Hi

So my comp crashed. When I boot it up I get an error message

“Windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt: windows\system32\config\system”

So I decided to run recovery console. I did chkdsk /r/p and still didn’t work so I tried the copy the “system, software, sam, security, default” thing in the config folder but it wouldn’t allow me (when I “dir” the config folder I get “an error occurred during directory enumeration”).

So yeah, I gave up and decided to backup a few things and format. I got 2 hard drives, c: where windows is in and d: with just files in it, so I want to transfer a few things from c: to d.

Recovery Console only has the COPY command so it wouldn’t allow me to copy a folder I want to backup (can’t use wildcards even when I did set allowwildcards = true). Did a few googling and found out the command I’m looking for is XCOPY.

So then I tried programs such as XXCOPY, NTFS reader, freebootdisk, NTFS4DOS. When I boot it up, I can’t see the folder I want to backup (C:\Downloads) and some of my other folders (D:\Movies, etc) but in Recovery Console, I see everything, not these programs though. Also, Recovery Console shows C:\Documents and Settings, whereas these programs show C:\DOCUME~1 with missing folders and files.

So is there a way I can copy my C:\Downloads folder to my D:\ drive, like what bootable program I can use since I can’t start windows open can boot from cd.

Thanks.

Hello there :]

I'd recommend trying with UBCD4Win (you'll need to build it from another, working computer), that's the most simple way of copying files from a NTFS volume when you can't boot on your own working system.

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hi

i got the UBCD from this website and tried the programs listed above and it didn't work, so would the UBCD4Win work? whats the difference between the two?

UBCD4Win is good, i agree. You could also do it via DSL Linux (Damn Small Linux).

http://www.damnsmalllinux.org/

download the ISO and burn. Once booted, simply open a terminal and mount the drives as follows:



this will give you root privileges. now type



where hda1 = first physical drive, 1st partition. you may have to repeat the step using hda2 in order to access the second parition.

then, copy away

Or try "puppy linux" (90 MiB). You just have to click on a icon to mount a drive. It is made for people who want to switch for windows to linux, so it is very user friendly.

hey

thanks for the help. i was able to backup with the linux program. i used damnsmalllinux and it detected all my files and folders but i cannot copy cause the partition was read-only ntfs. so i did a few googling and found out i have to use the command 'ntfs-3g' which did the trick. ntfs-3g wasnt included in damnsmalllinux but is in puppy linux.