1)BOOT problem, 2)user's folder access problem

[baxteras]

1) a friend of mine tried to connect his main hard drive to another pc just to copy some files. but he forgot to set the jumpers....
now both hard drives don't boot!
i took his hard drive and i saw that i can see its contents when i connect it as slave in my pc.
his hard drive is a maxtor 40gb. I tried "fixboot" but no luck.
then i downloaded PowerMax (maxtor's diagnostic tool) but it found no errors!

anyway, the hard drive still doesn't boot..
reinstalling windows (XP) won't fix the problem?
low level format is the only solution?

2) the second problem is this :
i can see my friend's hard disk as a slave , so i can make backup of his files!
but he also have some files on his desktop, that means that these files are inside "E:\documents and settings\MyFriendsName\"
but i cannot access this file -> "Access Denied"
do u know how can i bypass this to backup this folder's data?
(i found this article in microsoft's database but works only for windows XP pro, i haveXP home)
i remind that drive E: is the hard disk that doesn't boot!

thanx in advance guys..

[originel]

so is the data backed up? and is it possible to do a low level format (i.e. it's okay if you loose all information on the drive)? if so definitely do a low level format as it will also erase any partitioning scheme that was previously on there.

Also, are you saying you have reinstalled windows? if everything is still intact then i would do a repair install because i would think that would fix it with a minimal amount of data loss (normally none).

[baxteras]

i want to reinstall windows as a last choice before low-level format...
but before i do that, i need to backup all files inside the user account file!
but i can't because of the problem 2 that i described above...

if i reinstall windows , user accounts and user accounts files and folders will be lost, right?
there are files in "E:\documents and settings\UserName\" that need to be backed up...

[paul9]

try fixmbr as well as the fixboot

[baxteras]

tried fixmbr too, no luck

[Valtelino]

I've often come across this problem where two hard drives are run on the one IDE cable, both set to master.
Sometimes you get away with it.
More common scenarios are:
One or both drives have totally fried controllers, and won't detect at all.
One or both drives have partially fried Pcb controllers, and will never work again as master boot drive, unless you replace the controller Pcb. However, they will often quite reliably as a slave drive for backups.
Only other exception was with some of the seagates, where you could fool them to master, by changing them from "Master, stand alone" drive setting, to "Master, slave (or sometimes non ATA slave) present".
Bottom line, tho: I wouldn't trust a drive like this as my mission critical boot drive