From: undisclosed on

Ok, let's skip the Thinkvantage sutff. Is there any way to salvage my
data without using system Restore? I can't boot into Windows -- I can
only use the Windows recovery console from the Windows XP cd. Thanks!


--
bensy
From: Pegasus [MVP] on

<undisclosed> wrote in message
news:28a5af779205af38ac4392c6747e9450(a)nntp-gateway.com...
>
> Ok, let's skip the Thinkvantage sutff. Is there any way to salvage my
> data without using system Restore? I can't boot into Windows -- I can
> only use the Windows recovery console from the Windows XP cd. Thanks!
> --
> bensy

Your initial post suggested that you were still able to boot into Windows,
albeit at a reduced functional level. It now seems that this is not so. Here
are a few options:
- To restore Windows: Use a manual System Restore process as shown here -
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307545. This is not something for the
faint-hearted.
- To save your data: Remove the hard disk, then put it into an external USB
case. Now connect the case to some other PC and save your files. On the
Thinkpads I've seen it's quite easy to remove the hard disk.

Note also that there are two groups of people: Those who don't back up their
important files regularly and those who do. Over time all members of the
first group migrate to the second group. The transition can be very painful.
I hope that yours is bearable. Perhaps you will check out the price of a
2.5" hard disk that you could use as a permanent backup medium, using the
USB case I mentioned before.


From: undisclosed on

I'm sorry for the confusion. I wasn't clear enough in my original post,
but yes, my laptop won't boot to Windows. It just keeps restarting
after the blue screen.

Thanks for the manual system restore advice and the other stuff. I am
one of those who backs up, but not frequently enough. Last backup was
two weeks ago, in which time I graded a ton of papers and entered them
into my gradebook, did 5 days of writing, and so on. So there is some
serious potential pain, but it's not life threatening.


--
bensy
From: Paul on
undisclosed wrote:
> I'm sorry for the confusion. I wasn't clear enough in my original post,
> but yes, my laptop won't boot to Windows. It just keeps restarting
> after the blue screen.
>
> Thanks for the manual system restore advice and the other stuff. I am
> one of those who backs up, but not frequently enough. Last backup was
> two weeks ago, in which time I graded a ton of papers and entered them
> into my gradebook, did 5 days of writing, and so on. So there is some
> serious potential pain, but it's not life threatening.
>
>

To slave the drive to another machine, you can use an adapter like
this. It has 40 pin IDE (for 3.5" desktop drives), 44 pin IDE
(for 2.5" laptop drives), and a SATA connector (for 2.5"/3.5"
SATA drives). It comes with a power supply, useful for the drives
that need a bit more power than can be provided over the USB bus.
The output is USB2, so then you can plug the adapter into another
computer, and copy any data you might need. There is no enclosure,
so you have to be careful to support the drive and adapter so
the drive won't fall or get bumped.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812200155&cm_re=usb_to_sata%2fide_adapter-_-12-200-155-_-Product

Product manual.

http://www.startech.com/Data/ProductManuals/USB2SATAIDE.pdf

The main advantage of that style of adapter, is not having
to open up the desktop computer, and cable up the drive there.
Using USB, it is a bit easier to just plug it in to a port
on the back of a desktop machine. Data transfer rate with
USB2 is about 30MB/sec, so it can be a bit slow if you're
copying over a 1TB drive.

You still have to figure out how to get the drive out of the
laptop casing.

Paul
From: undisclosed on

Thanks for the links, Paul. I was wondering exactly how to do that, and
now I know. I think this is the easiest solution. Lenovo posts some
invaluable service manuals on the web, so I have detailed instructions
on how to take it apart.


--
bensy
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