BleepingComputer.com: Restoring files and settings from 'Windows.old' - potential hard disk failure?

Hey there,

Apologies for opening a second topic, but the guy who is very kindly helping me with the initial problem says he does not know about file restore.

Here is my original topic which is still open and unresolved as yet: http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/forums/topic379459.html/page__view__findpost__p__2133787__fromsearch__1

Basically I have had to install a new Windows Vista on my machine and all my files and settings have been saved in a folder called 'Windows.old'.

Basically I could not boot up my machine without getting a BSOD - whether it's was normally or even in Safe Mode.

The problem began when I got some Malware on my machine and it would not allow me to open files off my second hard drive (which had no OS installed on it) without giving an error message and saying I needed to download Windows something or other to defrag and repair the disk.

Much to my shame, it looked legit...but I quickly realised it wasn't. So I uninstalled the program and then tried to run Combo Fix to clean things up. I've used CF 100s of times before and never had an issue.

Anyway, CF asked if I wanted to update so I did and then it began doing its thing. However, an error message appeared saying there wasn't enough disk space to create a restore point and then it restarted and that's when the BSOD issue started.

The error was STOP: 0x0000007E and then it began a crash dump, which took a few seconds before the machine rebooted.

The way I fixed this was be reinstalling Vista.

I followed some steps on Microsoft about restoring from Windows.old but when I did, the BSOD error reappeared.

Also, the machine is not picking up my second hard disk, where the malware was originally found.

It is an IDE hard drive connected to a SATA MB with a coverter and has worked fine for three years now with no issues.

I'd be very grateful for any help on either problem.

Too much confusing information for me to follow, so let me just say this. If there was malware on your system and you did not format before reinstalling the OS, you did not get rid of the malware. You might want to post in the malware forum(s) on this site.

Thanks Allan and sorry for the confusing post.

Maybe I can break it down a bit more simply -

1. How do I restore files and settings from a Windows.old folder?

2. My second hard disk, which is an IDE connected to SATA MB, is no longer being picked up. Any idea what this could be?

To "transfer" the files, you can just use Windows Explorer to copy them. You may need to take ownership first (http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/windows-vista/add-take-ownership-to-explorer-right-click-menu-in-vista/). I'm fairly certain the files & settings explorer wizard will not work with a non-bootable Windows version (your windows.old folder), but look here: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/928634

I don't know about the second hd - not enough info on that. But if there was malware in that Windows installation you do not want to copy anything from there to the new installation. If that's not the case, sorry. As I said, it's a bit confusing.

This post has been edited by Allan: 19 February 2011 - 04:01 PM

Ok, so the HHD issue has been resolved - now all I want to do is restore my machine to its previous state with user details and programs from Windows.old.

I don't know how to use Windows transfer to do this - and when I followed the steps on the MS website, the BSOD STOP: 0x0000007E error that was preventing me from booting up returned.

Basically, I want to restore my machine to the state it was in prior to the crash and be able to access my old programs.

Your old programs have to be reinstalled on the new drive. You'll have to reset all preferences "manually".

Allan, on 19 February 2011 - 04:00 PM, said: