Re: A Disk Read Error Occured. Press CTRL+ALT+DEL to restart

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Thanks, Richard.

the software that you cite is a little pricey for my pocketbook, but hear
what you say about it being worth it of you do a lot of data recovery.

I do have one final question. If I try to repair my MBR (this is a NTFS
drive) do I run the risk of losing data that is on the HDD?

Thanks

"Richard Urban" wrote:

> Answers in-line:
>
>
> "Lee Beck" <LeeBeck@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
> news:9AC7046C-E5E1-4D61-BAF4-5FCE59378CAF@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> > First, I'm not trying to post multiple copies of this query. I origianlly
> > posted this on the WIN Media Center OS by accident. I'm running XP Pro.
> >
> > I got the cited message a week or so ago and came here and did a search.
> > The respondents to other similar queries seemed to indicate that my hard
> > drive had gone bad (after checking that there was not a disk in the drive,
> > etc.) I ran Seagate's HDD diagnostics and it says that the drive is okay.
> > So this leads me to probably a software problem (e.g., my XP Pro). I also
> > ran a software download called GetDataBack which allows you to see if
> > there
> > is readable data on the HDD by installing it as a slave in an operating
> > computer. I can see my data. Also, Device Manager says that the drive is
> > operating normally, but clicking on the "Properties" tab shows no capacity
> > (0
> > GB used 0GB available).
> >
> > Before purchasing the GDB software and getting data back (but not
> > programs)
> > I'd like to try a few more tricks, since the next step after attempting to
> > get data off the drive is to reformat it and reinstall windows. I have a
> > few
> > questions:
> >
> > 1. Of course my first question is whether any of you computer experts can
> > lead me down a road to a solution. I'm at the point of doing whatever
> > might
> > work since my next steps will lose my data/programs anyway.
> >
> > 2 Is there any chance that performing a Windows utility might repair the
> > drive? I've already tried the "Repair" utility on the XP setup CD. It
> > found
> > some bad sectors and said that it repaired them, but I continue to get the
> > cited error message with every boot try. Maybe I have a damaged MBR? Is
> > there some way to check that out, or would that give a different error
> > message?
>
>
> ******************************
> If you find mention of "bad sectors" when running the chkdsk utility, it is
> time to start thinking of a new hard drive - yesterday!
>
> Use any of the good data recovery programs to strip what you can from the
> present hard drive and store the files somewhere else. I would suggest an
> external hard drive or CD's.
>
> Bad sectors can NOT be repaired. They are a physical defect in the hard
> drive. Chkdsk will try to recover information from the bad sectors and remap
> the drive so you can access the "recovered" information. Chkdsk is not
> always succssful and the recovered information may well be incomplete and
> unusable.
> ******************************
>
>
> > 3 Should I reinstall XP? At this point, the computer is not even getting
> > to
> > the OS. I get the message right after the BIOS screen.
>
>
> ******************************
> You will have to perform a new install of Windows XP on your new hard drive.
> After the operating system is up and running (with all current critical
> Window Updates installed) you can "copy" the saved information (that was
> stripped from the bad drive) to wherever you want it to reside on the new
> drive.
> ******************************
>
>
> > 4 I have Norton SystemWorks and have kept my virus definitions up-to-date.
> > I did a virus check and no viruses were found. Is there a Norton utility
> > that will help?
>
> ******************************
> NO!
> ******************************
>
>
> > 5 Would you recommend a data recovery utility other than GDB? The
> > software
> > costs $50 and seems a little squirly. Maybe it's because I'm using the
> > free
> > download that only checks data availability, but it freezes my machine
> > after
> > finding the data (the HDD continues to churn away using all available
> > system
> > memory).
>
>
> ******************************
> I personally use Easy Recovery Professional (available at
> http://www.ontrack.com/easyrecoveryprofessional/), and have been doing so
> for the past five years. It is EXPENSIVE, but in my mind - worth every
> penny. When you create the bootable floppy disk you can use it on "any"
> computer - if you have purchased the most expensive version. It is a way to
> get back some of the cost of the program. Mine has more than paid for itself
> over the years.
> ******************************
>
>
> --
>
>
> Regards,
>
> Richard Urban
> Microsoft MVP Windows Shell/User
>
> Quote from George Ankner:
> If you knew as much as you think you know,
> You would realize that you don't know what you thought you knew!
>
>
>
.

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