Win98SE not starting...help.

[mihirX]

(Hope I hav posted in correct section)

Hello friends, got a small prob n need ur expert advice

I hav 20GB HDD,

C:> 10GB > Win98se - corrupted
D:> 5GB > for data storage – working fine
E:> 5GB > WinXPpro SP2 – working fine

Now, suddenly my C: drive got corrupted n when I start Win98se, it stops at “Windows98 Loading……†screen. According to my friend, he got “Redundancy error†(abt which I don’t understand anything) while tryin to recover my C: drive, also he told that ur “sector 0†(again, abt which I don’t understand anything) of ur HDD is corrupted.

Now, I wanna format C: drive n load Win2k3 server on it, but my friend told that if u try to do so, chances are there that ur HDD will crash n u may even loose ur D: drive n E: drive data, which I cant afford at any cost, since I cant take backup of E: drives data, due to sum reasons.
He told to try to do “debug formatting†(again, abt which I don’t understand anything) which may take lotsa time, but risk is less.

However, I noted that C: drive was workin fine when he booted with Win98 bootable CD in DOS mode, it worked fine only in DOS mode.

So my question is:
1. How should I go abt formatting C: drive without risking my D: n E: drives
2. wht is “debug formattingâ€, how should I do it ?
3. wht shud i do acc to u ?

-- Thanks

 

[-Anish-]

True, Redundancy error is nothing but an error thats generated by a Bad sector.

What you can do is run a CHKDSK /r and then CHKDSK /f if any Bad sectors are found. If you format your C drive, ur boot.ini file will be lost and you will not be able to boot Win XP. Backup your data from XP and try to format C drive and then run CHKDSK from command prompt. Try this and see what happens...

 

[mihirX]

but i cant take backup of my E: drive i.e. WinXP coz i hav installed sum rare accounting progs, of which i dont have installation/setup files, n my whole records of abt 6-7 yrs r in it...so i cant afford to loose my E: drive...

isnt thr any other way to install Win2k3 server on C:

newayz, thx....

 

[6pack]

if u have winxp original cd u can try to repair xp installation also from the cdrom.

OR

get a new hdd.

disconnect old hdd from system (disconnect all wires, cables), then install w2k on new hdd.

i'm sure 6 yrs work of accounting is more valuable than cost of a new hdd, right

after installing w2k, attach the old hdd as a secondary drive and then u can take ur backups or whatever u want to do.

of course size of new hdd should be large enuf to be able to take the full data of ur old hdd or whatever data u require, preferably around 200gb should be good enuf. so u can make enuf large partitions for os and data disks.

 

[pcstore]

Dont touch your existing HDD .. get a new one and clone each partition it using some of those drive backup tool. (Ghost). It should be safe as well as wont damange ur sick HDD.

Once you are confirm of everything then do anything u like to do with old HDD

 

[mihirX]

k thx all........will get back if I need further help.

 

[mihirX]

Dont touch your existing HDD .. get a new one and clone each partition it using some of those drive backup tool. (Ghost). It should be safe as well as wont damange ur sick HDD.

Once you are confirm of everything then do anything u like to do with old HDD

will Norton Ghost make backup of my registry as well ??......since i dont hav setup files of my accounting progs.

Note: posting new thread coz cudnt find EDIT button

 

[Neotheone]

^^ dont worry, norton ghpost will just create a kinda exact image of your partition, so everything on it will be backed up.....when restored, the partition will be exactly as it was, along with the windows installation....but be sure that you have installed those programs (which you have no installation cd for) on the same partition, or else you will have to back up those files too.....

 

[pcstore]

Ghost is piece of cake .. give it a try. I suggest make image of each partition if you are not sure what program installed and where. Start windows, check all your files. then create partition from the left over space.