Blue Screen Of Death/Data Recovery

[jcd]

I am in urgent need of help.

My dad installed SP3 for Windows XP and I am guessing something went wrong. I now have a blue screen flash of then it just restarts. when using safe mode it just restarts (before giving me the login screen). Normally I would just format my windows partition and reinstall but dad saved his work on the desktop . The work is so important he is willing to send the HDD for data recovery before doing it over. I booted up from a old hard drive and installed my drivers so I could try to get his work to safety, but when trying to access C:\Documents and Settings\username it gives me a [access denied] msg. I tried doing this logged in as administrator.

Is there anyway I can get that data off the desktop on HDD 1 and onto HDD 2? Or even if I am lucky to get that windows on HDD1 working again without a format? Please help.

If you need any extra information just ask.

[Firestrm_ZA]

I am in urgent need of help.

My dad installed SP3 for Windows XP and I am guessing something went wrong. I now have a blue screen flash of then it just restarts. when using safe mode it just restarts (before giving me the login screen). Normally I would just format my windows partition and reinstall but dad saved his work on the desktop . The work is so important he is willing to send the HDD for data recovery before doing it over. I booted up from a old hard drive and installed my drivers so I could try to get his work to safety, but when trying to access C:\Documents and Settings\username it gives me a [access denied] msg. I tried doing this logged in as administrator.

Is there anyway I can get that data off the desktop on HDD 1 and onto HDD 2? Or even if I am lucky to get that windows on HDD1 working again without a format? Please help.

If you need any extra information just ask.

do you know how to change permissions on folders? ie change ownership?

[Monty]

create a boot cd (using barts PE or something similar). That should allow you to access all the folders etc.

[jcd]

nope. but shouldnt I be logged in as administrator on HDD 1 to do that?

[hamin_aus]

Just take ownership of the folder like jcd said:

1. Right-click the folder that you want to take ownership of, and then click Properties.

2. Click the Security tab, and then click OK on the Security message (if one appears).

3. Click Advanced, and then click the Owner tab.

4. In the Name list, click your user name, or click Administrator if you are logged in as Administrator, or click the Administrators group. If you want to take ownership of the contents of that folder, select the Replace owner on subcontainers and objects check box.

5. Click OK, and then click Yes when you receive the following message:
You do not have permission to read the contents of directory folder name. Do you want to replace the directory permissions with permissions granting you Full Control?
All permissions will be replaced if you press Yes.
Note folder name is the name of the folder that you want to take ownership of.

6. Click OK, and then reapply the permissions and security settings that you want for the folder and its contents.

You should be able to access the folder and sub folders fine after that

[xumwun]

too slow

[maestro_za]

Sounds like the XP is Home Edition. I usually use GetDataBack-NTFS ... google it. It has worked 95% of the time for me.

Take the drive out, and either put it in an external chassis with usb or
put in another tower, make it a slave ... run the prog and let it read the drive (which it does 95% of the time) ... it will then back up the drive.

Make sure you have a large capacity destination drive, as it creates an image of the entire drive/partition. Is the C: drive a partition or is the whole drive the Windows install?

Data recovery service is the last resort, as its quite expensive. If the above doesn't work then go that route.

Maybe other forum users can help you out but a data recovery package is the first port of call if drive ownership doesn't work.

[jcd]

ok, I can get into that user's files, but now I get a access denied error when trying to access the desktop folder, and when I try to take ownership of that file I get another access denied msg

[jcd]

I used GetDataBack like Maestro_za suggested. Because I only downloaded the trial, I couldnt copy anything over, but I was able to open the documents my dad needed and then save then on another HDD. so now I can reformat and reinstall windows without having to cause my dad to work hours through the night again.

Thanx guys. appreciate the help

[maestro_za]

Cool