Hard Drive Failed, URGENTLY need fixed, VERY IMPORTANT files on it

[twisted31]

I bought a new computer, and added my old hard drive, which was working fine, as a secondary hard drive on the new computer. I returned the old computer, but now my old hard drive wont work.

When i try to load windows, i get the error:

Stop: c0000218 {Registry File Failure} The registry cannot load the hive (file): \SystemRoot\System32\Config\SOFTWARE or its log or alternate

I tried using the windows xp CD to see if theres any recovery options that could help, but im not able to get the "press any key to run from CD" to appear when i put the CD in. Also, cd drive is set as the 1st boot priority.

Can anyone help me retrieve the files from the hard drive, they are VERY VERY important.

Thank you.

 

[rkulp]

You returned the old computer or you returned the hard drive to the old computer?

 

[sub mesa]

You contradict yourself. You say you added your old harddrive as secondary hard drive; but later you describe an error which you can only get if you try booting from that drive. With a secondary harddrive i assume you mean that the primary harddrive is the boot/system drive, and you boot windows and then access the (old) secondary drive via My Computer.

Have you tried this? You don't need the registery file i assume, you can just access the contents if you boot from another drive than this 'old' drive which you want to recover. Also, have you thought about making backups?

 

[fazers_on_stun]

^ +1. Just stick the old drive back in the new computer system and then copy the important files onto the boot drive in the new system. Then you can stick the old drive back into the old computer and attempt to boot, repair, reinstall the OS, etc.

 

[Zenthar]

If the new computer is trying to boot from the old hard drive, try to switch the HDD's SATA ports. Since it probably used to be your system drive, it contains a boot partition and if it is plugged into a SATA port with "higher boot priority" than your new drive, the system will try to boot from it. Boot priority can vary from board to board; some will try to boot from PATA first, then SATA and prioritize SATA drive with lower ID (ex: SATA1 before SATA3). If your MB has multiple SATA controllers, it might also prioritize the primary one before the secondary (usually, the SATA ports will have color coding to differenciate).

If all that fails, you can always try to use a Linux LiveCD to boot and copy files from one drive to the other and then simply remove the old drive.

If that doesn't work either, you can also try a USB HDD adapter like these. Just remove the old HDD, and plug the HDD using the USB adapter, I think you would see the HDD as a USB removable drive once Windows booted.

 

[twisted31]

No, the new computer booted from the hard drive that came with it, but when i returned the new computer, and used the old hard drive to boot on a different computer, it wouldn't work, and i cant find the files i need when i try going to my computer and opening up the hard drive

 

[sub mesa]

Why wouldn't it work, did you get an error message? If you get an "access denied" error that's a software issue due to NTFS permissions, and can be corrected easily by claiming ownership of the files.

Please describe your issue more detailed if you want useful advise - right now all we can do is try to interpret you as best as we can but we cannot give any advise directly related to your problem.

 

[Mousemonkey]

This topic has been closed by Mousemonkey