So my PC just died on me in the middle of a game of PR and now i can't boot it up because Vista has been corrupt.. some c:\windows\system32\config\system file is missing or corrupt. I've tried to repair it with my vista cd but it didn't move one bit over night. I've had the problem once before and the only way i could find out was to reformat but i'd rather not do that this time as i have some files i'd like to save first.

Does anyone know how to extract the files from my harddrive or fix the problem? I'm kinda desperate (And i just got PR to work again )

well another victim of vista...

first off you wont be able to boot that drive at all (in my experience with it anyway).

you best option to save some data is to install windows on another drive, then put the "BAD" drive as a slave and copy onto the good drive or onto disks.

Another option is to create a partition on you drive maybe about 20GB and reinstall on that. hen you have booted up for the first time you should be able to recover the data you want to save. but then its highly recomended that you do a fresh format of your drive and reinstall again.

I have had MANY! problems like this with vista i have lost count of the amount of re-installs i have had to do because of it.

Oh the joy of microsoft.

I think it's hardware to be honest but i dunno.

I do have a couple of external harddrives i could try and boot from (just need to clean up a little).

I did just think of parting the disk but can i part a disk without losing data? It won't wipe it clean and split it in two?

If you are having boot problems Kick it harder

I'm no expert but I really think there's a chance your HD has a fault. You should run checkdisk.

Yes it's possible to create 2 partitions out of one without the data being deleted, however I think it's about 10% posibility that the data WILL get erased with that program I read about.. A long time ago though, but it should be possible.. =/

When it comes to backing up files (Am smacking myself silly for typing the following sentence) you could download Ubuntu and run it from a USB stick, some of the versions are designed to ONLY run in your RAM and thereby not writing any data to the disk from the OS, it's only if you move files around and such that the disk will get affected.. I dont like Ubuntu as a primary OS, but one gotta love this feature which allows one to save files and such should windows fail.

Success! I'm back on my desktop right now writing this! thanks for the tip Shooter i managed to find a version of Ubuntu and install it in a USB pen. I'm moving my files to an external harddrive and with a little luck I'll be back playing PR tomorrow when I've reinstalled windows.. i think I'll try Win 7 this time..

Ubuntu is very different from Windows. I've never tried any other OS' actually so this is pretty interesting. One thing I'm really missing is the address bar at the top of the windows. You do have a line telling you where you are but I just miss seeing C:\ . That way there's no doubt exactly where you are.

Sounds good mate..
And yeah go for W7, you won't be disappointed