Question : Problem: Hard Drive Recovery : Windows XP: Windows Directory Inaccessable

I have a PC that is running Windows XP

Although it has a Trojan...I was researching how to defeat it ..but the system was running ok (functional)

The other day some error forced a reboot and then on system restart I has an issue (can remember the exact error) but it was one that uaually a chkdisk /r /p would fix.
It didnt work this time.   It said the drive had Unrecoverable errors.

I ran HDD regeneratory which found thousands of errors......strange...the drive was working just a little while earler.....but it says if fixed about 98% of them.

Now the drive is acting as if it would boot but says it cant get to hal.dll

When I use a boot cd the c drive does not show up (It used to whenever I did that b4)
So I used NTFS4Dos to access the drive.

NTFS4dos sees the drive and its contents. I can change to the directories....EXCEPT the windows directory......upont attempting that...it says "invalid directory"  I can even go to c:\documents and settings\admin\.......   but when I try to get to "my documents"  I get Invalid directory.  

I just need to boot.....I have a slave drive connected and waiting to rescue the data.

One strange thing ...when I use the recovery console...normally it would say what windows do I want to log onto...and then ask for the password.    It stopped asking that question in recent days..and just dumped me out with a c:\ prompt ...hmmmm   curious.

I am thinking that its some sort of a security issue.   Can ANYONE Help me please?
You have NO Idea how happy i will be.

Answer : Problem: Hard Drive Recovery : Windows XP: Windows Directory Inaccessable

From experience I should say that when changing the cylinders either Testdisk will continue and see more parts of the HD than before, or nothing will happen at all.
BUT: also from experience, I must warn you. Any manipulative operation on a hard disk, performed by whatever programme, bears the potential risk of massive data loss!

So before you continue with TestDisk, first make sure to have backed up all data still available, by means that were already suggested:
- connecting the drive as slave to a working Windows system
- booting off a Linux Live CD (Linux sees more than Windows does)
- running the GetDataBack demo on the drive to check if it would be able to restore missing files and folders.

Only then continue with TestDisk to check whether it is able to give you back your old HD in restored state.

(ps:
Forget about the brand new Knoppix I linked to above; thats only a live Linux minisystem without any diagnostic or recovery software. If you wish to go with Knoppix, you will have to take the previous 5.3 DVD release, downloadable from many places, like here, for instance: ftp://knoppix.ftp.fu-berlin.de/knoppix-dvd)