Can i reinstall Vista without losing files?

longwalks1

as above, my laptop froze up and i now ned to reinstall vista from the dics i got from Dell with the laptop, is there a way of ding it without losing all my personal files on the hard drive? (I cant load it up to save them off onto another external HDD or flash drive though)

Tallymanjohn

How far does the boot go? Can you get as far as the safe mode screen (F8 at boot) and then run the 'repair my computer' option, if it's there. This will let you do things like repair the boot files, run system restore etc.

Have you gone through the Dell diagnostics yet? - select the boot menu (F12?) and then choose diagnostics - worth doing before anything else.

After that it depends on the sort of recovery disk you have - some give you the option to save your data before reinstalling & others don't. You can always start the reinstall and then exit if you aren't given the option.

As far as recovering your data then the easiest option is to download/create a Linux disk - it doesn't really matter which, though Ubuntu or Kasperky's rescue disk are the easiest to find. They come as .iso files that need Nero or similar to create the disk. Boot from it with your external drive plugged in and then use the program's file manager to drag your data across.

alanrowell

There was a thread a few days ago on why partitioning a single drive was a stupid idea. This thread shows why it is a good idea as if the data was on a separate partition even on the same drive it wouldn't be touched by a fresh install.

As for OP you could take the harddrive out of the computer and connect it to another computer and copy the data files across to it or another external drive.

longwalks1

Cheers guys
Tallyman, I tried running F12 then chose diagnostics and ran a full system test, it ran for about an hr with 2 errors, they were:

Error code: 0F00:133C
Msg: DISK-read error, check the disk

Error code: 4400:011A
Msg: SCSI_0-000_DISK_GENERIC_MULTICARD, target not ready

It finished the test, I closed the screen down and I'm back to square 1, black screen with flashing 'underscore' cursor in top left corner of screen..... Anyone??

Figment

Error code: 0F00:133C
Msg: DISK-read error, check the disk

indicates there is an error on the hard disk.

The other one

Error code: 4400:011A
Msg: SCSI_0-000_DISK_GENERIC_MULTICARD, target not ready

suggests the laptop has a built-in multi-card reader. Target not ready just means there wasn't anything in the slot when the system tried to test it.


If it were mine, the next thing I'd do is take the hard drive out, put it into a USB caddy and connect it to another computer to see if I could recover the data from it.

longwalks1

Thanks figment, is it a hard job to do? I'm THE least computer minded person I know I'm afraid

There's several options when I go into F12 mode, 3 options of booting up from either HDD, CDROM drive or internal CIS (I think)

And 2 more lower down of something BIOS, and diagnostics (which I've run)

Figment

To get the HDD out usually involves removing a cover on the bottom of the laptop (1 or 2 screws), possibly removing one more screw securing the HDD in place and then unclipping it from it's sockets. Check the manual for instructions specific to your model, or post a photo of the underside of the laptop and someone should be able to guide you.

You would then need to obtain a USB caddy with the same connectors. Plug the HDD into the caddy, then plug the lead into an available USB socket on the other PC. Wait a short while whilst it finds the caddy and installs driver, then it will (should) show up as a disk in Windows Explorers with a drive letter (possibly F: )

longwalks1

Thanks again, do all Dell hard discs have the same connectors? And where would be best to get the caddy, eBay?
Cheers

Figment

No. There are two types of hard disk -SATA or IDE Which you have generally depends on the age of the machine:

longwalks1

Thanks, my Dell is 2yrs old so guess I'll find out once I open her up

longwalks1

Hello again everyone

Opened up my laptop today and it's got a SATA drive in it, 160Gb 5400rpm. Where can I get a cheap caddy/adapter to plug it into my desktop via USB to get the data off it? Any recommendations of one to get?
Also is it worth buying a bigger drive to put back in it?

Thanks again everyone