XP hell

[johnrw]

Ok possibly an overstatement, and yes it's the first journal post in... years? (if you don't count comments).

Anyway one of the 'joys' of life is being family tech support. And this one's a dilly

Comments

[watervole]

I can't resist a good Kipling quote, even when heavily disguised!

[johnrw]

Definitely got the driver disk and the OEM XP install disk. The reason for contemplating salvage is the nagging fear I've missed something.

Windows recovery console claims no disk errors just an unknown file system. Giving serious thought to spinrite

The 'portable hard drive' I copied the (54Gb) data to is actually my network (mirrored) NAS. Which, admittedly, I ought to back up!

Agreed, she needs a backup regime and one which only requires her to plug in an external drive to operate is favourite Any recommendations bearing in mind there are two user accounts - my sister and my niece. Niece is user, sister has administrator privileges?

[johnrw]

I'll take a look at your suggestions. At the moment I seem to acquired a reputation for raising the computer dead! better use the moment in the sun to set up a backup strategy.

Thanks for the steer to Spinrite. It did the job, but given the age of the drive it's only a matter of time. So I'm actively looked at replacement drives. Given the cruft on this setup I'll probably go for clean install rather than use Ghost (also my copy is old and I haven't kept up with the upgrade cycle).

Anyway, assuming I see you at Novacon I owe you a drink.