I'm having a dilemma...

[Tekademix]

I have a hard drive in one of my PC's that needs to have it's data backed up and the hard drive also needs to be re-formatted. A clean install of XP would definitely be beneficial as well.

Right now, the PC won't even start. So I put the HD in another computer, and am now making a back up image using Acronis True Image.

The problem:
If I reformat this hard drive then restore the old HD image, it would probably still have the same problem with not starting.

I need to find a way to restore installed programs and vital data AFTER reformatting the computer and performing a clean install of Windows XP which would fix the problem with the PC not starting.

Hopefully this post was clear enough. If you have any questions, I will respond promptly. Thank you.

[MiniMax]

Creating an image on a different computer is good!

Next, you could try an "Repair Install" (http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=315341). That should make your WinXP bootable, and it should keep all your programs, your settings, and your data intact (but you will need to apply service packs, hotfixes, updates, etc, from Microsoft). And if it screws up, you still have the image to revert from....

If the repair does not work, you might have to do a clean install of WinXP. You will loose your programs, your settings and (temporarily) your data. And you will need to apply all those updates again. Once you have WinXP and your applications up and running, you can Explore (mount) the image you made previously and retrieve your data files.

Note: You might need to restore the image to a spare partition and then use WinXP Administrator privileges to assume ownership of the files. There is a MS KB article about it ... somewhere.

[MiniMax]

Ahh - here it is:

How to take ownership of a file or folder in Windows XP

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=308421

[Tekademix]

Thanks for the response,.. appreciated.

I have thought about doing a repair installation though my only concern is whether that would make the computer as fresh and fast as it would when I reformatted the HD and performed a clean install of XP.

A fresh, fast computer is my ultimate goal. While maintaining all installed programs, settings, etc.