hard drive to hard drive copy

Da Mail Man

Da Mail Man

Active Member
greetings all,

....i have a dell b110 desktop computer that the hard drive is getting ready to die to the point of booting up (win xp home) will yield the blue screen of death with a message about the "hive"....

.....i want to try and see about copying the defective drive to a replacement drive that is totally blank to see if i can retrieve the data.....

...could i attempt to install xp pro into the defective drive to somewhat restore it (selecting "upgrade) to accomplish this then, clone to the replacement hard drive?

...i have the western digital lifeguard file (exe) but, believe that since i have the blue screen (with text), is there some way to make that file run from boot up off of a disc (at boot up) to install?....OR

...can the wd lifeguard file (assuming it can be made boot-able (HOW) on a disc), be installed on the replacement drive **which has nothing on it** and then, copy the defective drive to the new one?
 
The hive error refers to system file corruption. You can access your files if you put the drive into another computer and transfer them that way. Then you can reinstall the operating system.
 
johnb35 said:
The hive error refers to system file corruption. You can access your files if you put the drive into another computer and transfer them that way. Then you can reinstall the operating system.
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damn, that was fast!

why would the defective hd work in another computer and not the one it was in?...any possibility that the drive can be copied to a new drive?...i need to pull all the contents off of it...that way i figure it, if i boot into xp pro as an upgrade, this should replace the missing or defective files. right?
 
The drive itself isn't defective. The error you are getting refers to system files that are corrupted that are required to boot. It's easier to put the drive into another system and copy the files off the drive. If you have a OS and key that is new then you can perform the upgrade to retrieve your files. BUT, there is always a chance you'll loe your data. Thats why I'm saying to put this drive into another system and copy the files over. Then you can reinstall windows or do a repair install as long as its the same version of windows that is already installed.
 
johnb35 said:
The drive itself isn't defective. The error you are getting refers to system files that are corrupted that are required to boot. It's easier to put the drive into another system and copy the files off the drive. If you have a OS and key that is new then you can perform the upgrade to retrieve your files. BUT, there is always a chance you'll loe your data. Thats why I'm saying to put this drive into another system and copy the files over. Then you can reinstall windows or do a repair install as long as its the same version of windows that is already installed.
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thanks again for the reply!!

so, i simply take the defective drive, place into another dell and boot?...then do you think i can do a drive copy?
 
You are going way overboard here and wasting too much time. You do not need to use a dell computer and there is no need to drive copy. Just put the drive into another system and copy your personal data over to the new computer or burn it to cd/dvd's. Then put the drive back into the original machine and reinstall windows. Reinstall all apps and games and then copy your data back to it.
 
johnb35 said:
You are going way overboard here and wasting too much time. You do not need to use a dell computer and there is no need to drive copy. Just put the drive into another system and copy your personal data over to the new computer or burn it to cd/dvd's. Then put the drive back into the original machine and reinstall windows. Reinstall all apps and games and then copy your data back to it.
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i AM following you, believe me...(i know it does not have to be a dell but, that is most accessible at this time) also, the os was installed from a dell disc that came with computer and i have a fear that i will destroy the data on it if i use it)....

...i need to restore the drive to a new drive, not re-due the os.....i guess what i am trying to say is; if i take the defective drive, place in another computer, what are the chances it will boot up?...also, will i be able to CLONE the drive in it's entirety to a new drive?..thanks for your patience...
 
The drive itself will not boot up due to the hive error. If you put this drive into another computer, you will have enter the bios and set the first hard drive to the drive was originally in the pc, not the drive you put in it. Or if you have another drive laying around, take out the drive that has your data on it and put it to the side. Put a blank drive in the system and use the dell recovery cd to reinstall the OS. After you have the drivers and programs installed then attach the drive with your data on it and transfer it to the new install.
 
johnb35 said:
The drive itself will not boot up due to the hive error. If you put this drive into another computer, you will have enter the bios and set the first hard drive to the drive was originally in the pc, not the drive you put in it. Or if you have another drive laying around, take out the drive that has your data on it and put it to the side. Put a blank drive in the system and use the dell recovery cd to reinstall the OS. After you have the drivers and programs installed then attach the drive with your data on it and transfer it to the new install.
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The drive itself will not boot up due to the hive error.
AGREED - I UNDERSTAND

If you put this drive into another computer,
I CAN AND WILL

you will have enter the bios and set the first hard drive to the drive was originally in the pc,
??...SET BIOS TO BOOT THE ORIGINAL DRIVE IN THE OTHER COMPUTER AND PUT THE DEFECTIVE DRIVE IN AS A SLAVE.
not the drive you put in it.

Or if you have another drive laying around,
I HAVE ONLY 1 EMPTY DRIVE, YES

take out the drive that has your data on it and put it to the side.
THE ORIGINAL DRIVE IN OTHER COMPUTER, YES

Put a blank drive in the system
IN EFFECT, REMOVE THE DRIVE IN THE OTHER COMPUTER, I UNDERSTAND

and use the dell recovery cd to reinstall the OS.
THAT WOULD GIVE ME AN OS ON MY ONCE BLANK HD AND I UNDERSTAND THAT..

After you have the drivers and programs installed then attach the drive with your data on it and transfer it to the new install.
**THIS IS THE ISSUE RIGHT HERE...I NEED TO CLONE THE HARD DRIVE TO A NEW ONE...IT HAS FILES, FOLDERS, AND OTHER NON-REPLACEABLE DATA/PROGRAMS ON IT.....YA SEE, WHEN I GET DONE, I NEED TO HAVE A NEW FUNCTIONAL HD THAT I CAN PLACE BACK INTO THE DEFECTIVE COMPUTER AND SORTA PICK UP WHERE IT LEFT OFF TO BE FULLY FUNCTIONAL...JUST COPYING DATA WON'T DO IT, IT HAS TO BE A HD CLONE IN IT'S ENTIRETY...MAYBE WE ARE SAYING THE SAME THING BUT A DIFFERENT WAY?
 
Cloning won't work in this situation. In order for cloning to work, you have to have a working operating system to clone from. If you clone your non working drive to a new drive with a freshly installed OS on it then you'll be back in the same situation you started.

Since you say you need a fully functional copy of where you left off at, your only option right now is to do a repair install using the dell recovery cd. If the option to repair doesn't appear then your out of luck and will have to do the procedure I told you about.

If you give me the exact error message you are getting when trying to boot up, I'll try searching to see if there is a way to use the recovery console on the dell cd to fix it.
 
i was out of town and now getting back to this....the screen says (as you requested);

STOP: C0000218 (REGISTRY FILE ERROR)
THE REGISTRY CANNOT LOAD THE HIVE (FILE);
\SYSTEMROOT\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\SOFTWARE
OR ITS LOG OR ALTERNATIVE.
IT IS CORRUPT, ABSENT, OR NOT WRITABLE.

BEGINNING DUMP OF PHYSICAL MEMORY
PHYSICAL MEMORY DUMP COMPLETE.
CONTACT YOUR SYSTEM ADMINISTRATOR OR TECHNICAL SUPPORT GROUP FOR FURTHER
ASSISTANCE
 
Use the dell cd to access the recovery console. Then follow the instructions on this page to do a "system restore" to fix the hive issue.

http://www.myfixes.com/articles/system

Follow the directions completely and it should work out for you. I've done this same procedure a few times and has worked.
 
johnb35 said:
Use the dell cd to access the recovery console. Then follow the instructions on this page to do a "system restore" to fix the hive issue.

http://www.myfixes.com/articles/system

Follow the directions completely and it should work out for you. I've done this same procedure a few times and has worked.
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thanks again for the response!

....all i have is the dell "system re-installation disc", would you say it should also work with that?..i inserted the disc before you replied and it gave me the option to "REPAIR" by hitting "R" which i did....it asked me which os(?) i wanted to repair and i selected the number....(i did not hit "enter")...it then asked me for an admin password and to the best of my knowledge it does not have one so, i hit "enter" which brought me to a "C" prompt.....that is as far as i got.....so, i guess my initial question is; can i use the dell disc as above to accomplish this?
 
Yes, you can. At that c prompt is where you perform the system restore, just follow the instructions on that page I linked you to.
 
OK, i got to the number of the partition/os in the recovery console i wanted to repair, selected "1" (C-drive), hit "enter".

.......it then asked me for an admin password and to the best of my knowledge it does not have one so, i hit "enter"...

.......which brought me to a "C" prompt.....to which i typed chkdsk /p ......

........ck disc ran w/out any apparent problems with the disc...

........NOW- when i type "fixboot'', i believe this will write another boot sector to the drive...yes, i was correct, it did stating that a new boot sector was written bringing me back to a "c" prompt....

........after it did this and i typed "exit", i followed directions by tapping "f8" while booting up and i get the screen "type f1 to continue" which i did...

........white doing this, i get the message "press any key to boot from cd" and THIS IS AS FAR AS I GET BECAUSE IT STARTS THE PROCESS ALL OVER AGAIN INTO WINDOWS SET UP....
 
Boot back into the dell cd and go back to the c prompt you get. Then perform step B on that page I linked you too.
 
johnb35 said:
Boot back into the dell cd and go back to the c prompt you get. Then perform step B on that page I linked you too.
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.....back to the "c" prompt...

C:\WINDOWS>cd \ (and then hit "enter" which now displays the message "the command is not recognized").

ALSO, i cannot find " ~ " on my dell keyboard....i have a similar but, when pressed, will place it at the top edge of the command instead of direct center between system and 1 ("cd system~1")
 
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johnb35 said:
~ is on the key to the left of #1 key on top row.
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....yes, i know and see that however, it does NOT place the symbol directly in between that command(s) as i had indicated - it placed it at the top
much like '' is when quoting...either way, i still get the "error" message.
 
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