[Phlegmbot]

Ok, Freebooter,

First: I DO have a Seagate HD, so I went to the BleepingComputer.com link you provided last night. From there, I clicked SeaTools. I downloaded the diagnostic tool to my phone but have no clue how to run it from there.

I then turned on the PC and in automatic repair ran Startup Repair again. Attached are the photos.

Thank you!

P.S. I can att attach my phone via USB if you can tell me how to run the Seagate diagnostic tool.
P.P.S. Tomorrow I will be able to use an HD enclosure, another HD, and another PC to backup my files. At that point I will be able to try the Reset This PC options and, if necessary, the Go Back to Previous Build option if the Reset doesn't work.

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Edited by Phlegmbot, 24 April 2016 - 08:10 PM.

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Hey, FB!

As I mentioned, tomorrow I will have access to a computer and will back up my files.

I'm going to first try the two options I mentioned in the last post (which you recommended earlier as well), but I will perform this task if those do not work.

I probably won't be able to update you until tomorrow evening (EST).

Will be in touch then! THX!

[Phlegmbot]

Hey, FB!

As I mentioned, tomorrow I will have access to a computer and will back up my files.

I'm going to first try the two options I mentioned in the last post (which you recommended earlier as well), but I will perform this task if those do not work.

I probably won't be able to update you until tomorrow evening (EST).

Will be in touch then! THX!

[Phlegmbot]

Hi, Freebooter!

OK, no good news...

I tried Resetting & Keep Files. It went up to 19% but wouldn't go past that. It then said something like "cannot complete...no changes made."

So i now have a boot USB. I tried using it to "Upgrade," but the upgrade did not work.

When i last restarted the computer (as I type this), I got a NEW message: "Repairing disk errors. This might take over an hour." That's promising, Bud I do not have much hope this new repair message will ultimately fix anything.

I would like to try your above solution, but I only had a short time with the borrowed computer today. I just had time to back up my most important files, but that's it.

Since downloading the windows64/test files from your last post will only take a few minutes, I can see if someone I know will let me use their PC to do it (hopefully) in a day or so.

However, there may be some good news: The Windows Repair prompt now looks different, and I'm wondering if, with this change, and the boot USB, do you have a NEW approach to suggest to try and save my settings and remaining files?

Attached is an image showing what opening the prompt in Windows Repair now shows.

Thank you again for any further ideas or suggestions.

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[Phlegmbot]

A new Repair error resulting from the "Repairing disk errors. This might take over an hour" thing I mentioned above.

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[Phlegmbot]

Hi, Freebooter,

I posted the Srttrail.txt file from above. But the post, and the images of the txt file, is gone. Did you delete the post? Our is it some kind of glitch and I should re-upload the txt file?

Also, please let me know if the "testdisk_win.exe" idea is still the appropriate next step.

Thank you!

[Phlegmbot]

OK, I'm still of course hoping to avoid a total reset. Am I correct that the Chkdsk step is the last possibility for that?

Also, once again, do you need to see that new SrtTrail.txt file (the one that I said i posted but seems to have disappeared)? Would it make a difference?

[Phlegmbot]

OK, I ran startup repair again. I had the boot USB in if that makes any difference. Attached are the pics of the txt file.

Also, I would like to confirm the steps for testdsk:

1. Extract Windows 64-bit (http://www.cgsecurit...k-7.0.win64.zip) version of the TestDisk archive to a external HDD

2. Go into WinRe and open the Command Prompt

3. change the directory path to the external HDD by typing: Cd /d X:\testdisk-7.0.win\testdisk-7.0

4.Once in the extracted directory, Type testdisk_win.exe, press Enter


If the above is correct, please answer the following:
1. How do I determine what drive letter the external HDD is?
2. I was reading the instructions at the link you sent ("How to Repair a Damaged Partition Table or MBR"
http://www.geekyproj...table-or-mbr/),how do I know what partition to choose?
3. Step 8 at geekyprojects is missing a word. It reads "Once it finds click on [Write] and..." Um, once it finds WHAT?

As always a BIG thank you!
P.S. I am running Chkdsk as I post this. I can let you know results when it's done.

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[Phlegmbot]

OK, before we continue, I realized i messed up something: When using the other computer to back up my files, I had forgotten some folders, so I quickly copied them. But in my haste, the external HDD i copied them to was actually my computer's drive, not my spare HDD.

So, before I do the INTF thing, can you please tell me how to copy directories from the internal C: Drive to an external f: Drive using the command prompt?


If it's not possible, please let me know that too. (I tried xcopy but was apparently not doing it right -- I kept getting "too many parameters" error)

Thanks!

[Phlegmbot]

Hi. Sorry to continue with this somewhat off-topic thing. So my folder is called C:\Newer Docs

I tried: xcopy /I /E C:\Newer Docs G:\Newer

The computer says Invalid number of parameters. I figured it was the space, so I tried:

xcopy /I /E C:\Newer_Docs G:\Newer

Then it says File not found.

What am I doing wrong?

Thank you again.

[Phlegmbot]

Thank you for that. Huge help. I'm now working on copying the remaining files and reorganizing the copied files (so that I can be sure I have everything and save as much as possible). This may take me some time. Once complete, I will return to your previous steps and post results.

[Phlegmbot]

Hi, Freebooter, I'm back. Because my external HDDS are smaller than my computer's HDD, I had to do a lot of juggling and a lot file management to save the rest of my files (I realized a lot of my video and comics files are now hard to find online, so I couldn't let then go as originally planned)...I've not slept. Nor dis i get a chance to DL that utility you wanted me to get.

But I tried your idea to replace the NTFS.sys file. I got the error in the first image.

But it may not matter, b/c when I booted, I got the error in the 2nd image!

Any chance that message is wrong?

Also, another file question: I can't seem to get to my FONTS folder via cmd. I think it's in the Windows folder...i can't even view it from the cmd prompt. When I did a directory search for any folder named Fonts, I got"access denied."(I had NO passwords set on my user name or any folders in Windows). What do I do? I've a lot of unusual fonts that I use for art and video projects and the like.

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[Phlegmbot]

Hi, Freebooter,

Checking in since I've not heard from you in a day or so.

I went into the Windows\winsxs folder to manually view it and see if there's any NTFS file. There were thousands of amd64 directories, then almost as many directories beginning with mail, files after that were:
Pending.xml...(numbers followed)
Poqexec.log.
Then it was back to directories -- hundreds of them starting with wow64 and x86...but absolutely no NTFS file.

However, I was all of a sudden able to view my fonts folder... So that was good at least.

Anyway, please let me know your assessment as soon as you have a chance. (I just have trouble believing my Seagate HDD is failing after only a year or so.)

Thank you as always!

[Phlegmbot]

P.S. "beginning with mail" was a typo -- [bleep] autocorrect. I can't recall what the other directories started with...but it wasn't that.

[Phlegmbot]

Ok. THX.

[Phlegmbot]

All your help has been really appreciated.