On 4/25/2011 12:09 AM, jferrell13@triad.rr.com wrote: > {snip!} > My problem is in cascade at this point. The system will no longer boot. I= THINK I got here due to a memory upgrade that is marginal. The drive has a= data problem at this point which may not be recoverable. That problem has = been superseded by the system drive will no longer boot. I have de-tuned th= e operating speed in hopes it will fix with the Repair Option on from the X= P Pro install disk. If I get that up to the point I can recover what is on = that disk then I will set both of these drives aside for further recovery a= ttempts but regenerate the system on a new HDD. > > BTW, BIOS would not recognize the data drive on the other system until I = pulled the PC board and cleaned the board to mechanics contacts with DeOxit= .. I am not impressed with the how these things are constructed. The PC boar= d is a delicate piece of art but I doubt the contact design will be reliabl= e. They hope to sell a lot of replacements! > > The unfortunate part of this to me seems that other than getting slower I= was not aware that there was anything wrong with the system. OTH, timely b= ackups would have reduced this to an nuiscence. I knew better... > > John Ferrell via Web Mail... > Are your backups in place? Reporting back: Thanks to all who offered suggestions. My operation is unusual in=20 several ways. I have an array of 4 systems at my desk. I am an Old, Retired (IBM)=20 Computer guy with too many interests to go into and there is no profit=20 motive here. I also collect information and media that I may be=20 interested in later. Two systems are XPPRO machines, one a WIN 7 and the=20 other UBUNTU. First, I attempted to reload a fresh XP Pro OS to a hard drive that=20 previously had Linux SUSE 10 installed & working. Whatever I tried, the HDD would not boot after the initial part of the=20 install. Even Partition Magic did not like it but did not offer an error=20 code that was usable. The same thing happened when I moved it to the=20 non-failing system. I set that aside for a later date and moved on. Second, I set up email and such to the Win 7 machine. Until that time It=20 had been used mostly for Amateur Radio stuff. Third, I moved the failing HDD-XP Pro to the unfailing system with no=20 improvement. Intending to use the repair function in the install CD I=20 found it would not get that far. I chose to run the chkdisk from the CD=20 on the failing OS-HDD. It did its thing as I accepted I was now in a=20 salvage scenario. After the Chkdisk completed, the OS did boot up among=20 many complaints from mismatching configurations and and a demand to re=20 register XP. When it appeared stable, I gathered whatever there was on=20 that drive to a backup with a plain copy from windows. Fourth, I took a look at the data drive is failing. No matter where I=20 put it, it says the NTSF Index is damaged and windows will have nothing=20 to do with it. There is a Microsoft Utility named Diskprobe that is a=20 low level sector editor that will permit further examination. It will be=20 a time consuming and tedious project so I added that to the array of=20 things for later. Fifth, I added a second HDD equal to the first (both 500G) on the Win 7=20 system. For the moment I am manually copying folders for back up. Sixth, I have about a TB of music, publications and media that I have=20 collected for an extremely long time. I know it is a bizarre obsession,=20 but I like it this way. I am paranoid about the government and=20 intellectual powers rationing my access to information again. I am=20 currently syncing all the data to an external 2 TB drive with SyncToy=20 from Microsoft. I plan to understand the details of the operation before=20 I pass judgement as to whether it is trust worthy in my application. I=20 do understand the risk of the working file being compromised and=20 propagated into the backup. I had considered the need to write my own (not nearly as hard as it=20 sounds for a low level hacker) but until I fully investigate SyncToy,=20 Robocopy and Xcopy I will continue using my time pursuing my dreams! I have learned a lot and I will learn more having benefited by personal=20 experience with this demon! I think there is a PIC application in this mess as well. My ASUS MB's in=20 the XP PRO systems have nice warnings built in as to power, temperature,=20 fans etc, but I think an independently powered Support Processor could=20 provide more insight in the health of the hardware. All comments, criticisms, warnings, advice and even ridicule are=20 invited, on list or direct... --=20 John Ferrell W8CCW An injured friend is the bitterest of foes. Thomas Jefferson --=20 http://www.piclist.com PIC/SX FAQ & list archive View/change your membership options at http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist .