KenB

To access Elevated Command Prompt .... there is another option... Start > All Programs > Accessories You should see Command Prompt .....right click on this > Run as Administrator At the prompt type ..... sfc /scannow ...ENTER ....[ space before / ] You can run this a couple of times. Sometimes it picks things up on the second pass.

There should have been a "Command Prompt" option .... We haven't run out of ideas yet .... On the Win 7 machine .. Start ...type in ....diskmgmt.msc .....ENTER You will see something like this below. Right click on the Pen Drive letter ( F: ) > Change drive letter Change the letter to H: or J: ....it doesn't really matter. Try accessing the drive now. If that doesn't work go back to Disk Management .....right click on the drive > click Open. Try opening the files from there. Let me know how you get on.

Does this help ? click here Or is it not WinZip you are using ?

Thanks for the update joddle - no doubt others will find this useful :)

As I understand what you are saying ... You have 2 SATA hard drives - each with Windows on. You connect them and select the "first Boot Option" in the BIOS. The BIOS boots from the other hard drive. Is this correct ? Did you install Windows on both drives from this specific machine? If one of the drives has Windows from a different machine it is unlikely to boot up.

That is good news. Could you explain ( briefly ) what you did as this could help others. :)

There is an Update Troubleshooter here .... click here This will download automatically. Select Run when it is done ( only takes seconds to download )

That does make a difference ...I hadn't realised it was Win 8 you were using. If this is what you have tried there is a colon missing ..... it should be F: ...... F followed by a colon If your pen drive is showing as F: in Computer then ATTRIB will read the files on the drive. Give it another go. Safe Mode > Win 8.1 Windows Key + I ...... ( the letter next to U on the keyboard ) In Settings click on "Change PC Settings" at the bottom Click on Recovery ( left side ) > Advanced Startup Your PC will restart - you should be able to access Safe Mode form here. It is very different from previous "Safe Mode" ...there is a "Command Prompt" option there. If there are any problems ... This time try ....Windows Key + X Select ........Command Prompt ( Admin ) Try the ATTRIB commands from here.

Hi tismehi .. Plug in the Pen Drive ....go to Computer and make a note of the Drive Letter ...........( let's say X ) Start > type in ....cmd ....right click on the cmd.exe that appears top left .....click on "Run as Administrator" At the command prompt type ..... X: ...hit ENTER .....[ X is the drive letter of your pen drive ] You will see X:\> At this prompt type .....attrib .....hit ENTER You should get a list of all the files etc on your Pen Drive. Now type attrib -r ......hit ENTER The -r switch should remove the "read only" attribute. [ this applies to the files on the pen drive ] ============ Failing that ... Shut down and reboot. Constantly tap F8 about once per second You will see the Advanced Startup Options Select Safe Mode with Command Prompt If your USB Memory Stick drive letter is (X) for example then type at the prompt ... X: and hit ENTER at the X:\> .......type in format X: and hit ENTER This will, of course, remove all data from the pen drive [assuming that we can get it to format :) ] Let me know how you get on. [ you may get a warning that the volume is in use ...and asking if you wish to "dismount" the volume ... this is OK ]

The other alternative is to put Win 7 on a partition on the XP hard drive. You could Dual Boot using this method. ( assuming you have enough space ) You should STILL be able to use the Boot Order in the BIOS to select the Operating System Manually. Did you check this out ?

Hi Do you get the same error if you use a different Pen Drive on the same computer ? If so ... Start .....type in ....regedit .....ENTER Click the > next to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE ............... then the > next to SYSTEM Continue down the following until you get to StorageDevicePolicies HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\StorageDevicePolicies Double click the key WriteProtect in the right pane and set the value to 0 You will need to click on Edit > then change Value Data to 0 [ATTACH=CONFIG]2175[/ATTACH] EDIT: I have just checked this on Win 8.1 ..........I get as far as Control ...but cannot complete. Do you get any further ?

Thanks DSTM :) OK - the way I see it..... You now have 2 hard drives - each with a different Operating System on. Presumably when you switch the machine on it will automatically boot up from one of the hard drives .... lets say XP. If you don't get an option to select the Win7 Operating System....... With 2 hard drives you have to select the drive to boot from in the BIOS. To access the BIOS it should be F2 key. Switch on and constantly tap the F2 key about once per second Once in the BIOS you are looking for the Boot Order / Boot Sequence or similar ( the BIOS is different on different systems ) You should see both hard drives - it may mention the drive by make The drive that is first in the Boot Order will be the one that it boots off. It may be that the DVD CDROM is first in the boot order. This is normal - you can leave this and the hard drive to boot from will be next. This is why I said earlier "But maybe not the way you would like" Does this work for you ? =============== EDIT: Thanks Starbuck - you posted 5 mins before I did .... I had seen those tutorials and I didn't think they were clear. It assumes that the BIOS will "see" the two Operating Systems ...... I couldn't see how it would do this. ( always willing to learn :) ) With a Dual Boot system using a partition the Boot.ini file is altered to provide the choice. This obviously is not an option with a separate hard drive ......hence my conclusion re. opting from the BIOS Boot Order. Lets see what happens when joddle tries to boot up with the 2 drives connected.

Hi If the versions of XP and Win 7 have BOTH been installed with the respective hard drives in the same machine then this is possible. But maybe not the way you would like. ( explain later ) I have done this using a separate partition on the hard drive but not using two different hard drives ....so it will be a learning curve for both of us. If XP or Win 7 were not installed in this system then they will not boot up anyway. Is Win 7 installed yet ? If not - do not install it yet .... further advice needed. I am thinking that the way you will have to do this is to select the drive to boot from from the BIOS At the moment I cannot see a way to have a choice pop up in the same manner that you could if you dual booted using partitions.

Not looking good. Connect the hard drive and enclosure to another computer again. Give it 30 seconds or so .... Start .....type in ....diskmgmt.msc ......ENTER This will take you to Disk Management. The main drive on the other machine will show up as "Disk 0" Underneath that you may see the DVD Drive and hopefully the External Enclosure. It will look a bit like this: [ATTACH=CONFIG]1193.vB5-legacyid=2174[/ATTACH] Disk 1 and Disk 2 are additional hard drives ..............with luck yours will show here. [ there is still no guarantee of getting at the data ]

Get back to us when you can :)

Thanks Obsc - that may help others :)

You are welcome :)

Those charges seem a bit over the top !! By the time you have paid them you could almost have a new machine. Once you have an enclosure - if you pop the problem drive into it and connect up to another system you will either be able to access the drive or you will not. If you can - treat it like you would a memory stick. Locate any files / data and copy them across to the working system. We can run some tests on the drive from here. Give us a shout when you are ready.

No - sorry. After a bit more reading ...... Nvidia are even more fussy than AMD. You would need two identical cards.

Hi I think I know you from another forum :) Welcome to ExTS. I know from your other post that you have since solved this one. Could you post a brief explanation so that others may benefit please ? If you need help with the virus - the security guys here would be able to advise .....it costs nothing :)

Well done Louise :) I will mark this one as "Solved"

Thanks for confirming DSTM :)

Hi Ray I was just explaining another reason for having a time limit on editing. :)

Dokie I have deleted your last post - it was irrelevant as PlasticNev had already directed the OP to Malware Removal. There may be a lot of options in the link - but they are not relevant to this problem. And if you agree - why suggest reinstalling in the first place? You were advised by DSTM that once a member had been directed by a Moderator to Malware Removal then you refrain from posting. This is for a reason. So far in this thread you have made more posts than the OP!! ========== tismehi .....please ignore everything other than Nev's link to Malware Removal Thanks :)

Re Nev's post #13 I wrote a short tutorial / information post on this here: http://extremetechsupport.com/threads/14964-Re-Install-Win-7-on-OEM-Legal-Download#.U0SRUiCShx0 You may find it useful.