Can't restore from tape since service won't start

[kldomino]

I am in a vicious cycle....After a Hard Drive crash, I restored Windows 2000 Server c$ and e$ (RAID) info and registry from an ARCSERVE 2000 backup tape. When I then went to restore the SQL data using the agent, it could not restore because the SQL service won't start. The root of the problem with that is there is no master.mdf file in the \Data directory, but I believe that is part of the data that is backed up with the SQL backup.

Some additional info: The SQL Registration is apparently invalid when I edit it-Can I delete and recreate it without making older data unusable? Would a SQL software reload help or hurt? Does anyone know a workaround for this????

Many thanks if you can help.

 

[kldomino]

Update if anyone cares.....

I have found with a Google search that I need to use the rebuildm.exe utility from the SQL CD to create a dummy master.mdf which will start the service, and then I can restore my tape files in the normal way....