File recovery / Vista PE help

[monkeybarry]

So the Mrs had a virus (well 7) that had damaged the copy of Vista she had on her laptop (the OS loads up but then just errors (32.dll corrupted i think - cant quite remember))

So i was thinking of using something like Vista PE to run as a mini OS at boot from a memoery stick just so i can get her files off before reinstalling an OS

Anyone got any experience of using Vista PE?

Or have any more suitable suggestions???

 

[Baleforce]

does it boot into safe mode?

 

[monkeybarry]

it does, but crashes in safe mode also

 

[monkeybarry]

well that doesnt work

anyone know any portable OS that i can pop on a memory stick?

 

[GLENROYID]

Does it have a Mac mode?

if not, you're fudged

 

[Gifter]

With Windows you need to create a winpe boot disk. But the process is quite drawn out task.

Systernals had some sweet recovery tools 'emergency repair disk', but Microsoft bought them (you'd need ERD 2007 or some such I guess for vista, maybe 2005), and released bits of it to their OS and bits via MS DART.

MS DART
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee460909.aspx

The new set with Win7 are quite sweet, but you need to spend some time getting to know them, I have winpe on a 4gb Sandisk Fit which I could send you at a push, but the easier way would be to search for a customised winpe disk, bartpe etc with some instructions as you need to install WAIK and do some interesting but finicky processes to create one via the MS route - http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc748899(v=ws.10).aspx if you want to create one on win7.

The easiest way would be to get a SATA USB adaptor (probably couple of quid on ebay, or more at PCWorld etc if you need one sharpish)and take the hard drive from her laptop (they're almost always a single small screw and fairly easy to release, I wouldn't feel put of by this, if you are), plug the hard drive into yours and copy the stuff off.

If it's got important stuff on it then it is well worth the hassle.

 

[Gifter]

Plus, to add, you might want to ensure your security is up to date, before connecting her drive to it...

Actually if you have the media, you can boot from the vista disk and it should automatically kick in, then offer you to start WinRE 'Repair My Computer'. Though by this I mean a MS Vista Disk, not an manufacturers disk (Dell, HP etc).

 

[scaramanga]

Best thing is to take out the hard drive, buy a ?ú5-?ú10 USB adaptor and plug it in as an external drive to your computer (after ensuring your anti-virus, etc is up to date).

Just copy the files you need over, format her disk and start again.

 

[monkeybarry]

cheers Gifter;

i found info regarding building winPE and Bart PE

havnt tried WinPe yet; Bart PE needs the installation files from an existing install (i dont have original media) but i think only works with XP

will try some of what you have suggested.

i want to try and avoid hooking her hard drive to another machine as, in theory, she had up to date virus definitions so dont want to risk the virus still being around and screwing something else

 

[Gifter]

cheers Gifter;

i found info regarding building winPE and Bart PE

havnt tried WinPe yet; Bart PE needs the installation files from an existing install (i dont have original media) but i think only works with XP

will try some of what you have suggested.

i want to try and avoid hooking her hard drive to another machine as, in theory, she had up to date virus definitions so dont want to risk the virus still being around and screwing something else

No worries.

Sorry about BartPE, never used it, but some of the tech team here do, so didn't realise it was XP and hardware specific, poor show!

Just checking ERD Commander 2007 is only NT-XP compatible, sorry (Since going Win7 we use Sophos disk encryption here which renders most recovery tools useless anyway, and reimaging is the way forward, so I am somewhat out of touch with alot of the tools nowadays).

WinPE will work, but as said it is quite a labourious process.

Agree with Scara, attaching it will be easiest, it should not transfer the virus as the OS is not loaded, but there is always a chance it will (to be fair, if it is in her profile somehwere you need to be careful what you copy off whichever method you use).

One thing to make sure, once you have got the data, make sure she backs her stuff up!