help

[Hardrivehelp]

ok, this is kinda long and im a noob but whatever. i bought a dell computer about 2 years ago and just a few months ago, i got a virus the and the file in C:/ windows/system32/config/system was deleted. when i bought the computer i also bought like a $400 warrenty so dell sent me a new hard drive. they never asked me for the old one back. i tried calling but they had no record of it. so now i have a new hard drive and an old one with a missing file. so i have this win98 emachines that has been sitting in my basement for some time and have set it up. the emachine computer has a crappy 4gb hard drive and i tried to put in my old dell hard drive for more memory. i still get the same error message that the file is missing or corrupt. is there any way to copy the file from the new to the old hard drive since they are the same? or somehow use the 4gb hard as the OS and the old dell one just for storage? thanks for any suggestions

 

[Praetor]

i got a virus the and the file in C:/ windows/system32/config/system was deleted

Thats a very important file!

i still get the same error message that the file is missing or corrupt. is there any way to copy the file from the new to the old hard drive since they are the same?

Since the missing gile is C:\Windows\System32\Config\System then i doubt you can do that since it's bound to the machine and user account

To do what you have in mind you either need an already (fully) functional computer or to install an OS on the new HDD

 

[Hardrivehelp]

thanks but i had this computer specialist come and take my documents of the old hard drive to the new one. she said she used the old one as a "slave" could i do this somehow?

 

[Praetor]

thanks but i had this computer specialist come and take my documents of the old hard drive to the new one. she said she used the old one as a "slave" could i do this somehow?

Yep thats what I meant when i said you need a fully functional computer available ... you install whatever harddrive you wish to recover data FROM into this computer and copy the data you want to backup there

 

[ceewi1]

Alternatively, you can just plug the 40GB hard drive in as a slave with your win98 machine, it will just appear as a second drive, which you can use for data, etc.... The existing drive should be set as master, so change the jumpers on your 40GB to slave. Instructions should be on the top of your drive.

Other than that, as Praetor said, you will need to somehow copy the entire contents of the 4GB drive onto the 40GB drive, either by using a different computer, or some other method. You may find it better to back up the important data on the 4GB drive, and reformat and reinstall windows on the 40GB drive.

Also, some older motherbords did not support drives as large as 40GB. A BIOS update may be available on your motherboard manufacturer's website if this is the case. See here for more information on this issue.