Error loading OS; moved HDD; wants me to format; I want to back up.

My computer froze this morning and so I restarted it. Upon boot I got the dreaded "Error Loading Operating System." I went through all of my options and decided I'd just completely restart my PC. But, I have vital files on my hard drive that I want to save. I decided I would pop it into another PC and back up the files. So I put it into the computer I'm using now, and it wants me to format it, which I don't want to do. I read briefly about a program called Partition Magic. I wouldn't mind getting it and using it. But can it do what I need it to? Or is there any other way for me to get my files? If you have any questions, feel free to ask. Thank you in advance. =)

Dell Optiplex GX150
Windows XP SP3

 

The reason the other PC says the drive needs formatting, is because one (or more) of several things has happened: the boot sector or boot record has been corrupted, the file table has been corrupted, or the partition is no longer marked as 'active'. Here's some free data recovery tools you might want to try:
http://www.majorgeeks.com/TestDisk_&_PhotoRec_d5561.html
http://www.majorgeeks.com/Ultimate_Data_Recovery_d5336.html
http://www.pcinspector.de/Sites/file_recovery/info.htm?language=1 (I've used this before, and it works great, but isn't very user friendly)
http://www.majorgeeks.com/Victoria_for_Windows_d5688.html
http://www.majorgeeks.com/TestDisk_d4803.html
http://www.majorgeeks.com/Partition_Saving_d5753.html
http://www.majorgeeks.com/Partition_Find_&_Mount_d5740.html (I think this may be exactly what you need, but I haven't personally used it)
http://www.majorgeeks.com/Disk_Investigator_d1341.html
Of the above recommendations, I have only used PCInspector, and Ultimate Data Recovery, but I don't know if Ultimate Data Recovery will work for your situation, but it's free, so try it. The drive must be hooked up to a functioning PC, and be sure to save the data to a different drive. Do NOT write any data to the drive you're trying to recover. If you do, it may over-write the stuff you want to save. There are paid programs available that work really well. I have used Easy Recovery Professional many times. They have a demo mode; it scans the drive and will show you the data that can be recovered, but you will be prevented from actually saving the data until you purchase the program. More info is available here:
http://www.ontrackdatarecovery.com/file-recovery-software/
In your case, I think the freeware listed above will work. You might also want to look through the following sections here at Major Geeks:
Data Recovery http://www.majorgeeks.com/downloads38.html
Drive Utilities http://www.majorgeeks.com/downloads8.html
Back Up http://www.majorgeeks.com/downloads3.html

Good luck!!! Let us know what happens!

(EDIT- I was just thinking, this might help... with the drive hooked up to a functioning PC, click Start, click Run, type cmd and press Enter. A window will open that looks like an old DOS environment. Type chkdsk X: /r and press Enter; where X: is the drive letter of the drive you want to save the data from. Be sure to put a space before and after the X: and be patient. Running this command can take a lot of time, like over 6-8 hours depending on the drive size and other factors. When it's done, type exit and press Enter to close the DOS window. If you get any warnings or prompts to format or write to the drive, be sure to cancel or say No. This may not work if the PC thinks the drive isn't formatted because it will not have assigned a letter to a drive it thinks isn't formatted, but it's worth a shot)

 

Thanks for the info! I'll try it out later today. I posted the same thread on techsupportforum.com and I read not run CHKDSK.

http://www.techsupportforum.com/har...moved-hdd-wants-me-format-i-want-back-up.html

 

Would it be safe to back up the files from the HDD to some disks?

 

Thank you so much! Partition Find & Mount worked fantastically! It was only a 20 GB HDD, so it was fairly quick, even with the thorough scan. I can now access all of my files and will back the vital ones up, now! :highfive