[aclors]

My computer (Dell Dimension 8400, Windows XP Home Edition) had a virus. The damage the virus had done was catastrophic. In the attempt to get rid of it, I ran a repair installation. Something went wrong because Windows does not boot!

I have this one folder in the C drive (C:\Hub Essentials) that is very important to me.

So I have devised a plan to recover it using a new, blank, secondary hard drive, under the assumption that the Hub Essentials was not wiped by the repair installation.

1. I will turn off the computer.
2. Install the new, secondary hard drive.
3. Disconnect the data cable of the old hard drive.
4. Turn on the computer.
5. Insert the Windows XP CD.
5. Press F2, and go to the setup menu.
6. Change the boot sequence, so that it boots via the Windows XP CD. Turn off the old drive in the drives menu.
7. Install Windows XP on the new hard drive.
8. Turn off the computer.
9. Reconnect the data cable of the old hard drive.
10. Turn on computer.
11. Press F2, and go to the setup menu.
12. Turn the old hard drive back on in the drives menu. Change the boot sequence, so it boots via the new hard drive.
13. Load the newly installed Windows XP, and move the files from the old hard drive to the new hard drive.
14. Reformat the old hard drive.

Will my plan work? Are there any discrepancies? Any tips any reminders? Please, I want this to go smoothly and for the investment on a new hard drive to be worthwhile.

Please respond!

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Hi there

Your plan essentially should work. I have one or two points to make though:

1. When you have disconnected the old drive & installed the new, gone into the setup menu to change the boot priority, you shouldn't need to disable the old drive as it should disappear automatically after disconnection.

2. Likewise, when reconnecting it, you shouldn't need to alter the boot sequence. It will be set to (1)CDROM (2) HDD 0
As long as there is not a bootable CD in the drive, it will boot from the Master hard drive (the new drive).

3. Make sure when you install the new drive (with the old drive disconnected) that you set the new drive to Master using the jumpers. When you reconnect the old drive (I assume you will connect it to the same cable as the new one) you must jumper the old drive to be a slave & attach it to the connector in the middle of the ribbon cable, with the new drive at the end of the cable

4. If you still have a virus on the old drive, please be really careful when you reconnect it so that it doesn't infect the new drive as well. I suggest when you boot the system for the first time with both drive attached, that you run an antivirus scan over the old drive before doing anything else. Make sure you have updated your antivirus software first.

[Samm]

Hi there

Your plan essentially should work. I have one or two points to make though:

1. When you have disconnected the old drive & installed the new, gone into the setup menu to change the boot priority, you shouldn't need to disable the old drive as it should disappear automatically after disconnection.

2. Likewise, when reconnecting it, you shouldn't need to alter the boot sequence. It will be set to (1)CDROM (2) HDD 0
As long as there is not a bootable CD in the drive, it will boot from the Master hard drive (the new drive).

3. Make sure when you install the new drive (with the old drive disconnected) that you set the new drive to Master using the jumpers. When you reconnect the old drive (I assume you will connect it to the same cable as the new one) you must jumper the old drive to be a slave & attach it to the connector in the middle of the ribbon cable, with the new drive at the end of the cable

4. If you still have a virus on the old drive, please be really careful when you reconnect it so that it doesn't infect the new drive as well. I suggest when you boot the system for the first time with both drive attached, that you run an antivirus scan over the old drive before doing anything else. Make sure you have updated your antivirus software first.