About to do a cleam install - is there anyway to backup my data?

It appears I have a virus and need to do a clean install of XP to fix the trouble. My computer (Dell 4700) freezes during the windows boot with the following error "This application has failed to start because COMRes.dll was not found. Re-installing the application may fix this problem"

Since I cannot start up in safe mode - is all of my data lost forever? I have a couple of years worth of digital photos that are very valuable and would hate to lose.

I appreciate your help and comments!

Responses(3)

E60COYOTE

2 Posts

0

December 18th, 2005 12:00

Thanks Rich. That sounds doable. Any way to conect the drive to my laptop?

Yes - I know I'm supposed to back-up my improtant files... TSK TSK

simpswr

3.2K Posts

0

December 18th, 2005 12:00

You can take the drive out and attach it to a working pc and copy the files you want . . ( be sure it has up-to-date antivirus) This works best if you attach the drive to the secondary channel ( the one with cd/dvd drives) on the other pc.

If the files are valuable, you need to back them up periodically to prevent this kind of scenario from wiping them out. ( but you know that . . right?)

simpswr

3.2K Posts

0

December 18th, 2005 13:00

You can connect to a laptop via USB using an external enclosure . . they are about $35

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About to do a cleam install - is there anyway to backup my data?