How to Rescue Your Data After a Windows Crash

Mar.21, 2008 in TroubleShooting

I am sure this has happened to you before, suddenly the screen turns black, and when you try and boot Windows again, you realize it’s not going to happen… You immediately know that it’s time to take out the Windows XP/Vista CD and reinstall it. But what about all your precious data, pictures, documents and everything else? There are several ways to make windows run again while saving all your data.

You can always connect your HD to a different computer and copy all the data you want to be saved to the other computer. Then format your computer, install Windows again, and later on transfer your data back.
If you have 2 hard drives, you can install Windows on the second Hard drive and copy all the data you need back from that hard drive.
The third option and the preferable one is Repairing the windows installation. You will have to make a change in the Bios so that the computer will boot from a CD. Insert your Windows XP CD into the CD Drive and let it boot. When asked to press any key to boot from CD, well, press any key :). Eventually you will get to the following screen: Press “R” and then the Windows installation will delete old files and create a new and fresh Windows installation on your hard drive (just like the regular install) with no data loss.

Another recommendation for the future is to create a partition with a size of 20GB, which will hold only the Windows installation, Program files and nothing else. Save all your important data on a different Hard Drive, and of course, backup, backup, backup.

Amit.

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