Issues with Windows loading, i need help!

[StevoVandy06]

Hey guys,

Long time reader, first time poster. About a year and a half ago, I built my very first computer, and up until yesterday it has worked flawlessly. However, for whatever reason today I tried to turn it on, and it said that "Windows cannot load properly, please try to repair with the boot disk."

Well, 2 months ago I moved from California to Atlanta on a whim, and misplaced my actual Windows disc. Of course at the time, I think "oh well, its not like I'll need that again." SUCK.

My roommate has a Windows XP Professional Disc for his Dell system. I can put the disc in, get to the Windows start up screen...

Because this is my first computer build, and I"m not familiar with how all this works...am I screwed here?

Before I go messing around with windows, rebooting the harddrive, etc...what do I have for options to get my stuff off the harddrive?

I'm going to best buy to buy an external harddrive probably tomorrow, can I pop out my harddrive, put it into a different Computer, and extract the info from it? Or am I outta luck?

Sorry for all the questions...

Luckily if the computer does get messed up, and my harddrive is unrecoverable, its not the end of the world, I'd just hate to lose all that stuff.

Any help would be GREATLY appreciated, let me know if you need any more info from me, let me know!

Thanks in advance,

Steve

 

[Harvey]

Back up your drive before you do anything. If you have to re-install Windows, the best approach would be to build it on another drive. That will give you a clean installation, and you can copy your files from your current drive, later, assuming they're still readable.

Good luck.

 

[StevoVandy06]

Thanks Harvey,

What's the best way for me to back up my drive if I can't even get into Windows to access my harddrive, etc.

If i pop out the hard drive and put it into a different computer, can I access it that way?

I guess this would be a good time to ask how much a Decent 500GB/1TB external harddrive costs these days?

 

[CoachB]

First, I would try to run the harddrive diagnostic from the manufacturer. That will tell you if your HDD is trashed or if something else has flaked out.
If the harddrive is ok, then you might get by with a Windows Repair Install. Then you will need to determine what has caused a problem.
If the HDD has problems, then data recovery is going to be hit or miss. I have been able to recover files and stuff from a partially bonked HDD using freeware/shareware programs such as RecoverPC.

 

[Harvey]

Originally posted by: StevoVandy06

What's the best way for me to back up my drive if I can't even get into Windows to access my harddrive, etc.

If your drive isn't corrupted, a program like Norton Ghost or Acronis True Image will make a functional clone of your hard drive. I use the version of Norton Ghost included with SystemWorks 2003 to back up my drive regularly. If my drive dies, the Ghost drive just plugs in and works with no re-installation or anything else.

If i pop out the hard drive and put it into a different computer, can I access it that way?

Again, if your drive isn't corrupted, you should be able to mount it as a slave in another system. Don't try to boot to it. Unless the other motherboard was the same model, it probably wouldn't work, anyhow, and it might overwrite some of your critical files.

I guess this would be a good time to ask how much a Decent 500GB/1TB external harddrive costs these days?

If you live near a Fry's Electronics, they have a Western Digital 500 GB drive for $98.