You don't want to write anything to a failing HD, that includes running
"chkdsk" on it. Your priority should be to copy what you can off of it
before it completely fails, *if* you can copy anything.

"gus" <gus_zernial******.com> wrote in message
news:1190217657.062752.131030@y27g2000pre.googlegr oups.com...
>I have a WinXP laptop with a failing hard disk. On the laptop, I went
> to the recovery
> console and attempted to chkdsk the dsk, but the chkdsk stopped at 25%
> with
> unrecoverable errors. I removed the disk and installed on another
> WinXP system
> using a USB storage adapter. On that system I can "see" the disk in
> Windows Explorer
> as the I: disk, but I cannot cd to it or execute commands against it.
>
> I have not reinstalled Windows on the disk or otherwise reformatted
> it. My objective
> now is to recover as much of the disk files/content as possible. Can
> someone tell
> me the steps to attempt this, or point me to a link describing the
> diagnostic steps
> and/or utilities to try.
>
> I'm a student and can't afford to take the disk to a data recovery
> service. I could
> buy recovery software if the price were reasonable.
>