How Do You Save Your Data When You Can’t Load Your Operating System?
By Wolfdave
You turn on your PC; it goes through POST, but then stops. Your Operating System refuses to load. You try to load in ‘Safe Mode’ and once again everything comes to a grinding halt. You have loads of important data on your Computer: Personal files, priceless digital photographs and all manner of other stuff stored in your My Documents folder. You obviously don’t want to loose any of it, but if you can’t get your Operating System to load, how are you going to save it all?
I describe the procedure for recovering from this problem in another of my Blogs. Check the list in the right hand column. But first we must back-up the data from your system, or at the very least, save all your important files in your ‘My Documents’ folder. To do this you will need another hard drive with Windows XP installed on it. This could be a spare, you or a friend may have. Or another Computer running XP, again, either a second PC in your home or a friend with one who is willing to help out. You will also need a Re-writable CD or a Flash Drive, or other device, large enough to store all your files.
Note: This will not work if your hard drive has failed!
If you have a spare hard drive with Windows XP installed:
Turn off your Computer and remove the power lead from the mains socket. Remove the side cover to gain access to your hard drive. Touch something metal to ground yourself and release any ‘static’ you may have. You now need to alter the jumper settings on the hard drive currently in your machine. You may have to remove it from your machine if room is tight. If your machine has a newer type IDE cable with a Black and a Grey connector, set the jumper on your hard drive to ‘Cable Select’. Then plug it into the Grey (slave) connector. On your spare hard drive, also set the jumper to ‘Cable Select’ and plug this one into the Black (master) connector. Make sure both hard drives have a white power connector plugged in. With an older type IDE cable where all connectors are grey; set your original drive to ‘Slave’ and the spare drive to ‘Master’.
There is no need to physically fit both hard drives into your Computer; they can just rest them on the side if your cables are long enough. However, they must not be in contact with any metal or internal components. For this part, I usually rest one on an empty DVD case and then sandwich another DVD case between both hard drives. If you are careful, they should balance on the corner of your machine. Or rest them on a big book or similar.
Ok, so with everything connected up and your hard drives secure and isolated, it’s time to plug your PC back in and fire it up. You will need to enter set-up now so watch the screen and be ready. You will need to press F2 or Delete or similar, look for the correct key to press on screen. If you miss it, you will have to restart your Computer and try again. Once in set-up, look for the menu to Automatically Detect hard drives, this is usually within the first or second menu. Press ‘Auto detect’ for both Master and Slave drives. Once this has been done exit set-up remembering to choose ‘Save and Exit’. Your PC will then restart.
You have another Computer running XP:
If you have access to another Computer then you will have to remove your hard drive and hook it up to this second computer. The procedure is the same making sure that your hard drive is the ‘Slave’ and the one already in the second Computer is the ‘Master’. Once again, remember to configure this in set-up.
When your PC restarts it will load the Operating System from the Master drive as normal. Once you arrive at the Desktop screen, go to ‘My Computer’ and check that both hard drives are listed. The Master drive will usually be ‘C’ and the Slave drive could be ‘E’ or ‘F’. Double click on the slave drive (your hard drive) and you will now have access to all your data. If the drive will not open, or if there is a red ‘exclamation’ or ‘no-entry’ sign. Right click on it and choose ‘properties’ from the drop down list. Next screen, click on the ‘Share’ tab at the top. Despite protests from Windows, choose allow sharing. You will now be able to access your drive.
Now, you can copy all your important files from your ‘My Documents’ folder. Depending on how much you choose to save, you can copy to a CD or Flash Drive. Or if the Spare or Master drive you are using, is big enough, create a New File and copy your entire hard drive into this file. Once you have your files safely stored on a different drive or media, turn off the Computer and reverse the setting up procedure. Remember to reset any changes you made to the cable and jumper settings and run set-up again to re-configure your machine for just one drive. Otherwise it could see the missing slave drive, as an error and refuse to start. Then install your hard drive back into your own PC and read my Blog to find out how to Fix your ‘Operating System won’t load’ issue.
Computer running slow and other common issues are all covered, HERE