Unable to boot

Hey all. I've been working on this problem for a few days. Probably screwed a few things by now, but hopefully I'm not beyond help.

As the title says, I'm unable to boot Windows 7 (x64 bit) in a WD1001FALS. Drive had been working very well for some months (6?) and no strange noises, etc. However, I recently installed an additional WD1001FALS, which was meant to serve as backup. Once I did this the OS failed to boot. What I have currently done is installed Win 7 in the other hard drive (thus why I have a PC). However, I'd hate to lose those files, so I'd like to know what I could do to recover from this [also, my installation keys are in that drive. If I can't access it I'll lose Win 7/Office 2007 because I got it from MSDNAA/Ultimate Steal]

I have TestDisk installed. When I ran it, it kept saying that the master boot was fine, but the backup was corrupt. However it wouldn't overwrite the backup and get it over with. I managed to erase the non-boot partition by mistake, but I was able to access those files beforehand so I had already backed them up. No loss there.

I also tried repairing with the installation disk (which I have mounted onto a USB), but still no boot. I have tried this at least 3 times.

I tried following the instructions for Bootrec.exe, but I couldn't perform a bcedit /export on the faulty drive (I could, however, do it on the other drive, the one that was working well). I also couldn't perform a /FixBoot, but I was allowed to do a /ScanOs and now I can at least select to boot from that drive. So that's a win of sorts. However, it will BSOD and restart sooner than I can read it. I've read that you can change the setting on how long BSOD will stick around, but that's no use to me because I can't boot at all, so I can't change settings.

Also, a chkdsk came out of the blue (I was happy), but detected no inconsistency in the drive.

At this point, a Repair Install would be nice, except that it needs to be done from within Windows 7, and I cannot boot that drive at all.

So is there anything I have not tried, that could work? I cannot do a System Recovery, since there seem to be no earlier versions.

Thanks in advance.

Can't you just remove the backup hard drive that you just installed? If it's the cause of your problems, you should be able to boot with it removed. If not, download the Ultimate Boot CD to diagnose the problem with your hardware.

notsograymatter said:

Can't you just remove the backup hard drive that you just installed? If it's the cause of your problems, you should be able to boot with it removed. If not, download the Ultimate Boot CD to diagnose the problem with your hardware.

Sorry if I misled you. I only mentioned the additional drive because I think it's ironic that just when I was ready to back up my data, it messed up before I could. That drive itself has no bearing on why the other one will not start. I actually disconnect the other drive before doing tests on the unbootable.

Many thanks for the link. I'm off to try it out now.

EDIT: Actually, Ultimate Boot CD is for hardware diagnosis, and I'm pretty convinced the issue is actually a corrupt OS Boot section. Any suggestions on that?

I've also tried starting in Safe Mode, Safe Mode w/Networking, Last Known Working Configuration, etc. They all don't work for me.

2nd EDIT: I managed to capture the STOP error. It is 0x0000007B. According to this kb, it is related to RAID mode. Now, when I called Dell for support, they had me reset to BIOS to factory settings, which incidentally includes "Raid ON." I've tried changing this to "auto-detect," but when I do that I cannot boot from either hard drive. Just giving out more info in case a soul is out there listening ;(