Windows Failed to Start, winload.exe 0xc000000f

You can try Test Disk.

I'd also do the Partition Wizard surface test.

Test the HD with the maker's HD Diagnostic extended CD scan to know its condition with absolute certainty.

Yeah - the surface test does pull up errors - it's still working, but has found 5 errors in about 1300 blocks. Not sure what to do with that information though.

It doesn't look like I can pull anything off with partition wizard, so I guess I will try one of the other options to do that, EaseUS or TestDisk. Unless the risk for data loss when repairing the partition is extremely low with Partition Wizard. Somebody had mentioned data loss was a possibility, so I wanted to see if I could pull the files first.

Since you can see the partition, why not take an image back up before you work on it. EaseUS Todo or AOMEI Backupper should be able to handle it.

PW also has other options in its menus that might do something, including MBR repair. But all it takes is one bad sector in the partition ID area to render the partition wacked, and if that error is in the partition itself rather than MBR, the MBR fix won't help.

Another possibility is to image the drive, then paste it back on another drive, then try repairs on it. You just need it well enough to rescue the data.

That's a good thought- unfortunately I don't know if I have the space on an external drive for a 450gb image. Any idea approximately how compressed an image is? MiniTool claims it's partition repair, at least the file system checker runs in a "special protection mode." that keeps data safe, so I might give it a shot.

Depends on how valuable the data is. A 1TB HD is about $55 or so, plus the time to get it. Or if you have another machine at hand, you can back up to it over LAN. The readout says all 456GB is used. That's doubtful, and probably due to ignorance of the file system, but I don't know if Backupper will pick up on that. If it does, the actual requirements will be much less. Backupper will tell you before it runs.

Interesting ideas Paul. I wonder if an imaging app will want a ruined partition. There's still Test Disk. If Ben is willing a RAW partition is sometimes retrievable.

It would be nice to find some more options too. What is best to repair partition table besides Disk Check?

I'll ask for more ideas.

The partition table should be easy to repair. But here the partition is found, so the PT seems good. The problem probably is the partition ID is wacked, so no software knows what file system it runs. Thus it's marked at both full usage and inaccessible.

Another possibility would be to image just the partition, then delete the partition, then paste the image back to the same drive in a slightly different location (if the drive isn't too bad, and if you don't have another drive hanging around). This should get the partition ID onto a different sector, hopefully one that's repairable with the standard tools. I think you can change partition type with PW, and then you would need a boot repair with WinRE. Even if the drive is on the way out this might work long enough to rescue the data.

In fact, I would try to change the partition ID to NTFS right now, before any of the rest (except image the partition first if at all possible - very important if the data is valuable). If that works, go ahead with the boot repair.