Win XP corrupted system and SAM files... disaster in process, need expert input and recommendation for a data recovery service I can trust. [more inside]
posted by FauxScot on Aug 24, 2009 - 10 answers

Suggestions for cleaning a virus-infected Windows machine appearing in a non-administrator account without resort to (1) the administrator account or (2) a nuke and re-install? [more inside]
posted by Napoleonic Terrier on Jul 30, 2009 - 9 answers

I've been wondering if it is possible to apply the same solution to the never-ending problem of Windows corruption (and the resulting degraded performance) that data centers use. As I understand it, Windows is booted over the network, so what happens to the local hard drive does not matter. Is there a way of doing the same thing to a home PC? Can you make a hard drive "read-only" after putting a bootable Windows image on it, and then use a seperate hard drive for data storage? I really detest the solution that MS sponsors (virus protection/firewall software) because it is just another thing that you have to buy which supports it's business partners. Any other ideas?
posted by ackptui on Jul 16, 2009 - 7 answers

Is CHKDSK actually any good? [more inside]
posted by edbyford on Mar 4, 2009 - 17 answers

Are there uncommon ways to repair a corrupt MySQL table? I have a MySQL database that is experiencing some serious corruption. Using the standard instructions, I have repaired all of the tables but one. No matter how many ways I try those instructions on the ornery table, in all cases either a) nothing happens or b) the data file is emptied, which is, obviously, not the result I want. [more inside]
posted by Mo Nickels on Nov 15, 2008 - 6 answers

How can I corrupt memory? I have a plain SD card, and I'd like to be able to reliably make the memory corrupt. Can this be done? [more inside]
posted by ChrisManley on May 26, 2008 - 18 answers

It appears that chkdsk has corrupted some of my files. How can I stop this happening? [more inside]
posted by edbyford on May 6, 2008 - 9 answers

I have a few mysql tables that keep repeatedly getting corrupted - help! [more inside]
posted by twiggy on Jan 25, 2008 - 12 answers

Mac OS X: External drive is dying, many corrupt files randomly strewn about it. What Mac utility can copy all the non-corrupt files to a new disk and provide a list of the files it couldn't copy? [more inside]
posted by Plug Dub In on Jan 21, 2008 - 6 answers

How can I extract video from corrupt/poorly burned VOB files into a format that is editable? [more inside]
posted by sciurus on Jan 7, 2008 - 5 answers

So I have a scratched CD with a few corrupt files, and access to the files that I need on another PC...can I combine these somehow to create a working CD or image with which to install/use my program? [more inside]
posted by Rallon on May 15, 2007 - 10 answers

Has a no-brand cybercafe SD card reader borked our honeymoon photos/video, or is there anything we can do to recover them? [more inside]
posted by Hogshead on Dec 1, 2006 - 5 answers

Was working on an InDesign file, and i just up and crashed. Now it's corrupted, as are the saved copies. [more inside]
posted by niles on Nov 2, 2006 - 8 answers

Big help needed, Windows corrupted most of my NTFS disk... [more inside]
posted by lundman on Jun 19, 2006 - 6 answers

Best software to recover a corrupted .pst file? [more inside]
posted by Kwantsar on May 5, 2006 - 10 answers

How can I fix the corrupted jpegs on my Win XP computer? [more inside]
posted by skryche on Mar 23, 2006 - 9 answers

Windows XP crashes whenever it accesses a specific file. The problem: I don't know what file it is. What would cause such a serious error and how do I fix it? [more inside]
posted by monsta coty scott on Feb 18, 2006 - 8 answers

HELP! Suddenly, every PDF I download from various databases is corrupt in some way. Either there is "insufficient data for an image" or "unable to extract font X", this has never happened to me before. I have no problem grabbing PDFs from other sites, so I don't know if the corruption is caused by dropped packets going through the library proxy server, evil gremlins, or my recent installation of Reader 6 alongside Acrobat Pro 5
posted by Grod on May 9, 2004 - 9 answers