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System file missing/corrupt, issue using recovery console

7K views 3 replies 2 participants last post by  spunk.funk 
#1 ·
I was out of town for a week and came back to my computer off and unable to boot back up. I've been able to get this much information:

"the following file is missing or corrupt: \WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\SYSTEM" and, using the CHKDSK command reports at 25% completed that "The volume appears to contain one or more unrecoverable..."

Using the original XP installation disk, I've tried to use the Recovery Console. I only get as far as the screen asking which windows installation I want to use. Initially I had two HDDs and thought the issue might be there, but even disconnecting the other so that there is only one option to select, I'm not able to get past this prompt.

I type "1" (for the 1 installation detected), press enter, and ever hours later nothing has happened.

Trying to use this HDD as an external drive to just recover software or see if the bad file (assuming it's the only one) can be replaced, the drive is seen as unformated.

Any suggestions to try would be greatly appreciated.
 
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#3 ·
Thank you for offering suggestions. I've tried using GetDataBack, and I get these unrecoverable errors:

I/O Error 'Unknown error (121)' reading sector 0 on DISK1 (RT#633)
No file system found (RT#652) The program can not continue

Is there anything else that could be worth a try to retrieve the data?
 
#4 ·
GetDataBack's error message is that there is no file system to read on Sector 0 the very first sector of the drive.
Try making an Ubuntu Live CD or USB Flash drive and boot off of that, and then Try Ubunutu Don't install it. That will allow you to browse the C: drive, if it still exists. Then you can copy your files to a USB HDD. But it may not work, as the drive has probably failed.
Once you are safely backed up, you can boot off of the XP CD and Delete the partitions and Create a new partition and Format the partition NTFS and reinstall Windows. But you probably should just get another HDD as this one has probably failed.
 
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