write-protection on C:?

[owor]

am trying to do a repair/install of win2k on a system. i get to a point where only C:\WINNT is created but can't copy install files to it or any other place in C:. i don't want to lose what i have i in C, i can even see the files in C but can't write to C, what is going on? this happened after a sudden reboot. is there a way to make C writeabale without losing the other data in C? (machine is intel cel 2.53ghz, 256mbram, C-20gb, has/had win2k pro serv pack 4 on ntfs)
need to fix it real bad.

[morganlefay]

Dont know....I have had troubles installing windows on bad harddrives....

How much free space is there on the drive ????


If you REALLY need the data...slave that drive into another machine and copy the data

MLF

[rcgreen]

You are not going to repair a windows system by copying files piecemeal.
You need to reinstall from the original cd. If you have valuable data to recover,
slave the drive to another system, and copy whatever you can.

[nihil]

Hello owor and welcome to AntiOnline,

Please try this: http://www.roadkil.net/

You will need a hard drive at least the same size as the one with problems, or with a partition that big.

That should give you about the best backup, and you can retrieve data files from it

Have you tried any "repair" options on your Windows installation?

It sounds like you had an "electrical trauma" so it is pretty unpredictable what has actually happened.

You do not say how valuable things are, and if you would be prepared to pay for recovery software...................I would like to know that please

[owor]

i can't afford to lose the data on C, its simply unacceptable. and to answer more questions i had or have 1.8Gb free space apart from the 17Gb which as the data. is there a tool to undo the write protection?

[nihil]

owor are you logged in as administrator when you try to do this? you ought to be

If you have a 20Gb drive you have too much data on it. This reduces your chances of sorting out problems. As a general rule I would not fill a drive more than 80%.

What you should do is recover your important data FIRST then you will have the option of reformat and reinstall.

It might help to mount the drive as a "slave" in another machine.

[morganlefay]

Not sure what you are trying to do...so

If you need the data off...as stated several times slave it into another machine and copy it over

If you are trying to repair the install....take the windows cd and try and repair it.

as for disc space...windows really like 20% of the total partition space free to run nicely

so 20% of 20gigs = 4 gigs..looks like you are below 10% free space already...which is probably hindering you

I sugggest buying a larger harddrive...make it master...install windows on thet...then slave your old drive in...and copy the data to the new drive. Format the old drive and then use that drive as extra space\storage.

Now that old drive sounds...old..so you may want to just keep your data on the new drive.

You can partition the new drive when installing windows...one for system..one for data...that way if you ever have to reinstall...yu can move your data to the data partition and reinstall the system drive ...with out losing your data.


MLF

[SirDice]

Originally posted here by owor
i can't afford to lose the data on C, its simply unacceptable.

Not to rub salt in your wounds but that's why people make backups.....
Eventhough technology gets better and better, harddrives tend to breakdown. It's going to happen sooner or later.. It may break after 2 weeks, it may take 10 years but it'll breakdown at some point.

[nihil]

Yes,

Not to rub salt in your wounds but that's why people make backups.....

And why I have been building a lot of RAID1 stuff over the past few years

SirDice is quite right, it is not a case of "if" it happens, it is more a case of "when".

Now, there is a tool that I use, that will frequently fix a drive after an "electrical event". This is because the traumatic shutdown can frequently cause "magnetic write errors" on your HDD. These tend to be misinterpreted as surface/physical errors by a lot of analytical tools, and by the OS installer routines. As it costs around the same as a new HDD, I do not generally recommend it, unless you are a regular support/maintenance guy.

There are also precautions that you can take against "electrical events", which we might wish to discuss later?

Your first priority must be to recover your data, and as Morgana~ and myself have both suggested; slaving the drive in another machine is the most reliable method.

Good Luck!

[owor]

thanks guys, will try the drive slaving option. my backups were not done for the last 7 days anyway. but will do as suggested.