How do I recover lost files on a virus infected drive ?

  • Thread starter Thread starter RT
  • Start date Start date
R

RT

Hello,

The HD on my friends pc has been infected with some sort of virus that won't
allow the pc to boot up even in safe mode.

Can I re-install his Windows OS on the HD without over writing the old "My
Document" files and then burn his photo's to a cd ?

I seem to remember that I once reinstalled my Windows some time back with
out having to format the HD and overwriting the old document files.

Or can I boot up his pc using his XP cd without it wanting to install and
over write etc ?

Any help appreciated.
 
Hi

Depending on which type of XP CD he has, a 'Repair' install of XP may be
possible - which will keep the files, programs and settings in place.
Please have a look at the following article by Michael Stevens:

"How to Perform a Windows XP Repair Install"
http://michaelstevenstech.com/XPrepairinstall.htm

--


Will Denny
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User
Please reply to the News Groups
 
A reinstall of Windows is NOT going to eliminate virus's, worms, trojans,
malware etc. A fresh format/install may.

Install the operating system fresh, wiping out what is there now with a
format prior to the fresh install. Then restore the personal files from the
last backup.


--
Regards,

Richard Urban
Microsoft MVP Windows Shell/User
(For email, remove the obvious from my address)

Quote from George Ankner:
If you knew as much as you think you know,
You would realize that you don't know what you thought you knew!
 
RT said:
Hello,

The HD on my friends pc has been infected with some sort of virus that
won't allow the pc to boot up even in safe mode.

Can I re-install his Windows OS on the HD without over writing the old "My
Document" files and then burn his photo's to a cd ?

I seem to remember that I once reinstalled my Windows some time back with
out having to format the HD and overwriting the old document files.

Or can I boot up his pc using his XP cd without it wanting to install and
over write etc ?
Click to expand...

Doing a Repair Install will not help the viruses. Instead, in your case I
would boot with either Knoppix or a Bart's PE and retrieve the data. Then
I'd format/clean install Windows.

Knoppix is a Linux distro on a live cd. You will need a computer with two cd
drives, one of which is a cd/dvd-rw OR a usb thumb drive with enough
capacity to hold your data OR an external usb/firewire hard drive formatted
FAT32 (not NTFS). To get Knoppix, you need a computer with a fast Internet
connection and third-party burning software. Download the Knoppix .iso from
www.knoppix.net and create your bootable cd. Then boot with it and it will
be able to see the Windows files. If you are using the usb thumb drive or
the external hard drive, right-click on its icon (on the Desktop) to get
its properties and uncheck the box that says "Read Only". Then click on it
to open it. Note that the default mouse action in the window manager used
by Knoppix (KDE) is a single click to open instead of the traditional MS
Windows' double-click. Otherwise, use the K3b burning program to burn the
files to cd/dvd-r's.

http://www.nu2.nu/pebuilder/ (Bart's PE)

http://michaelstevenstech.com/cleanxpinstall.html - Clean Install How-To
http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/page2.html#reinstall_Windows - What you
will need on-hand

Make sure you scan the retrieved files with a current version antivirus
using updated definitions before you copy them to a new install of Windows.

Malke
 
Thanks for the replies.

At the moment I just want to get his pc to boot up so we can retrieve the
photo's then I'll do a format of the HD and a fresh re-install of windows.

He normally burns his photo's to a cd but the virus got there first and has
rendered the pc un-bootable even in safe mode.
 
RT said:
Thanks for the replies.

At the moment I just want to get his pc to boot up so we can retrieve the
photo's then I'll do a format of the HD and a fresh re-install of windows.

He normally burns his photo's to a cd but the virus got there first and
has rendered the pc un-bootable even in safe mode.
Click to expand...

Then do as suggested and boot with either Knoppix or a Bart's. There is no
point in trying to get the machine to boot into Windows. If this isn't
something you can do, have your friend take the machine to a professional
computer repair shop (not your local version of BigStoreUSA).

Malke
 
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