Cant view my local drive

I am using windows xp sp2 two days back suddenly my laptop switched off and since then it has been creating problems. When i boot my laptop the screen does not move forward from the windows loading screen. i tried switching it on from safe mode but there also it hangs when the desktop screen comes, so i cannot do a system restore. I tried using a live cd to backup my files, it worked but my local drive was not visible, it said files are locked to NTFS. Please help taking a backup of my files.

Hello,
Give this a try.
Do you have an original XP disc?
If not,
Here is a link that you can download the recovery console to your desktop.
And here is a link that tells you how to make the disc.
This is used to repair your computer, using the proper utilities.


Step I. Access the recovery console using the OS CD. As suggested already, you need to have your OS CD to repair it.(Or the image you created from the above instructions).

To run the Recovery Console from the Windows XP startup disks or the Windows XP CD-ROM, use the following steps:

Insert the Windows XP startup disk into the floppy disk drive, or insert the Windows XP CD-ROM into the CD-ROM drive, and then restart the computer.
Click to select any options that are required to start the computer from the CD-ROM drive if you are prompted to do so.
When the "Welcome to Setup" screen appears, press R to start the Recovery Console and follow the process until you get to the recovery console command prompt.screen.

STEP II. At the Recovery Console command prompt, type the following lines(in blue) then press enter after.

1. cd \ ( Note: between "cd" and "\" there should be a "blank space" or else the command will not work )
2. cd system~1\_resto~1

If it gives an error "Access Denied" while accessing the folder, follow the method below

cd \
cd windows\system32\config
ren system system.bak
exit

Then restart the computer and follow step I.

3. dir

when you hit it will list all the restore points folders like rp1,rp2……………. we have to see the last restore point to copy the file from a recent backup. If the restore points have more than one page then u have keep on hitting the key to view the last restore point folder. Use the next to last restore point. (the last restore point may be corrupt)

4. cd rp {the next to last restore point no. } (Note : Example : cd rp9, if rp9 is the next to last restore point, where last restore point no.=9 )

5. cd snapshot

Now the command Prompt will look like this c:\system~1\_resto~1\rp9\snapshot> ( Note : restore point 9 assumed for clarity of the content, you have to go to the next to last restore point folder as described in the previous lines) Now according to the error message we have to copy the appropriate file from the restore point folder.

6. copy _registry_machine_system c:\windows\system32\config\system
7. Type Exit then press enter. your computer should restart and don't forget to cross your fingers

HP did not provide me with OS CD, so i downloaded the image and burned it into a DVD.

When i booted with it i got an error

INF file txtsetup.sif is corrupt or missing, status 32768

Setup Cannot continue. Press any key to exit.

How did you burn it to CD? You don't burn the .iso file to CD, you use the .iso file as input to your burner software to create a bootable CD.

Did you follow the directions at the link HFCG provided: http://www.geekstogo.com/forum/HOW-TO-BURN…SC-t177373.html

yes i had followed these instructions only to burn the CD. the iso has been successfully burned into the DVD no issues with that… Please Note : i just want to take the backup of the files then i can perform a hard reset and HP will automatically reinstall windows… Thanks

Burn another one, only this time, set the burn speed to the lowest possible setting, see if that makes a difference. Are you using CDR or CDRW discs? CDR is the better choice.

If you just want to save your data and do a system recovery (reinstall Windows) than this tutorial by Happyrock may help. I suggest that you try to burn the recovery console at the lower speed as Ztucker wisely suggested. get puppy linux…http://www.puppylinux.org/downloads .iso download it and burn it to cd .NOTE…do not put a blank cd in until burncdcc opens the tray for you 1. Start BurnCDCC 2. Browse to the ISO file you want to burn on cd/dvd ……in this case its puppy linux 3. Select the ISO file 4. Suggestion…. Check the option "Fix close" 5. Click on "Start" make sure in the bios the cd drive is the first boot device….put the cd in the cd drive..boot your computer….puppy will boot and run totally in ram…if your hardware is is good working order you will know… after you get it running and your at the desktop…you take the puppy linux cd out and then you can use the burner to copy all yor data to cd/dvds you can also use it to backup your data to a external usb harddrive..just have it hooked to the computer when you boot up with puppy… ========================== quick guide for saving data…music..files on a system that will not boot using puppy Linux.. after you get to puppy desktop.. click on the drives icon…looks like a flash drive…top row..it will list all the drives connected to your computer… click on the red icon for the drive you want to mount…in this case its a flash drive …puppy will mount the drive..the drive icon turns green when its mounted… minimize the drives mounter window..you will need it again in a few minutes.. drag the right edge of it sideways to shrink it to its narrowest size…then drag the window to the right edge of the screen… now click on the icon that looks like a filing cabinet (kind of yellow) on the main drive…it should already be green.. you will see a list of all the folders on the main drive Usually your C: drive..shrink that window to the narrowest you can..drag that window to the left side of the screen… at this point you should have 2 windows open on your desktop..the flash drive on the right side.. go back to the folders on the C: drive…click on the documents and settings folder…then your user name or all users..find the folders that has your data.. drag and drop the folder with the data you want to make copies of to the flash drive window… your options are to move ..copy ect…JUST COPY..if its to big you will have to open the folder and drag and drop individual files until the flash drive is full…(I have a 120 GB external USB drive for big data recovery jobs and a 4 GB flash drive for the smaller jobs)..after you get the files copied to the flash drive… Click on the drives mounter you minimized earlier UNMOUNT THE FLASH DRIVE by clicking on the green icon..you will once in awhile get error messages when unmounting the drive..ignore them..when the flash drive icon turns red again its safe to remove the flash drive..trot on over (stroll if you want to look cool) to another computer and plug in the flash drive and copy all the data files ( I drag and drop) to the other computer.. make sure the other computer can read them… now delete the data on the flash drive…take it back to the misbehaving computer and plug it in again..click on the drives icon again and repeat until you have all your data transferred to the working system..

firstly i am using a DVD and not a CD secondly i had tried live version of both Win XP and uBuntu…none of them helped….the live version starts perfectly but it does not show my hard drive…

pls help what do i do

I can't help with the above as it's over my head, but to enable you to move forward the fact your using a DVD burner makes no difference, it will happily burn Cd's without any issue, so just use a CDR disk as suggested, and your drive will easily manage to do what is required, hope this lets you move on until the guy's have time to get back here.

I am inclinded to conclude that your hard drive is non functionable. If it can not be seen by any of the utilities that have been suggested it may have failed. Please make sure that all cables are connected correctly to this drive. If non of the utilities can even see the drive it is beyond my ability to help you.

Your last resort is to go to the hard drive manufacturers web site and download their utility. It will be a .iso file so you need to create a bootable CD as before. Use CDRs instead of DVD +/- R, a lot cheaper. You can find the manufacturer by pulling the hard drive out and looking at the label. Post that info here and we may be ablt to help you find the utility to download.