WinXP Pro problems

Yas786 · 13 Sep 2007 at 15:49

Right just got back from Canada and booted up my laptop, which has been running perfectly fine while i was away. Anyways it booted into windows no problems but it started to hang etc and for some odd reason it was trying to install a bluetooth driver..when i didnt even ask for one to be installed.

Anyways it got stuck so tried to end it via control panel but that didnt work so ended up turning it off. the laptop. Booted it up again and this time it took forever to log in...almost 30 mins before it finally logged into windows and even then it was another 20 mins before all my icons came up on my desktop and the laptop was useable.

So i thought i might as well do a repair job on the winxp installation..so off i went and started the repair job...now usually it doesnt take that long to do a repair job but for some odd reason it took my laptop a couple of hrs to finish it off....anyways managed to get into windows again but its still hanging and taking its time.

Now i could do a fresh install of winxp pro but the problem is that i have quite a few files that i need to backup before i can do so...not a problem or so u think but problem is that now i cannot copy those files over to my external hd...win xp sees the external hd and allows me to open it and access the files but when i want to copy my files from my documents to the ext hd...it wont let me do it...it doesnt give me any error messages or anything. it just sits there and does nothing. Clicking my computer shows the ext hd but before having these problems...the icon for the ext hd was a different one to the one now showing in my computer...

So at the moment im kinda stuck as to what to do really....i need these files backed up...its over 40 gb of files that i need backing up but i cant copy them to my ext hd...

So anyone with any ideas as to what to do??...i cannot afford to lose this data to be honest. Hopefully someone here will be able to tell me if theres a way i can put these files onto my ext hd..

TIA

Stag · 13 Sep 2007 at 15:52

I don't know what laptop you have, or if it's still under warranty/value the warranty but this is what I'd do. Open it up and remove the HDD and plug it into your main pc thus bypassing the duff windows installation.

Yas786 · 13 Sep 2007 at 16:00

Its a Dell XPS1210 laptop, problem is that its a SATA HD and at the moment i havent got a desktop pc to use it in...well i do...got my shuttle pc which im using as a server so could pop it into there and try copying the files over but somehow i dont think thats gonna work...as it will still need the duff winxp installation in order for me to access the files i need copied etc.

Stag · 13 Sep 2007 at 16:16

If you just connect it up you will be access the partition no worries, remember you arn't booting from this HDD you're just mounting it to access, so unless it's a duff HDD you shouldn't have any bother.

Yas786 · 13 Sep 2007 at 16:22

Hmmm ill give that a try and see how it goes...only thing is on my server im using win2k3 server but connecting the laptop hd as a slave shouldnt be a problem i take it ie accessing the partition that has the files i need??.

Stag · 13 Sep 2007 at 16:29

Correct, it will just be like having another harddrive in the machine that you use for storage. It's just this harddrive has a window's installation on it, which won't be booted from.

Hope that helps.

something daft already!! · 13 Sep 2007 at 16:29

Re-installing XP does not mean you have to format. You can simply install over the top of the old install, it will delete the old windows install but leave your remaining folders untouched. As long as you use a slightly different username you will not lose any files stored in your profile. You will not lose any files elsewhere either. This should give you access again.

Yas786 · 13 Sep 2007 at 16:39

Stag said:
Correct, it will just be like having another harddrive in the machine that you use for storage. It's just this harddrive has a window's installation on it, which won't be booted from.

Hope that helps.

Cheers mate, ill give that a go later tonight

...will report back if it works or not.

howiepoohs said:
Re-installing XP does not mean you have to format. You can simply install over the top of the old install, it will delete the old windows install but leave your remaining folders untouched. As long as you use a slightly different username you will not lose any files stored in your profile. You will not lose any files elsewhere either. This should give you access again.

Already tried that option via repair and then put a new installation of win xp pro on the same partition as i only have the one partition. The new installation works fine and i can see the files i need to backup but it wont let me have any access to it so that didnt work. At the moment when the laptop boots up, i have 2 installs of win xp on the hd..one is the old duff one and the other is the new fresh one but as i said the fresh one doesnt let me access the old installation.

Gonna try Stags method out..hopefully it will allow me to get those files off the hd and then i can do a fresh install of winxp on it.

Yas786 · 13 Sep 2007 at 18:42

Right well i put the laptop hd into my server, booted up and can see the hd in my computer....opening it up i can see the files that i need to copy over but i cant get into them...keeps sayin access denied.. :confused:

. Im using win 2k3 server on the pc i have the hd connected to but like i said i can see the hd no problem but that file, which ill name Spawn..i cant access at all

So im stuck now...just need to get these files off this damn hd so i can re-install win xp.

Any ideas as to what i need to do regarding this access denied message??...all the other files on the hd i can access but cant seem to access the folder that i need....