NTFS help needed please

[celeritas]

I have a Win2kPro/NTFS Dell Latitude LS laptop that crashed the other day. I reset it, and it hung at the B&W status bar screen. I've tried Last Known Good Config, VGA mode, repair process/reinstall via 4 boot floppies & CD. Using the boot floppies, I chose repair, but it bombed out with a "unable to write file" message (or something to that effect). After starting up again, I couldn't choose repair because something (the previous repair process) corrupted some OS files. I got the "can't find NTOSKRNL.EXE" error.

I restarted again and chose reinstall/delete previous Windows installation. That died with a "corrupted file error." The Win2K boot CD didn't even let me get as far as selecting repair/install; after loading up it came up with another unable to write/corrupted file error. I've tried other Win2k boot CDs with the same results. I created an emergency repair disk on another Win2k Pro/NTFS machine, but when I boot up the laptop with it I get the NTOSKRNL error again. The data on the HD is vital; I can't simply wipe it and start over.

The laptop HD has no power supply and a very small (~1&quot female 40 pin connector. I couldn't find any converter -> 3.5", so I could mount in a desktop for recovery.

[Here's my question: Does anyone know of a NTFS boot disk (and related recovery tools) that works in Win2k -- other than the spendy software offered by Winternals? If not, I guess I'll have to decide how much the data is really worth...

Maybe I'm cheap, but it's hard to believe that there isn't a freeware NTFS/2K driver out there somewhere -- or at least an alternative to winternals, anyhow...

TIA

 

[celeritas]

I just downloaded/ran NTFSDOS Pro trial, and since I can see all of my old folders/files, I hope that means there isn't physical damage to the disk -- and that I should be able to recover my files. $200 for the retail version -- $300 if I want to be able to salvage files across the network (Remote Recover)... *OUCH*

Any other ideas? Thanks.

 

[Locutus of Board]

Did this more than once on NT4. Should work on W2K.

Install W2K in another folder. If you have another partition, even better.

Copy files from the new good install to the old.

Good luck.

 

[celeritas]

Already tried that. Setup process via floppies & CD hangs long before I get to installation options...

 

[celeritas]

Update: Problem solved. After chasing my tail for a few days, trying Sysinternals/Winternals, etc. software, checking into HDD adapters, external enclosures, PCMCIA cards, and hunting down driver after driver, I finally reached the end of my rope and decided to take a chance on Partition Magic 6.

I created PM rescue/boot disks on a PC, boot up the laptop with/ran them, shrunk the 6GB drive down to 4.5GB (about 3.5GB was already in use), created a 1.5GB partition in the free space (beginning of drive), and installed Win2k+NTFS in it. When Windows came back up my data was waiting happily for me on D:. I didn't waste any time backing up the data across the network. WHEW! I'm one lucky camper.