My PC won't boot up anymore, not even to safe mode. Any suggestions besides reformat & reinstall Windows XP?

Question

Unfortunately, I wasn't performing regular backups. I tried to do a Windows repair, but the option wasn't available. Luckily, I'm able to copy the data from the drive to another drive before I reformat.

I'm considering a few different options for backup solutions:
1. Backup to 2 external drives, using Norton Ghost. I was thinking of using 2 in case 1 fails.
2..Set up a RAID configuration with 2 internal drives (not yet sure how to do this

Which one of these is a preferable solution? Any other suggestions?

Also, is it any better to install only the OS on 1 drive, and then install all other programs & keep most data files on another drive? I was thinking that if my OS ever failed again, I could reinstall the OS and since my applications are on another drive, I wouldn't have to reinstall them.

Also, I'm considering installing the OS on a Raptor drive to make the PC boot up and run faster, Any opinions on if this would be worth th extra drive cost?

Thanks for everyone's advice!

Answer 1

Your two choices do different things. Ghost creates an image of the partition and stores it somewhere else. It's basically a snapshot of your entire hard drive at a certain point in time. If you use Ghost, you'd basically be restoring your computer to a certain point in time in the event that it fails.

RAID, on the other hand, doesn't really prevent against Windows sucking, it only gives you protection from a hard drive physically failing. If one drive dies, your data is still safe on the other. But if Windows quits working, both hard drives would be useless because they are mirror images of the same corrupt operating system.

So two different things. Up to you to decide which best suits your needs, though from my point of view, Windows is much more likely to die than a hard drive itself.

To answer your other question, it is advisable to keep your operating system and your personal data separate. Then if your OS has to be reinstalled, you don't really need to worry about your data, and vice versa. Here's what I do: I have three hard drives. One hard drive contains Windows and all my installed programs. I back up this drive using Acronis (similar to Ghost - creates an image of the partition). This helps in the event that Windows hoses itself. Then, the other two drives are set up for RAID mirroring, and I store my personal data on there. This provides the most security, because each type of data is protected against its most common failure.

Note: Installing programs on a separate drive from your OS really doesn't provide any benefits, unless the OS hard drive is very small and you need the space. Even if Windows and the installed programs are on different hard drives, you will very likely have to reinstall most of them anyway if you reinstall Windows.

As for the Raptor drive... yeah, it might go a little faster, but I don't bother. Installed programs are your biggest threat to slowdowns anyway.

Answer 2

Norton is probably the cheapest although you'd have to update it again and again. For a RAID check see if your motherboard supports it, othewise you can purchase a card. The downside I've heard with a RAID is that power supply can burn out both HD in a RAID system at a same time. If you have them hook up that way.

DVD burn is probably the best. I'm sure you can find a few dual layer discs out there. Myself I do bare backups on DVDs using NERO, I also have an external USB HD drive.

Determine how important your information is: etc. can you download it again, can you buy it again, family photos, work related? Then backup the really important stuff.

Answer 3

Solution 1 is probably the way to go for you disk mirroring is not really cost effective unless your a medium to large business.

nothing wrong with installing os on one disk and programs on another just remeber to change the install path of programs you install

instead of buying a super fast, super expensive hard drive to decrease boot up time try to keep as many icons out of your task bar as possible...each icon in your task bar represents a program that was started at boot up thats what makes boot up times increase

more icons= longer boot up time
less icons=shorter boot up time

Answer 4

Hello,

I guess you can't F8 and get to the comand prompt either, if you could i would suggest you do a sfc/scannow at the prompt.
However, you can do a parrallel reinstall in a different directory like windows2 and transfer all your original documents and settings from the original windows to the new one.

Answer 5

Insert the CD after which you opt for your computing gadget besides from CD. to try this, once you're booting up on dell laptops, i believe you press f12 to choose on what besides up on. as quickly as you have that all and sundry started, you may desire to get a Blue show screen. bypass interior the direction of the words and press in spite of it tells you to press to proceed. opt for your no longer elementary rigidity from the checklist and then delete the partition. it will permit you be attentive to the learning on the thank you to delete the partition. After deleting the partition, create a clean one, and set up xp on that one. this is enormously without delay-forward, i do no longer think of you ought to have any issues. the finished technique takes decrease than 2 hours. Oh and bear in mind which you particularly choose drivers. some significant ones are your VGA drivers, your community adapter drivers, maybe sound, and such.

Answer 6

fire up a dos command and type fixboot or fixmbr space C: or whatever your drive letter is Before you go reformatting anything

Answer 7

system restore???