything that has been 
over-written with the new structures on the disc is toast.


So, when was your last backup?

Re: [H] Need MAJOR help with fubar'ed WinXP install

[Tim Lider]

Hello,

I looked over TestDisk and it looks interesting. Although, I do not know if
it will fix the problem.

The problem can be recovered with either GetDataBack NTFS or R-Studio. I
would suggest trying R-Studio first, it is a much better program IMHO.

Regards,

Tim Lider
Sr. Data Recovery Specialist
Advanced Data Solutions, LLC
http://www.adv-data.com

> -Original Message-
> From: hardware-boun...@hardwaregroup.com [mailto:hardware-
> boun...@hardwaregroup.com] On Behalf Of Rick Glazier
> Sent: Saturday, January 02, 2010 9:20 AM
> To: hardware@hardwaregroup.com
> Subject: Re: [H] Need MAJOR help with fubar'ed WinXP install
> 
> I've had good results with a freeware "TestDisk".
> Brief description:
> "Tool to check and undelete partition (FAT, NTFS, EXT2/EXT3,
> ReiserFS, BFS) under DOS, Win9x, Linux, BSD. [GNU Public License]"
> http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/TestDisk
> As with all data recovery, STOP letting ANYTHING write
> to that drive.
> This program, run from a different drive, will non destructively
> analize first, before committing ANY changes, and then only on demand.
> That basically means installing it somewhere else, or booting with
> floppies, CDs, DVDs etc.
> 
> AS said below, some data might already be lost.
> WinXP and Win7 use TOTALLY different boot procedures, so you
> may be looking at data recovery "only". (IMHO.)
> 
> Rick Glazier
> 
> From:  
> > Depends.  You might find data recovery programs that will run a
> format recovery and get some back.  But anything that has been
> > over-written with the new structures on the disc is toast.
> >
> > So, when was your last backup?
> 

Re: [H] Need MAJOR help with fubar'ed WinXP install

[Bino Gopal]

Tim!  Thanks so much for the reply; *very* glad to see you chime in on this
thread! :)

If you don't mind me picking your brain for a bit (so I know for future
reference, though I do hope to never run into this situation again!), what's
your analysis of what happened exactly in terms of what exactly got
overwritten by the Win7 install?

I mean, the thing that gets me is that the system booted from the USB key
and it really was only like 30 secs or so that it had time to *do* anything,
and that it did so much in that little bit of time!

And for future reference, should I just have yanked the key out ASAP?  Like
I said, I was afraid of getting things really messed up b/c it was in the
middle of writing stuff, but in retrospect, sooner seems like it would've
been better the sooner I stopped it! *sigh*

Anyway R-Studio sounds good, especially the way you can demo it and see
what's recoverable so you can figure out if it's even worth going there.
Would you say I can just use it from a bootable CD or should I remove the
drive from the laptop and connect it up to another PC in an enclosure?  I
see R-Studio has emergency mode but the fact you need a hardware code is
weird and why do they have the verbiage about being able to install it only
on one PC there?

Oh and which version should I get?  No problem get the $80 R-Studio, but if
all I need if the NTFS version, it'll save me $30! :P  Thanks Tim! :)

BINO


-Original Message-
From: hardware-boun...@hardwaregroup.com
[mailto:hardware-boun...@hardwaregroup.com] On Behalf Of Tim Lider
Sent: Saturday, January 02, 2010 11:15 AM
To: hardware@hardwaregroup.com
Subject: Re: [H] Need MAJOR help with fubar'ed WinXP install

Hello,

I looked over TestDisk and it looks interesting. Although, I do not know if
it will fix the problem.

The problem can be recovered with either GetDataBack NTFS or R-Studio. I
would suggest trying R-Studio first, it is a much better program IMHO.

Regards,

Tim Lider
Sr. Data Recovery Specialist
Advanced Data Solutions, LLC
http://www.adv-data.com

> -Original Message-
> From: hardware-boun...@hardwaregroup.com [mailto:hardware-
> boun...@hardwaregroup.com] On Behalf Of Rick Glazier
> Sent: Saturday, January 02, 2010 9:20 AM
> To: hardware@hardwaregroup.com
> Subject: Re: [H] Need MAJOR help with fubar'ed WinXP install
> 
> I've had good results with a freeware "TestDisk".
> Brief description:
> "Tool to check and undelete partition (FAT, NTFS, EXT2/EXT3,
> ReiserFS, BFS) under DOS, Win9x, Linux, BSD. [GNU Public License]"
> http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/TestDisk
> As with all data recovery, STOP letting ANYTHING write
> to that drive.
> This program, run from a different drive, will non destructively
> analize first, before committing ANY changes, and then only on demand.
> That basically means installing it somewhere else, or booting with
> floppies, CDs, DVDs etc.
> 
> AS said below, some data might already be lost.
> WinXP and Win7 use TOTALLY different boot procedures, so you
> may be looking at data recovery "only". (IMHO.)
> 
> Rick Glazier
> 
> From:  
> > Depends.  You might find data recovery programs that will run a
> format recovery and get some back.  But anything that has been
> > over-written with the new structures on the disc is toast.
> >
> > So, when was your last backup?
> 

Re: [H] Need MAJOR help with fubar'ed WinXP install

[Tim Lider]

Hello,

For Bootable CD's I use WinPE with RStudio Lite added to the boot CD.  Also
on the CD is Winhex as well. I do have others, but those are the most I use
on the boot CD and Boot USB Key.

To get the version to work on a boot CD it will cost more.  I suggest just
trying the NTFS version and using another computer to recover the data,
install Windows on another hard drive. 

I very rarely use the Boot CD, unless it is a working drive and the client
does not want the drive taken out of the computer. This is where Winhex
comes in handy to clone the drive over to a USB Drive.

Good luck,

Tim Lider
Sr. Data Recovery Specialist
Advanced Data Solutions, LLC
http://www.adv-data.com

> -Original Message-
> From: hardware-boun...@hardwaregroup.com [mailto:hardware-
> boun...@hardwaregroup.com] On Behalf Of Bino Gopal
> Sent: Saturday, January 02, 2010 3:50 PM
> To: hardware@hardwaregroup.com
> Subject: Re: [H] Need MAJOR help with fubar'ed WinXP install
> 
> Tim!  Thanks so much for the reply; *very* glad to see you chime in on
> this
> thread! :)
> 
> If you don't mind me picking your brain for a bit (so I know for future
> reference, though I do hope to never run into this situation again!),
> what's
> your analysis of what happened exactly in terms of what exactly got
> overwritten by the Win7 install?
> 
> I mean, the thing that gets me is that the system booted from the USB
> key
> and it really was only like 30 secs or so that it had time to *do*
> anything,
> and that it did so much in that little bit of time!
> 
> And for future reference, should I just have yanked the key out ASAP?
> Like
> I said, I was afraid of getting things really messed up b/c it was in
> the
> middle of writing stuff, but in retrospect, sooner seems like it
> would've
> been better the sooner I stopped it! *sigh*
> 
> Anyway R-Studio sounds good, especially the way you can demo it and see
> what's recoverable so you can figure out if it's even worth going
> there.
> Would you say I can just use it from a bootable CD or should I remove
> the
> drive from the laptop and connect it up to another PC in an enclosure?
> I
> see R-Studio has emergency mode but the fact you need a hardware code
> is
> weird and why do they have the verbiage about being able to install it
> only
> on one PC there?
> 
> Oh and which version should I get?  No problem get the $80 R-Studio,
> but if
> all I need if the NTFS version, it'll save me $30! :P  Thanks Tim! :)
> 
>   BINO
> 
> 
> -Original Message-
> From: hardware-boun...@hardwaregroup.com
> [mailto:hardware-boun...@hardwaregroup.com] On Behalf Of Tim Lider
> Sent: Saturday, January 02, 2010 11:15 AM
> To: hardware@hardwaregroup.com
> Subject: Re: [H] Need MAJOR help with fubar'ed WinXP install
> 
> Hello,
> 
> I looked over TestDisk and it looks interesting. Although, I do not
> know if
> it will fix the problem.
> 
> The problem can be recovered with either GetDataBack NTFS or R-Studio.
> I
> would suggest trying R-Studio first, it is a much better program IMHO.
> 
> Regards,
> 
> Tim Lider
> Sr. Data Recovery Specialist
> Advanced Data Solutions, LLC
> http://www.adv-data.com
> 
> > -----Original Message-
> > From: hardware-boun...@hardwaregroup.com [mailto:hardware-
> > boun...@hardwaregroup.com] On Behalf Of Rick Glazier
> > Sent: Saturday, January 02, 2010 9:20 AM
> > To: hardware@hardwaregroup.com
> > Subject: Re: [H] Need MAJOR help with fubar'ed WinXP install
> >
> > I've had good results with a freeware "TestDisk".
> > Brief description:
> > "Tool to check and undelete partition (FAT, NTFS, EXT2/EXT3,
> > ReiserFS, BFS) under DOS, Win9x, Linux, BSD. [GNU Public License]"
> > http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/TestDisk
> > As with all data recovery, STOP letting ANYTHING write
> > to that drive.
> > This program, run from a different drive, will non destructively
> > analize first, before committing ANY changes, and then only on
> demand.
> > That basically means installing it somewhere else, or booting with
> > floppies, CDs, DVDs etc.
> >
> > AS said below, some data might already be lost.
> > WinXP and Win7 use TOTALLY different boot procedures, so you
> > may be looking at data recovery "only". (IMHO.)
> >
> > Rick Glazier
> >
> > From:  >
> > > Depends.  You might find data recovery programs that will run a
> > format recovery and get some back.  But anything that has been
> > > over-written with the new structures on the disc is toast.
> > >
> > > So, when was your last backup?
> >
> 
> 
> 

Re: [H] Need MAJOR help with fubar'ed WinXP install

[Rick Glazier]

I used TestDisk when I was having I/O problems in a box that was failing slowly.
The MB I/O chipset was damaging ONE of the NTFS "things", but I was always able
to recover the other VERY hidden back-up one. (I am NOT confusing it with 
FAT32.)
I was disturbed MS always made a back-up for you, but had no tools to actually 
USE
or recover it easily.. (I think they do that a lot. *Sometimes* it is totallty 
undocumented
except to them.)

As far as ripping the key out fast? It was running in memory by then.
Ripping out the power plug was the only reasonable option.

FWIW, I NEVER build my "bootable medias" to autorun. (Sorry.)

Rick Glazier

From: "Tim Lider"

I looked over TestDisk and it looks interesting. Although, I do not know if
it will fix the problem.

The problem can be recovered with either GetDataBack NTFS or R-Studio. I
would suggest trying R-Studio first, it is a much better program IMHO.

Re: [H] Need MAJOR help with fubar'ed WinXP install

[Bino Gopal]

Yeah I've dl'ed R-Studio and it's nice that it has the demo version to try
it out but I think I'm even unluckier than I thought b/c I can't find what
looks like my WinXP dir structure among the 23 previous "Recognized"
partitions it's found...I only see the Win7 partition and a bunch of the
original Vista partitionswill probably check out TestDisk to see what it
shows.

And yeah, I didn't build this key this way; it was from IT at work and I
didn't realize it was set to autorun but I guess they usually only use it
when they're rebuilding laptops (and know what they're doing) so it's not a
problem for them; my fault for not figuring it out/asking when I borrowed
it! :P

BINO


-Original Message-
From: hardware-boun...@hardwaregroup.com
[mailto:hardware-boun...@hardwaregroup.com] On Behalf Of Rick Glazier
Sent: Sunday, January 03, 2010 7:33 AM
To: hardware@hardwaregroup.com
Subject: Re: [H] Need MAJOR help with fubar'ed WinXP install

I used TestDisk when I was having I/O problems in a box that was failing
slowly.
The MB I/O chipset was damaging ONE of the NTFS "things", but I was always
able
to recover the other VERY hidden back-up one. (I am NOT confusing it with
FAT32.)
I was disturbed MS always made a back-up for you, but had no tools to
actually USE
or recover it easily.. (I think they do that a lot. *Sometimes* it is
totallty undocumented
except to them.)

As far as ripping the key out fast? It was running in memory by then.
Ripping out the power plug was the only reasonable option.

FWIW, I NEVER build my "bootable medias" to autorun. (Sorry.)

Rick Glazier

From: "Tim Lider"
> I looked over TestDisk and it looks interesting. Although, I do not know
if
> it will fix the problem.
> 
> The problem can be recovered with either GetDataBack NTFS or R-Studio. I
> would suggest trying R-Studio first, it is a much better program IMHO.

Re: [H] Need MAJOR help with fubar'ed WinXP install

[Rick Glazier]

Just out of curiosity, are you working on a forensic clone of the
drive, or the original?

If a forensic clone, I've tried some creative "insane things" that
saved me sometimes.
Give it your best shot before you get too aggressive with it...

I'll try to remember the nutty stuff I tried that worked.
It was definitely "counter-intuitive", AND last ditch grasping at straws...
(And when possible, I work on forensic clones to have multiple tries...)

If a different program already found some old partitions, I can't say my
"program of choice" will do much better, but you never know.

My personal opinion is that 30 seconds is not enough time to wipe
the data off the drive clean.
It might "eventually" come down to how much you have defragged,
and how big your files were.

Disclaimer: I'm a VERY amateur data recovery person at best.

Rick Glazier

From: "Bino Gopal" 

probably check out TestDisk to see what it
shows.

Re: [H] Need MAJOR help with fubar'ed WinXP install

[Tim Lider]

Forensic clones are nice, but work in a different environment then I usually
do.  When I clone drives I use a computers with a device installed on it
that works in DOS (Yes, I said DOS). This device has the ability to clone
any hard drive to a larger hard drive (Well has problems with drives under
20GB). 

The device has the ability to power the drive on and off, work with timing,
and even copy a head at a time if needed. Basically it's a hardware level
cloning machine.

If I am using Windows or Windows PE to clone something I usually use Winhex.
Winhex is a very powerful utility that has the ability to clone drives bit
by bit to USB devices. Plus the hex editor is awesome.

Regards,

Tim Lider
Sr. Data Recovery Specialist
Advanced Data Solutions, LLC
http://www.adv-data.com

> -Original Message-
> From: hardware-boun...@hardwaregroup.com [mailto:hardware-
> boun...@hardwaregroup.com] On Behalf Of Rick Glazier
> Sent: Monday, January 04, 2010 10:01 PM
> To: hardware@hardwaregroup.com
> Subject: Re: [H] Need MAJOR help with fubar'ed WinXP install
> 
> Just out of curiosity, are you working on a forensic clone of the
> drive, or the original?
> 
> If a forensic clone, I've tried some creative "insane things" that
> saved me sometimes.
> Give it your best shot before you get too aggressive with it...
> 
> I'll try to remember the nutty stuff I tried that worked.
> It was definitely "counter-intuitive", AND last ditch grasping at
> straws...
> (And when possible, I work on forensic clones to have multiple
> tries...)
> 
> If a different program already found some old partitions, I can't say
> my
> "program of choice" will do much better, but you never know.
> 
> My personal opinion is that 30 seconds is not enough time to wipe
> the data off the drive clean.
> It might "eventually" come down to how much you have defragged,
> and how big your files were.
> 
> Disclaimer: I'm a VERY amateur data recovery person at best.
> 
> Rick Glazier
> 
> From: "Bino Gopal"
> > probably check out TestDisk to see what it
> > shows.

Re: [H] Need MAJOR help with fubar'ed WinXP install

[Rick Glazier]

I NEVER do any type of *drive work* (including normal generic Images)
from inside Windows. (Do I sound THAT crazy?)

Plus, I would hope you DO have better "toys" than me... 

Rick Glazier

From: "Tim Lider" 

Forensic clones are nice, but work in a different environment then I usually
do.