cannot get past startup repair...please help

[richc46]

Once your documents etc are saved, you do not have to worry.

You may also want to make the recovery disc that was already suggested.

 

[MilesAhead]

Good

Download this, make a back up of your hard drive. Try not to use the computer too much until you have the back up
Free Backup Software: Paragon Backup & Recovery Free Edition - Overview

Once you have the copy of the HD, you can restore in the case of a problem.

The only thing I'd add with Paragon, is I would strongly suggest you make the backup to an external USB drive and not use the backup capsule. I've had it hose my partition table on 2 different versions of Vista on 2 different PCs. The backup capsule worked great on my XP machine. It apparently doesn't like Vista on some machines.

The way I fixed my partition table was by doing a test backup restore using the Macrium Reflect trial version. When it restored my backup image, it offered to overwrite the MBR. I clicked OK. My partition table was right again. If the Paragon recognizes your HD controller then it's fine for backup/restore to/from USB. But I'd stay away from the backup capsule feature unless you have some way to save and copy your MBR.

Besides, with the big drives and OSs used now, to have more than 2 backups in the capsule you have to give up a lot of disk. Better just to use a big USB drive or a docking station with Sata internal drive stuck in.