Hi

I've fallen into some major XP problems being on the brink of losing all my 5year plus personal and business related data - over 70GB

The problems covered in my last post were all resolved due to a new installation of XP Pro on a new drive and many settings, programs being migrated manually. Backups were all made as the drives were all accessible through slave.

After I had "this" new 80GB harddrive installed with Windows on it and everything else migrated, I thought of formatting my other hard drives: ones the same as this at 80Gb and anothers the same make but 40Gb and 5400RPM instead of 7200RPM.
You'll have to follow and read closely to understand. Here's what happened:

Dealing with my new, this, 80GB harddrive and the old, faulty OS 40GB now.

I had my "other" 40Gb drive as Slave on this computer, and set to boot up first in the BIOS settings.

That was the faulty OS drive - the 40GB

I had this, the 80GB, my new perfectly functioning drive with all my previous settings/files saved on it as the Master.

I ran a repair install on the Slave 40Gb and it never worked.

I then chose to set it as Master and this 80GB drive as Slave both in BIOS settings when booting and cable/jumper settings and do a complete reinstall.

It ran the first section until reboot on the other 40GB drive perfectly. After reboot it continued...

But with THIS new 80GB drive instead and has wiped out 70GB of my 5 years of work, business and personal stuff, including any backups contacts, everything!!! ... as it seemed.

However when I rebooted it asked me to choose between two Windows installations on this Master drive - the 80GB one.

I checked the drive C in My computer and my other files are still there!!!

So what is going on, and how do I start that particular Windows and not this one? (when i start it, it runs into Windows setup and asks for a CD- if clicking cancel it reads Windows setup is incomplete fatal error. Could this mean my previous Windows is already half deleted but the files are still there?)

How do I delete one of them (OS) and leave one on?
How do I find two of them (I only see one Windows folder in that drive)?
My files are still there, those that I had saved from the other faulty harddrives are still there inside folders in the other XP installation desktop. But not this one. How do I get those to function again and not these newly installed ones?

Currently I have two harddives connected. Can someone also inform me how do I know which drive is currently running the Windows?

I had just managed to get it all off the other two drives onto this, and migrate my settings back.

I dunno whether to laugh or cry

I need some help here if someone can be kind enough to. I really dunno what to do next. I'm very confused.

You have been going through some rather complex operations here.

My first response would be to ask: How valuable is said data?

If it is very valuable I would remove the hard drive immediately and find a data recovery provider in your area or online:

http://www.google.com/search?q=data+...e=utf8&oe=utf8

I am glad to offer continuing suggestions but as computers are just a hobby for me I would not want you to risk your critical data on my suggestions.

Perhaps the best might be to get your data onto DVD's or CD's and then format your drives from scratch.

Or I could keep offering ideas from my own research or maybe another member will have an idea.

Jephree check this out in the "newly" created XP installation I am running now, the blunder that I thought destroyed all my data on this harddrive:

I checked the Windows folder.

Here have a look, it'll show you those OLD files I am talking about (those that I had just migrated over and setup on this new HDD after the new XP installation of two days ago):



NXT



NXT



NXT




Those are my OLD files from the main last installation of XP on this drive- the others, all of them I had migrated from my other drives to this harddrive in the older XP installation it had (i.e. as I had on this new 80GB drive the last time I was peaking to you)!

But it gives me the option that I have TWO XP installations to choose from at the startup.

Even though I've set boot on the other slave drive it boots into this.

This drive was FULLY brand new before this and fully formatted. The other two older ones that played up last time, are still not formatted and retain their info even though I had copied it over to this harddrive yesterday.

To copy would take me forever. I remember making the 700MB data CD that took me about 15 minutes at least. Think about 100GB on CDs/DVDs!!! And the time, puh I'm already running scared.

The info is very valuable to me and a few others. The drive is here working right now because this is a fresh copy of fully formatted and reinstalled Windows on it. However the partition was left intact and it hasn't deleted the files. What happened is it continued to run the second stage of XP installation after the reboot on this drive while it should have done so on the other drive on which it had carried out the first stage. This drive still maintains the older XP installation (main one) as well as, and the setup for that is not completed as if I choose to boot from it as startup, it runs me to setup and install XP SP2 Cd prompt.
Problem is easier than the last one I encountered, and that was solved with your help.

Check it out and let me know as I reckon you'll know what to do here once you understand the problem fully.

I do have all the info I need off another harddrive I was about to format and reinstall XP on. Its 80GB and if I can get that to work, maybe I should transfer as much as this info on to it their as possible? So I still save that option...

Thats three full configurations and installations needed. However I am still optimistic that there is a way around all this that you'll know but are confused.

HAHA Jephree I dont freakin believe it!

I did a full install on XP on one of my previous drives, leaving my files all intact only the start menu, registry and settings have gone to default as well as my XP folder. Nothing else seriously its all there! I had 30 Gb on this particluar drive I'm ruinning right now.. it was the one that I used to post off before before it also messed up. And now I also have all that 30Gb in the exact same places, only that the programs are removed form the programs list, yet they are there in the C:/Program files!

All options that never worked before on Windows work now as I have the new Windows installation.

Unbelievable!

The other drive of 80GB I talked about in my last post, is now disconnected. It has tow Xp installations on it, one that is faulty right now and another that requires more setup to clear everything and install itself.

I have to get them files before it can do that though so I am guna slave it with another 40GB drive and transfer them over before complete reinstall.

Crazy really!

You appear to be quite able to work thru these issues on your own!

Thanks for the update.

Who knows who else this will help!

Hi, i'm cesar, and first of all sorry for my english, i'm spanish and, you know, paella, fallas, sun and melons, we don't have much time to improve.
You'll think i'm simply but why don`t you attach ONLY a hard drive in your pc to know which of them starts? or wich is in trouble with the installation, and you can create a folder in the desktop that runs with the name of the hard drive ( or hard drives) and edit the boot.ini or mmake a fixboot with the console in each drive......
As i said before, you'll think it's so simply.

Originally Posted by jephree

You appear to be quite able to work thru these issues on your own!

Thanks for the update.

Who knows who else this will help!

I need guidance which I get from your answers.

Here for proof, I'm running this drive with the full new XP installtion on it and NO new programs apart from Firefox installed right now and look at these screenshots after the XP full install- this is the weird bit:




Huh? Power1 is my OLD XP username and Home is my new one. See how you can access both?

I don't actually know but I remember hints and at other times get flashbacks of memory from the past. I'm just a DIY guy thats all... who learns off people like you

If someone does want to save some files (although they won't work in your new OS installation as the registries are removed) and they are needing to do a full install immediately, and all else fails i.e. they cannot access it by slaving it, I suggest doing the repair reinstall first and if that fails then a complete reinstall of XP and choosing "leave current partition intact" in the earlier setup screens.

That will only delete and replace the registry, the installed programs and the OS. It will leave the rest intact in the same positions. You can even create shortcuts to the start menu from the old program files list (like I've got pictured above) and the application will work!
Whats more, all your settings will be intact in these folders along with additions, plugins etc.

Thanks Jephree as usual

Cesar,

Thanks for replying.

The drives boot up now.
The installation I have done and what needs to be done is clarified now. This drive is perfect and it still has the pre-reinstallation files intact on it.

The other drive is not ok as it has two XP installations on one drive. One works and the other does not. I'll have to get the work off it and then format it completely with a new reinstall.

Booting is not a problem anymore. And I've verified the installations by doing exactly what you said while you typed this reply: by only leaving connected one drive.

Cheers!

Originally Posted by cesar666

Hi, i'm cesar, and first of all sorry for my english, i'm spanish and, you know, paella, fallas, sun and melons, we don't have much time to improve.
You'll think i'm simply but why don`t you attach ONLY a hard drive in your pc to know which of them starts? or wich is in trouble with the installation, and you can create a folder in the desktop that runs with the name of the hard drive ( or hard drives) and edit the boot.ini or mmake a fixboot with the console in each drive......
As i said before, you'll think it's so simply.

Anything new?

I wonder why that new installation is showing as D: and not C:

Did you run the Clean install onto a single partitioned drive?

If not I would recommend it.

Otherwise how are things working?

The installation is perfect

Everything works fine, no errors on this 40GB slave drive so far. It was installed on the D drive, which is Slave at the moment, that is why its showing on the D drive.
E is the partition of D and C is the Master 80-GB drive on this system that has two Windows installed on it - one works fully functional as its a new installation and the other is the older version as it was being wiped out and re-written and is still no where near completed yet.
Thats why I can boot choosing the one thats complete and see my older files still on.

I am just now going to run a CLEAN reinstall on a single partitioned drive.

Can I have two separate Windows installations on one drive?

Can I have two separate Windows installations on two separate partitions of the same drive?

You said previously its a hobby.. boy for a hobby you guys are pro's.

Hasta la vista