Win XP, Bad Laptop HDD, File/Settings Transfer?

OK, here we go, I'll try to get all the details I can in this question.
I have an IBM Laptop T22 that Win XP was not booting completely. After checking all the things that I normally would and searching for info on error messages and so on I found that the hard drive has bad sectors.

I was in the middle of a Win XP repair install before I figured this out. Now I am stuck at the Installing Windows step @ 39 minutes left and getting a fatal error that prevents setup from continuing.The setup log says The error code is 426.

I downloaded the IBM Drive Fitness Test/Repair software and it confirmed that there are bad sectors. I let it repair the bad sectors. I did this 3 times and it still comes up with bad sectors.

All I want to be able to do is get the files and setting out of this IBM laptop to transfer into a newer Dell laptop I have. I bought a 2.5" external USB enclosure to put the hard drive from the IBM laptop into my desktop to see if I can retrieve anything from it.

My questions are:

(1) can I somehow get the repair install to complete so I can get XP to finish opening and be able to run the Files & Settings Transfer Wizard?

(2) If I use the enclosure and use my desktop to access the laptop hard drive can I manually retrieve the files and settings and transfer them to the dell laptop without screwing things up?

THANKS!

 

Q1: Get repair reinstall to complete?
A1: Perhaps with a more aggresive hard drive repair utility. There is no way to predict your actual results. Perhaps:

. Use Recovery Console and the chkdsk /p/r command
chkdsk drive /p /r

. Perhaps Gibson's Spinrite would help, perhaps not: http://grc.com/sroverview.htm

. Perhaps HDD Regenerator would help, perhaps not:
http://www.dposoft.net/

Q2: Use USB enclosure?
A2: You will not be able to use the File and Settings Transfer Wizard. But in theory what you are attempting should work. (Remember even with the FAST wizard, application programs are not transferred).

You likely will have to assert ownership of the mounted disk from your Dell laptop: http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;308421

 

Thanks for your reply Bill.

I tried the chkdsk c: /p /r and it found quite a few bad sectors. I had a copy of HDD Regenerator and ran that too. It also found quite a bid of bad sectors and repaired some.

I boot as usual and Win XP tries to continue the repair install and I get the same errors. I am now trying to re-run the XP repair install to see if maybe with the bad sectors marked as bad or repaired the install will complete. I am guessing it wont.

I am down to my last chance of hooking the drive up to my desktop with the USB enclosure.

I know I can just copy files such as My Docs folder and so on but how do I get settings and other stuff that the FAST Wiz would have taken?

 

If you tell us the settings you want, it might be possible to recover them. It is difficult in some cases. For example, dial-up and vpn connection information such as passwords is encrypted data in the registry. If XP were running the data can be decrypted and copied; without it running there is no reasonable way to do so.

By the way, what errors is the repair reinstall showing you? They might not be HDD related.

 

Bill THANKS again for your help.

The error I was getting was about the system files, "Windows XP could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt: \WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\SYSTEM. "

I searched for it on the web and found this:
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=307545

I did it and it worked, so it seems so far. Windows opened and I am looking at the desktop. I am now going to try the FAST Wiz.

I'll let you know how it goes. THANKS!

 

I ran the FAST Wiz and it looks like it worked. I am copying the folder to the new laptop now. We'll see if its contents are good enough for the FAST Wiz to copy them onto the dell laptop.

 

You did absolutely the right thing, as your error message indicates an issue reading one of your registry hives.

Your repair will work, and the Guided feature of the KB article you found is a blessing, as this repair is tricky.

But because this repair is only possible if System Restore was enabled, I recommend everyone enable System Restore.

And download and use ERUNT: http://home.t-online.de/home/lars.hederer/erunt/