As a Last Resort

You can reinstall Windows XP over a damaged Windows XP system. Doing so might be time-consuming, but reinstalling is useful if other repair attempts do not solve your problem. You should attempt an upgrade install first. If this works, you will have repaired your OS and retained your installed applications and most system configuration settings. If upgrading fails, you must perform a fresh install, which means you'll have to re-install all of your applications and remake all of your settings changes. Unless you format the drive, your data files will remain unaffected by the upgrade or fresh install process.

TIP

If you do a fresh install, you don't have to worry that your documents and settings will get wiped out. They won't. During a re-install, Windows XP setup checks to see if there are pre-existing Documents and Settings for each user account you create, and uses a modification of that name to create the new account settings. For example, my account name is Bob. So, under D:\Documents and Settings, there is a sub-folder called D:\Documents and Settings\Bob. When I did a fresh reinstallation on the same drive, and set up my user account again (using the name "Bob" once again), XP did not overwrite the existing Bob folder. Instead it created a new folder called D:\Documents and Settings\Bob.HP-Laptop. XP appended the name of my computer onto my username. Now all I had to do was fish around in files and folders under Bob (such as Desktop, Favorites, Cookies, Application Data, and so on) and copy those over to the new Bob.HP-Laptop folder. Then I was back in business.

However, it is always a good idea to back up your data. Go back and check out the "Backup Tools and Strategies" section in Chapter 29 for ideas on performing that activity. Keep in mind that if your system fails to boot, you can't get access to the Windows backup tool to create a backup. So, you must be proactive by backing up your important files on a regular basis. You might get lucky and be able to use the Safe Mode Command Prompt or the Recovery Console to access a command prompt where you can copy files to a floppy, removable medium, or other drives. But relying on this is not smart.

TIP

If data recovery is what you are after, there are ways to reclaim your data from the hard drive. These techniques assume that the files or folders you want to reclaim did not use NTFS encryption. There are several approaches you could consider. First, if you have a dual-boot system, look for the Documents and Settings folder on the XP boot drive. Drill down until you find the files you want. This assumes the OS you boot into can read the file system that your user files are stored under, of course. Second, you can try connecting the drive to another computer that boots an OS capable of reading the volumes and folders in question. Then go looking for the files. Find them, and copy them where you'd like.

NOTE

In cases where the lost data files were encrypted under NTFS, you will need a recovery key to gain access to them. See Chapter 29 for more about managing the hard disk, and Chapter 28 for details about managing users and passwords.