W2K reduced to 10Mb 1500 Found000 files

W2k Major Prob sequence.
Sw'd pwr off while running. "\winnt\system32\config\systemced missing or corrupted ". From Hiren's boot cd(mini xp) CHKDSK /F no errors repeated 3/4 x's. Then from net search advice "system Hive" corrupted. replaceed "system "file from "repair folder ". Then Blue screen uponloading W2k "inaccessible_boot_device 0x0000007B<....>" "NTLDR missing, boot disc failure" Then looked into Fixboot comand from RecoveryConsole. Did it. Not good. In between C partion info with ?'s then D partion info. (HDD has other partitions on it including Linux) My C partition was 135Gb now indicates 10Mb. After this I used CHKDSK /F and then it listed ~1500 bad or lost sectors, ...and i said "yes" to converting these to files. Now I have ~1500 .CHK files on a 10Mb C partition. with no previously backed up files.

 

This sounds like a hard drive on the way out, or you could have some infections.

I would first download Microsoft Security Essentials and see what it can find and then get the Disk Diagnostics from WD and check the health of your hard drive.

http://www.microsoft.com/security_essentials/support.aspx?mkt=en-us

http://support.wdc.com/product/download.asp?level1=6&lang=en

First and foremost I would try and back up any important files just in case the hard drive is about to die, but be sure to scan all the files incase there is a virus or two involved.

 

1) security:-MS ceased w2k support june 2010. Now only security xp onwards.
2) WD diagnostic tool. Unable @ this stage to put this on a bootable cd nor floppy.
I assumed the demise of my HDD were my wrong moves. But your suggesting that it may have been crook to start with? For, if that's the case then it's prettywell finished its life. I have copied those 1567CHK files, if @ some stage they are recoverable...
thanks Bern

 

OK, sorry, I didn't know that MSE was not compatible with W2k. But Malwarebytes is and you can download a free version, update it, and do a full system scan. This is the software used on this site for virus removal. It may be worth a try. I have seen computers recover from just as bad a condition and the hard drive has been OK.

http://www.malwarebytes.org/

Get rid of any infections first and then we will be able to see what problems remain. Do you have the disc for the OS.

 

Its not a sign of infection. Its just that you switched off the system while it was running. So the file system has been corrupted.

If the corruption is on such a large scale that even the partition table is corrupt, I don't think you could recover your data 100%. You could open each chk file & see if it makes any sense to you.

 

W2k major Prob

Sorry guys, On following up your suggestions I have realised last night I accidently moved the 1567 CHK files on to a "(XMiniXP" partion set up by this boot disc and of course when I exited the disc it went. I thought I saved them to memory stick??
HDD status ... finally resorted to Gparted (Linux partitioning)to check it out and it's telling me 232.89Gb unallocated! and now i remember doing something BAD thinking can't get any worst! Anyway now I need to "create a new partion table" Look thanks very much for your help chaps, I realy appreciate it.
Regards Berns

 

Your welcome.