Is my hard drive damaged?
 

The home PC (Dell dimension 5150 with XP) crashed last night and won't restart. I get the message:

Windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt:
System32\Drivers\ntfs.sys

It says insert the original XP CD-ROM and do a repair, but IIRC it didn't come with an XP disk, it was all pre-loaded (hunted around for one last night but couldn't find it with the original documents and stuff)

Is there a diagniostic tool I can download and use instead? Does it mean my drive could be on it's way out?

Any guidance appreciated as my wife uses the PC a lot and she is not a happy bunny.

Cheers Keith

Re: Is my hard drive damaged?
 

Its usually a button at startup to boot to an installation partition, it was F12 on my dell.

Re: Is my hard drive damaged?
 

F11 on yours i think

"There should have been a Dell recovery partition on the hard drive that you access with CTRL/F11"

You will need to backup your files though as that will wipe them, you could try copy ober the missing file from a windows cd instead.

Re: Is my hard drive damaged?
 

Thanks for the quick reply - I have an XP disk from my son's machine - can I use that to repair it or will it only work with the CD that was mnatched to the Dell?

Re: Is my hard drive damaged?
 

Any disc.

http://www.online-tech-tips.com/comp...in-windows-xp/

For the recovery console you will need to change the keyboard input language type if you admin password has symbols etc, try blank password if you cant remember.

Re: Is my hard drive damaged?
 

That's a really good link - thanks - will follow the tips from there.

Cheers Keith

Re: Is my hard drive damaged?
 

If for whatever reason you cant get it working and need the files off it, buy a cheapo 2.5" hdd caddy for the hdd :-)

Re: Is my hard drive damaged?
 

Well..........All these efforts to repair have failed, so it looks like I now need to re-install XP. As the computer didn't come with an XP disk do I need to buy XP? or can I use any XP disk? Doesn't the code on the sticker attached to my computer have to match the one on the disk - I heard they have changed the way it works and this is not required any more.

If anyone has an idea I'd be grateful as my wife is still not a happy bunny!!

Cheers Keith

Re: Is my hard drive damaged?
 

Code on the sticker might be a unique Dell one, but I've used an OEM Vista disc to install Vista on a Dell notebook

Have you tried attaching the HDD as a slave to another PC? - It doesn't sound like the drive is failed, so you should be able to get your documents off...

Re: Is my hard drive damaged?
 

The product key on the label on the computer is the one you should use. It doesn't have to match the WinXP CD.

Did you try accessing the recovery partition?