Vista Tutorial - Can't access external drive on XP - previous Vista Boot Drive

Hi.

My notebook hard drive (Vista Home) was failing and I was unable to
backup my files before it wouldn't boot anymore. I hoped I could use
the drive externally on my XP P4 desktop to transfer the files over.
XP sees the drive as D & E (main partition and recovery partition).
But when I try to access the drive, it just runs. I guess its trying
to boot the disk. I am wondering what steps I need to take to be able
to get the files off the disk.

1. How to remove the MBR or otherwise stop the drive from trying to
boot Vista. I thought about using jumpers to make it a slave. But I
have no idea where they would go or if I could use them.
2. Can I use another method to get the files?

I am strictly software and not really too familiar with the inner
workings of the notebook components. This is my 1st one after many
many desktops.

Anything that could potentially delete the user files is not an option
(pictures, videos, etc.) Okay if the system files don't work anymore.

Thanks so much.

Hi mariaceleste,
You wrote you see D & E drives on XP, it means your system has already boot,

--
Akeem
<mariaceleste358@xxxxxx> a écrit dans le message de
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If XP is running no more booting is going on. The drive is spinning, and the system sees the partitions but can't display the contents of the drive. Thats what I get from your post.

Your drive is dead.

Your data will now need to go to someone that does data recovery. It's "very" expensive. Your looking at anywhere from $500 to $1500 or more.

Thanks I was afraid of that.

The tech at HP Support told me that it was probably trying to boot and I would have to set it as a slave. Pfft.

To get the photos and videos of my kids back, I would pay any amount, I guess lots of people would hence the price. Googling data recovery now.

Hi, mariaceleste.
No. It's booting into WinXP and then trying to just find files on that
now-external HDD. WinXP is trying to read the external drive as strictly a
DATA drive. That is, it sees that HDD as simply a warehouse for partitions,
folders and files. It doesn't USE anything from that drive; it just tries
to read from and write to it. It can make enough sense of the MBR (Master
Boot Record) on that HD, including the partition table, to know that it has
two partitions, but can't actually read the contents of those partitions.
This is not a notebook v. desktop matter; they all work the same in this
respect.

Before spending big bucks on a disk recovery service, you might want to try
one of the several disk recovery programs on the market. One that has
helped me recover almost all of my 4,000+ photos is R-Studio from
http://www.r-studio.com/ or http://www.r-tt.com/ . It requires some
technical skills, but it costs less than $100. You can download the demo
and see if you think it fits you. R-Studio is certainly not the only
option, but it's one that saved my data more than once.

I've never had an HP, but my understanding of that recovery partition is
that it contains nothing of importance to you. Everything on that can be
replaced by HP. Vista or WinXP and most or all of your application software
can be reinstalled. Worry about only your own data files. Nobody in the
world can replace those for you.

The most important rule in this situation is DON'T let anything write to
that HDD until you've recovered your data or given up hope. Read all you
want - or can - but every write has to go somewhere on that drive and it
just might be over your photos, since there is no longer a road map or
street signs on the disk. Once you've recovered (or given up), run the HD
maker's test utility on the drive; it might be covered by their warranty.
But warranties usually cover only the hardware, not recovery of your
precious data.

If you need further help, you might find more-focused guidance by asking in
the vista.file_management newsgroup, rather than here in vista.general.

Good luck. Let us know if we can help further.

RC
--
R. C. White, CPA
San Marcos, TX
rc@xxxxxx
Microsoft Windows MVP
(Running Windows Live Mail 2008 in Vista Ultimate x64 SP1)

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