Moving Windows from broken hard drive

[willgladman]

With reference to my previous thread (http://www.sevenforums.com/backup-r...ystem-restore-smart-hard-drive-detection.html) I am buying a new hard drive and a universal drive adapter in order to hopefully get the majority of my data from the old hard drive.

The only thing I'm unsure of is how to get the Windows folders off my old hard drive and onto the new one, considering that the only tools available to me are cmd and BIOS. I may be able to use somebody's working computer - if so, is it just a case of using the UDA to move the files between the two hard drives?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Arc]

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/135077-windows-7-installation-transfer-new-computer.html

It may give you some idea.

 

[willgladman]

That's a great help, thanks. My only issue is that I can't boot Windows and Windows Backup and Restore doesn't work - freezes every time.

 

[Arc]

First make it sure that your 100 MB System Reserved hidden partition is marked as active or not. If not, Mark it as active.

Then run http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/681-startup-repair.html for three separate times, with restarts after every single run.

 

[willgladman]

tried that; now getting bootmgr errors so completely stuck. This is driving me mad am I gonna have to pay out to get this fixed?

 

[Arc]

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/219533-troubleshooting-windows-7-failure-boot.html

 

[willgladman]

Thanks for that, will I be able to boot Defender from a USB even though bootmgr isn't working/has disappeared?

Sorry for being such a noob.

 

[Arc]

Download PW Boot CD. Butn it in a blank CD, and boot into it. Then, upload a camera snap of the drive listings in PW.

 

[willgladman]

Okay, I ran Partition Wizard and managed to get BOOTMGR back, however when I run DISKPART I don't see any 100mb partition.

Currently downloading Defender Offline to see if it can sort this mess out. Is there some way I can find out if my backups or files still exist by using the Partition Wizard? What will they look like?

 

[Golden]

We need to see what the partitions look like - follow Arc's suggestion and upload a photo of them.

 

[willgladman]

...

 

[Arc]

Yes, there is no system reserved partition. But if windows boots, system reserved is not that needed. Many of them delete it, too.

But, if you want, you may create it anytime.
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/119151-system-reserved-create-using-disk-management.html

 

[willgladman]

Thanks. What does this mean in relation to retrieving my data and potentially making my computer work?

 

[Arc]

Thanks. What does this mean in relation to retrieving my data and potentially making my computer work?

Nothing serious.

Windows store the boot records in another partition, so that it is easier to recover the corrupt boot etc.

 

[willgladman]

I'm really sorry if I'm being super slow and annoying vut I'm completely new at this.

I still am unable to boot windows - all I want to do at this point is try to get the files from my hard drive onto an external drive so i can completely reformat the disk - is there some way that I can do this?

Again, apologies - It's a lot to take in for a beginner!

 

[Arc]

Yes, there is a way, as you have the windows 7 installer disk.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/93347-copy-paste-windows-recovery-console.html

First, attach the external HDD, then boot into the windows disk, and follow the instructions.

You may get a print-out of the tutorial, too; so that you can follow it rightly.

 

[willgladman]

what if i don't have an install disk?

 

[Arc]

Download it.

 

[willgladman]

done, now do I just burn the iso to a disk and boot from it? Sounds too easy...

 

[Arc]

That's it. Easy.

• First, save your data to the external one. :http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/93347-copy-paste-windows-recovery-console.html
• Then, Format the HDD and clean install windows: http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/1649-clean-install-windows-7-a.html
• When installation is done, activate it: http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/3408-activate-windows-7-online.html