Bad sector data recovery

[Robin Sanders]

I have had a HDD fail due to bad sectors. I think that I have managed to recover all of the files on the drive to a new drive.

The big question now is, how do I turn this into a bootable windows system?

At the moment it is simply a data partition full of files.

 

[Trouble]

Hello Robin and welcome to the forum.
As you know, you cannot boot from a drive containing only data. You will need another drive or at minimum, sufficient unallocated space on the existing drive to support the partitioning and data structure that will allow the installation of an Operating System.
I would strongly suggest a separate drive or minimally backing up all your rescued data onto an external resource (DVD or USB connected external media) so as not to put it at risk again.
Once you have a bootable system then copy it back into the appropriate locations on the system..

 

[Robin Sanders]

Thank you, Trouble.

Point taken about the separate drive. So will either of these options fit the bill?

• Install Windows 7 from CD (the only OS CD that I have) onto new drive then overwrite the OS with my recovered Windows 10 files.
• use partition magic to copy a working drive then overwrite the OS with my recovered Windows 10 files.

Sorry if these questions are either blindingly stupid or obvious but this crash has made me question my basic Windows knowledge, leaving me wanting to check twice before I do once!

 

[Trouble]

First of all.....
IF you had Windows 10 installed, running and activated on your computer previously then you can reinstall it to a new drive whenever you want.
IF you don't have the installation media you can get it from here.
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/techbench
Once you have the ISO, you can use ImgBurn to burn it to a DVD or Rufus to burn it to a USB ThumbDrive, either of which you can use to boot your computer to perform the installation.
Just make sure you install the correct version (the ISO contains both home and pro) matching your previous installation, language and bit version (32 or 64 bit).

Regarding you other question.....
You can't overwrite an OS exactly, that's sort of the object here.... getting you up and running on the computer, then to replace your "data" (docs, music, videos, email, pictures, favorites, etc., etc.,) from your rescued data source.
You'll need to re-install the Operating System and then re-install your programs.

I've managed to work a few miracles in similar circumstances once the Operating System was installed but it involved booting to Linux and then copying a lot of various folders as well as registry hives and that is pretty far outside the scope of what we can do in a support forum.

 

[Robin Sanders]

Thank you for your help.

I've downloaded the installation media.

I am going to need a key to re-install Windows. How do I find this? I have the old Windows 7 CDs and product key, is that what I need?

I am now not so sure about all of the data I recovered. If I'm going to be selective, can I get my user account back?

 

[Trouble]

I am going to need a key to re-install Windows. How do I find this?

IF you had Windows 10 installed, running and activated on your computer previously then you can reinstall it to a new drive whenever you want.

IF as I said above.... your previous version of Windows 10 had been activated, then you will not need a key to activate. Simply choose "I don't have a key" or "not now" or "do this later" when prompted for a key.

I am now not so sure about all of the data I recovered. If I'm going to be selective, can I get my user account back?

You'll create a new user account when you reinstall Windows. You will not get your "account back" but you can recover the contents of your old user account (if you have it backed up) into the appropriate containers of your new account..... Documents, music, pictues, videos, favorites, etc., etc.

 

[Robin Sanders]

I feel like I have aged a hundred years in the past few days. I guess I am learning the value of backing things up!!!

Perhaps I have good news. It looks like I have managed to 'repair' the faulty sectors and have cloned the partition to another drive. The Windows 10 Recovery Disc got the computer booting. I can log in to my wife's user account and things look mostly OK, all the installed apps and programs are there and working. My problem is that logging into my account takes me to a temporary account. This means I can't load outlook to get to my emails. I was considering switching from outlook but had not got that far. Now I need to get back in for my email history.

Your advice on a way to move past this would be most welcome.

 

[Trouble]

I've made in a general rule to refrain from even attempting to answer questions about Outlook, because....
I've found when, people say Outlook, they don't actually mean "Outlook", but....
IF you are.... all your local mail history is stored in your .pst file.
IF not and you are actually talking about the "Mail" app, then it is webserver based and all your "history" will likely still be available to you on your outlook.com or hotmail.com account on the web.

 

[Robin Sanders]

Thank you for the information you are a star! I did mean Outlook (2003), all my accounts are pop3 based. I will look for the .pst file.

I've just run a complete system scan (4.5 million files 8 hours) for 'nasties' just in case something had crept in but all is clear (sigh of relief).

My problem now is Windows continually logging me in to a temporary account. Having got so close, it would be nice to see if all my bookmarks etc are still there.

Any thoughts on the temporary account problem?

 

[Trouble]

Often that particular issue is associated with an error message, referencing the User Profile Service.
I've used method #1 from here https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/947215 with some success in the past.
ARe you able to create another user account as a member of the local administrators group (not a standard user) successfully?
IF so then perhaps you might be able to copy the contents of the bad user profile into the new user profile.
Is there any additional information regarding the temp account problem? Event viewer -> Windows Logs -> System Logs?

 

[Robin Sanders]

Method #1 didn't resolve the problem.

Setting up new user account(s) was possible - one to login so I could copy the files to the second. But the computer froze while copying the massive amount of data. Second (overnight) attempt was successful. However the 'new user' logged in OK but I was not able to do anything useful. Clearly something in my old user files is very poorly. I was losing the will to live.

So I have decided to reinstall and move to 64 bit version at the same time. Got myself an SSD to try and raise my spirits. I guess this is a great opportunity to only install the stuff I really need and get rid of 8 years worth of junk and review the software I am using. Good news is that it looks like all of my data is good.

Thank you for all you patience and suggestions.

 

[Trouble]

Thanks for the follow-up and good luck with the task before you.
It can be daunting but personally I look forward to it on occasion. I did it on November when 1511 (build 10586) came out and I'll be doing it again this July when Redstone is publicly released.
Nothing beats a clean, fresh install.
As you're moving over your data (the contents of your user profile folders) what's in your documents, music, pictures, etc.....
Wait until you are sure that your fresh install is fully updated including the store apps and is running as you would expect.
Keep us posted on your progress and make sure that you are running the latest firmware on the new SSD.

 

[Robin Sanders]

Clean install went smoothly, no problems at all.

I'm not sure about what to replace Office 2003 with, so decided to install it to recover my email data and then decide. I recovered all my emails from the old pst file and set up my email accounts.

Found all of the important install discs with licence keys so I've now added those.

I'm waiting for a new HDD to arrive to copy my data. But that should be easy.

My honest thought now is that once I had secured my data, I should have relaxed and gone straight to the clean install. It turned out to be easier and faster than my recovery efforts.

Thanks for your support, it was nice to know that I was not alone.

 

[Trouble]

Glad to hear that things are working out for you.
I assume that your clean install has now been fully updated both the Operating System and the Store Apps.
At some point, in the not so far distant future, once you have everything just the way you want it. Make a disk image and keep that secure on external media.
Then every-so-often, manually create a new and separate disk image of its' current state.
https://www.windows10forums.com/threads/please-for-your-own-peace-of-mind.794/