[dil366b]

How would I reformat and reinstall Windows? Is this very difficult to do? What is a hard drive enclosure? Perhaps I should just reformat and reinstall Windows?

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How would I reformat and reinstall Windows? Is this very difficult to do?

This is a very simple process and there are many guides written on the Internet about this.
Seeing as you have a Gateway computer...
http://www.support.g...ops/9532287.pdf
Look at that file, and scroll down to the section, Recovering Your System From the Hard Drive.
You can do a Full System Restore With Backup, but I am not sure if any files can be brought back. You are better off with doing a Destructive Restore.

A hard drive enclosure allows you to remove your internal hard drive from your computer and hook it to another working computer vis USB. If you want to do this and try to get your data back, tell me the make and model of your computer.

[edge2022]

How would I reformat and reinstall Windows? Is this very difficult to do?

This is a very simple process and there are many guides written on the Internet about this.
Seeing as you have a Gateway computer...
http://www.support.g...ops/9532287.pdf
Look at that file, and scroll down to the section, Recovering Your System From the Hard Drive.
You can do a Full System Restore With Backup, but I am not sure if any files can be brought back. You are better off with doing a Destructive Restore.

A hard drive enclosure allows you to remove your internal hard drive from your computer and hook it to another working computer vis USB. If you want to do this and try to get your data back, tell me the make and model of your computer.

[dil366b]

Thank you for the Gateway link. Do you know of any websites where I can download a Windows XP Home Edition with SP2 or SP3? The recovery CD I insert just keeps telling me to press "R". It seems to be working, but then it just goes back to press "R" again. I tried downloading floppies from Microsoft website, Windows Home Edition with SP2 last night, but I had a lot of difficulty. I tried downloading onto my desktop, but this didn't work. Then I clicked run, but this didn't work either? When it displays what drive I am inserting disc into, I click on e, but nothing happens after that. Am I typing the e wrong? Should I "e"? My backup recovery doesn't work? Thank you again.

[dil366b]

Is there any tool I can use from UBCD to repair or restore Windows before attempting recovery cd? I just need my recovery cd to work if I can't download one.

[edge2022]

The link I provided gives you instructions for a reformat and reinstallation without the Gateway CD. This is possible b/c of a recovery hidden partition on the hard drive.

Do you know of any websites where I can download a Windows XP Home Edition with SP2 or SP3?

This is illegal, don't deal with any of it.

You can try using Active@ Partition Recovery on the UBCD.

You can call Gateway and ask them for recovery CDs. I am not sure about the cost, but it won't be much.

[dil366b]

Thanks for your input and patience. To access the hard drive hidden partition you need to press F11. Detailed instruction are at: http://support.gatew...070613109.shtml

Unfortunately, these steps did not work on my pc because of missing operating system and corrupted partition. I cannot access those files. Recovery from hard drive is unsuccessful. PC came with Windows XP Home Edition System Recovery CD/DVD.

Is the Gateway recovery cd's the same one that came with the pc? What do you think about the fixboot commands or fixmbr commands? I attempted Active Partition and nothing worked. I scanned Unallocated, nothing was found. I scanned HDD and nothing was found.

My partition seems to be missing and the hard drive seems empty?

[dil366b]

I know someone who owns a Gateway Laptop with Windows XP Home Edition SP3. If I create recovery cd's on that computer, would the cd's work on the damaged pc? Damaged pc is a Desktop. The other Gateway has a newer Windows Media Center. My pc has the older version. Do you think this might work?

Edited by dil366b, 27 June 2009 - 03:38 PM.

[edge2022]

My partition seems to be missing and the hard drive seems empty?

At this point... data recovery seems much harder than before. If you need your data recovered, you can send your hard drive to a professional company, or you can try using PhotoRec (it recovers stuff other than photos too) with a hard drive enclosure. If you want to find your data tell me how much you are willing to spend.

What do you think about the fixboot commands or fixmbr commands?

They would do no good b/c the HDD is so heavily corrupted that even Windows cannot be found.

PC came with Windows XP Home Edition System Recovery CD/DVD.

This is what you are looking for. You can get your computer back to working order and reinstall XP with this. Burning recovery CDs off another Gateway computer would not work on yours b/c the recovery CDs will only work with the computer they were burned from.

[dil366b]

I contacted Gateway and was told the hard drive needed to be replaced. I ordered a hard drive and replaced it. The windows recovery cd worked with the new hard drive and I reinstalled Windows. I'm not sure if I was suppose to partition during the installation? During the reinstallation, no display came on regarding the partition. The Gateway computers all seem to have a C drive and D drive where the hidden recovery is suppose to be hidden. On my pc, everything just installed in the C drive. It seems to be working, although all of the drives have different letters? Example, F is now D?

Thank you all for your help and suggestions with my computer.

[edge2022]

If you get a new hard drive, then the recovery partition will not be present. In this case, if you need to restore the system again, you will need to use your System Recovery CD.

Can you give me a screenshot of Disk Management... follow the directions here: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/309000
To open up Disk Management... maximize it and post a screenshot.

[dil366b]

Thank you for the link to support.microsoft. I ran the system recovery cd again. Displays are as follows: Press R for standard Gateway System Recovery options. You will boot into the recovery partition (not there)or on CD if no recovery partition is found. Press Q to quit and to boot the OS on hard drive.

I press R, next display: Select Full System Restore (Destruction) will format your hard drive and reinstall factory shipped files. I click Full System Restore. PC then displays: Hard disk preparation, copying files, finalizing recovery. When the pc gets to hard disk preparation, it goes very quick. I don't know why it's not installing partition from the disk.

Gateway support reads: If the hard drive recovery partition was deleted, there is no way to rebuild it without formatting the drive and performing system recovery using Gateway System Recovery media, which is what I am doing?

Recovery display never has the option to press "F" to format and perform full system recovery. Do I really need to partition the hard drive? Toshiba only has the C drive. That's how the pc reads now?

Here is the screenshot of Disk Management, hope it goes through ok.

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[edge2022]

Gateway support reads: If the hard drive recovery partition was deleted, there is no way to rebuild it without formatting the drive and performing system recovery using Gateway System Recovery media, which is what I am doing?

Then using the CD to recover your computer should have rebuilt the recovery partition... I don't know why it is not doing that.

This might have something to do with it... http://www.pctechbytes.com/gateway.htm
Look at R2 and the last bullet point.

[dil366b]

Thank you very much for that link. It was very interesting and that does seem to be the issue I am having with the pc. I purchased the computer in 2005 which is the time frame mentioned at the link you provided. Recovery CD only contains Windows (version 6) and the backup CD I created contains the drivers and applications. I guess I can't recreate partition with any of these CD's. The PC is working, just with no partition?

[edge2022]

Yes, I guess you will have to go on without a recovery partition. It's all right though if you keep the CDs in a safe place.

Do you still want to recover data from your bad HDD? (I cannot guarantee that recovery will be possible as the bad HDD might have physical problems that will prevent proper recovery.)

Any more questions or problems you have? If so, feel free to ask them.

[dil366b]

Thanks for your suggestion! I did reinstall the old hard drive and used CD from Gateway GWScan 5.12 version. I selected write zeros-full eraser. Computer display read, Command Error. Hard drive might have physical damage and I'm not sure if I can recovery anything? If not, I guess I can use a drill on the hard drive LOL

I really appreciate all of your input and help with my pc. Thanks again!