Vista - Boot failure - how can i backup my hard drive before doing factory restore?

I have Dell Inspiron 6400 running Vista Home Premium 32 bit.
Last week I did usual windows updates and then proceeded to install new itunes v.8. Upon completion of installation it asked me to restart, i clicked yes. MELTDOWN!
It tries to start up but fails, so i select option of trying system recovery. didnt work - now I want to try and do a backup of my hard drive and then just do a restore to factory settings.

When I choose advanced system recovery options and select command prompt, it opens the command window with the line at:
X:\Windows\system32>

How can I change this to point to the c drive so that I can xcopy my docs etc to my portable hard drive?

I am not very techy, know a few basics just - so if you can offer any help please let it be aimed at an IT dummy level

Hi annie,

If you have a DELL "reinstall" dvd, you may find it has the option to do a startup repair ( some of the Dell discs do - they have been shipping what appear to be straight copies of the MS dvd - in some regions/ ranges )

Startup Repair

If you do not have that dvd, or that option, you can make your own disc

Create a Recovery Disc

Otherwise, you could see if you can copy your drive to an external hard drive using a bootable drive copy app. , free from here

EASEUS Disk Copy: Free Disk Copy, Partition Copy Software. Sector by Sector for hard drive backup tool.

I have not used this, but read the web page and see if you want to try it.


I'm assuming Vista won't boot at all , i.e. you don't get to the Widows loading bars.

If you get past the windows loading , and then it hangs, it could be a misbehaving/ corrupt program trying to start up.

If that is the case, try going into Safe mode ( tap F8 after the post screen , but before windows starts loading ). Then type msconfig into the start search box, and click it when it pops up.

Dot Selective startup and tick Load system services. Then click the Startup tab and untick everything except your security apps and video drivers. Click Apply and OK. Then try starting up.





You could also try going into safe mode arrowing down to Last known good configuration and press enter.

Hope that helps

SIW2

I would use the F8, then try the last known good first.

"anniemc123" <guest@xxxxxx-email.com> wrote in message
news:39d2d1679fae3d68bd6226046b341706@xxxxxx-gateway.com...