Re: disk error occurred

thank you again Malke..

taking your points in order:

the HP forum arent too bad, HP tech support are terrible so i wontgo near
them. Nothing on the HP forums on this.

I have ll data from this drive backed up apart from these hidden/locked
files [see explanation later], thats my overriding worry before i try the DOS
commands.

the machine is 3 years old, but hard drive is 3 months old.

the exact text of the error is, that when the machine boots up, just after
the HP logo screen and the screen where you can press f10 to access setup
[the boot screen i assume?] and before it flicks on to the XP pr loading
screen with the XP logo, a line of text comes up and simply says "disk error
occurred/press ctrl alt del to restart".

these "locked files" are not the hidden files or system files. i dont know
what to call them but when you create a user profile in XP, that user profile
creates a folder of that username under "documents and settings". Unless you
specifically change the settings of this folder, to which i havent, this
folder and its subsequent files are not accessable to thjer users of the
machine if you have multi users on one machine. When you plug that drive in
to another machine as a hard drive it wont read that dir as i assume it looks
at the user and login and sees its not the same user or machine?. Does that
make sense? i generally unlock this locked dir as i have had major problem
with it before but as i have just completed reinstalling everything on this
drive, i hadnt got around to it. It holds my 5 substancial outlook pst files
which is why i need access to it.

"Malke" wrote:

mumbles27 wrote:
Thank you Malke,


you dont think FIXBOOT or FIXMBR would do any good?

and with regard to getting hold of the files i need, "taking ownership",
would that solve this problem i have of the files being hidden as they are
the user profile dir? how would i do that?

No I don't think running software commands on your hard drive would
solve the problem but certainly you can try it. It would be quicker and
easier than dealing with HP tech support and would rule out hardware
issues. You should not lose data but naturally it would be stupid not to
have your data backed up first.

Of course my opinion is based on the information you gave me in your
first post. You didn't quote the exact text of the error message and I
know nothing about the recent history of the machine, its age, etc. I
got the impression that the hard drive had a problem since you mentioned
"disk error" and not something about not being able to find an operating
system. Since I can't see your computer, my impression could certainly
be wrong.

As for taking ownership of the files, you are not making yourself clear
when you say "files being hidden as they are the user profile dir". I
don't know what that means. If you set the host computer (the one to
which you've attached your laptop hard drive) to see all hidden files,
you should have no problem taking ownership of the files. If you used
encryption (EFS), you will still be able to see the files and transfer
them but you should have backed up your encryption key to removal media
before all this happened.

Make sure you are able to see all hidden files and extensions (View tab
in Folder Options). In XP, there are four checkboxes to deal with:

a. Check "Display the contents of system folders".
b. Check "Show hidden files and folders".
c. Uncheck "Hide extensions for known file types".
d. Uncheck "Hide protected operating system files" and click "OK" to the
dialog box.


Malke
--
Elephant Boy Computers
www.elephantboycomputers.com
"Don't Panic!"
MS-MVP Windows - Shell/User

.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: disk error occurred
    ... a line of text comes up and simply says "disk error ... these "locked files" are not the hidden files or system files. ... what to call them but when you create a user profile in XP, ... creates a folder of that username under "documents and settings". ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.general)
  • Re: Desktop display properties always go to default not the desire
    ... corrupted user profile to a new profile but I run into another problem. ... Where it tells you to go to windows explorer, click on tools and go to folder ... click view tab and then click show hidden files and folders. ... down and the reboot another time, the display settings again go back to the ...
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    ... On the Tools menu, click Folder Options, and then click the View tab. ... In the Name list, click your user name, Administrator if you are logged ... > "Create a New User Profile in Windows XP Professional ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.general)
  • Re: User Problem
    ... "Failed to set Security on the Destination Profile. ... If these changes are made in Folder Options, ... the hidden files to show., and this is where the error message occur. ... because of the folder/view setting problem ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.hardware)
  • Re: disk error occurred
    ... these "locked files" are not the hidden files or system files. ... creates a folder of that username under "documents and settings". ... This is normally a simple permissions issue, dealt with by Taking Ownership. ... have XP Pro and have invoked encryption. ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.general)