System Recovery problem

[daml]

In the middle of performing a System Recovery, my Power Supply failed. I replaced the Power Supply but am unable to access the Hard Drive.
I burned a Boot CD with Seagate Diagnostics (on another PC) and I am able to boot the problem computer OK. Further, the Seagate Diagnostic program tells me all is well with the hard disk. When I display Drive C, I see that the Volume is now called HP_RECOVERY. I see 3 folders:

1. TEMP
2. RECOVERY
3. WIndows

In the Windows folder there is a folder called SMINST. There is nothing in the Recovery folder. In the TEMP folder, I see 6 files (CD0.LST thru CD5.LST), a file called MASTER.LOG, and a huge file called CD0.ISO.

If I retry the System Recovery from the XP CD, will it continue on it's merry way from where I left off, or have I lost everything on the hard drive?

 

[linney]

It sounds like your machine comes with a built in Recovery Partition which may allow you to return to the factory settings of day one when the machine was new. You may have to start such a procedure via a F key at boot, see your manual or the manufacturer's web site.

If you have used a XP CD to try and do a repair install, and that is what crashed, then if setup was recoverable you would be booting in to setup automatically at every boot up. That not being the case suggests that you cannot recover your setup and might have to start the repair install from scratch, and that is unlikely to repair anything if there is no Windows left to be repaired. Only option is to try it and see what happens.

See if any of these options are viable to you in your present circumstances?

Cannot logon to winxp...losing lots of valuable documents
thread779-975236

 

[BionicJohn]

I recently had a similar experience with an HP.

Your diagnostics indicate the HDD is OK, so remove it, hook it up to another computer and make copies of all the data files ("My Documents" folder?) you need to keep. There may be some ownership/permissions issues but they're easy enough to overcome.

You should have a recovery disk, which you were asked to create when you first used the PC.

http://h20331.www2.hp.com/Hpsub/cache/312352-0-0-225-121.html

This recovery disk will use the images in the hidden Recovery partition. It will reset you computer back to the "as new" state and you will lose all your data, any applications you installed and all personalisations and updates.

You will, however, not have to worry about drivers.

Also, disconnect the PC from your internet link until you are ready to proceed with all the inevitable updates. You don't want a monster download (and potential threats) interfering with your installation.

Best of luck.

Liverpool: Capital of Culture 2008
Anfield: Capital of Football since 1892
Iechyd da! John
Glannau Mersi, Lloegr.