system recovery incomplete

[bapholial]

I had two HP pavilion laptops. One with vista and one with windows 7. The windows 7 one broke so I put that hard drive in the vista one (a long time ago). Something happened now and it won't start and says I need to restore but when it gets to the windows software installation, the screen flickers black sometime and the progress bar gets stuck in the middle. Then it said the restore was inconplete and i have to do the whole thing over again im thinking it has something to do with the switched hard drives and i don't have its original one anymore... What in the world do I do

 

[-RockMan-]

I had two HP pavilion laptops. One with vista and one with windows 7. The windows 7 one broke so I put that hard drive in the vista one (a long time ago). Something happened now and it won't start and says I need to restore but when it gets to the windows software installation, the screen flickers black sometime and the progress bar gets stuck in the middle. Then it said the restore was inconplete and i have to do the whole thing over again im thinking it has something to do with the switched hard drives and i don't have its original one anymore... What in the world do I do

1.Get a live linux distro such as suse, put it on a dvd-r disc or usb flash drive.
http://software.opensuse.org/131/en
2.Get another flash drive ready and be ready to retrieve any data you want in either hard drive.
3.Since your problem is abit complicated, I recommend you format both hard drives.
4.Use this tool here it is also a live cd Active@ Boot Disk : KillDisk.

Can you tell us if your windows key was oem or retail and which os do you want to have as your current one ?

 

[carnageX]

I had two HP pavilion laptops. One with vista and one with windows 7. The windows 7 one broke so I put that hard drive in the vista one (a long time ago). Something happened now and it won't start and says I need to restore but when it gets to the windows software installation, the screen flickers black sometime and the progress bar gets stuck in the middle. Then it said the restore was inconplete and i have to do the whole thing over again im thinking it has something to do with the switched hard drives and i don't have its original one anymore... What in the world do I do

The change of hardware is causing it to not boot. Windows 7 Pro is the only one I've seen work well with switching to a different set of hardware - otherwise it's usually a 50/50 shot whether it will boot or not. You'll have to reinstall Win7. Get a Win7 disc ISO, burn it to a disc, and install using your Win7 key from the bottom of the laptop. You can backup your data like MikeTech said using a Linux LiveCD, or you can choose to install "over top" of the existing Win7 install by choosing the existing partition with Win7 on it during installation, and choosing NOT to format. It will put everything in a Windows.old folder under your C: drive once you get Windows installed.

4.Use this tool here it is also a live cd Active@ Boot Disk : KillDisk.

Can you tell us if your windows key was oem or retail and which os do you want to have as your current one ?

Killdisk is a bit over the top for this operation. A simple format will do, if OP chooses to go that route, rather than a whole disk-wipe / write 0's. Unnecessary for just a simple Windows reinstall.

All HP laptops have OEM keys - retail Windows keys are purchased separately, so I'm assuming OP is using OEM keys that came with the laptop(s).

 

[-RockMan-]

Killdisk is a bit over the top for this operation. A simple format will do, if OP chooses to go that route, rather than a whole disk-wipe / write 0's. Unnecessary for just a simple Windows reinstall.

All HP laptops have OEM keys - retail Windows keys are purchased separately, so I'm assuming OP is using OEM keys that came with the laptop(s).

Help me understand what your saying, why is kill disk abit too much to do a simple wipe of hard drive and format using this ?
All the person would have to do is make use of low level format.
Since he will need to reformat, I rather him do it my way once he recovers any information from the drives.

He'll start off on a clean drive, no traces of vista or windows 7 residue to cause a future problem during his window installation.

Format HDD (low level format) - KillDisk - Sysnative Forums

This is my reason for having the op do it this way and to be honest windows itself isn't perfect for formatting and partitioning drives correctly consistantly over the past 39 years.

 

[carnageX]

Help me understand what your saying, why is kill disk abit too much to do a simple wipe of hard drive and format using this ?
All the person would have to do is make use of low level format.
Since he will need to reformat, I rather him do it my way once he recovers any information from the drives.

He'll start off on a clean drive, no traces of vista or windows 7 residue to cause a future problem during his window installation.

Format HDD (low level format) - KillDisk - Sysnative Forums

This is my reason for having the op do it this way and to be honest windows itself isn't perfect for formatting and partitioning drives correctly consistantly over the past 39 years.

If OP chooses to install over top of his existing install rather than formatting, he can copy over the data from C:\Windows.old without having to use a LiveCD or take the time to copy over the data from drive -> flash drive -> back to drive

I've done it several times on my own machines, and then you can run a Disk Cleanup to remove the leftover files under C:\Windows.old

The reason I say Killdisk is over the top because writing 0's to the entire drive / partition isn't really all that necessary when not disposing of a drive.

Yes, I know Windows formatting isn't the best, which is why I use GParted to do all my formatting / partitioning. I never touch the Windows format, except during an install if I don't think it will cause issues. In this case, if OP chooses to format, it should be fine to delete all partitions / format as NTFS. Using GParted would be quicker, however.

 

[-RockMan-]

rather than formatting, he can copy over the data from C:\Windows.old without having to use a LiveCD or take the time to copy over the data from drive -> flash drive -> back to drive

I've done it several times on my own machines, and then you can run a Disk Cleanup to remove the leftover files under C:\Windows.old

I never touch the Windows format, except during an install if I don't think it will cause issues. In this case, if OP chooses to format, it should be fine to delete all partitions / format as NTFS. Using GParted would be quicker, however.

Maybe but your still missing what I'm really getting at here, why bother having remnants of windows.old installation around on the drive ?
You wouldn't believe me if I told you but I have had problems and complications with windows.old sticking around.
I've seen this problem on a few other computers the past 3 years.
I'm not forcing the op to do this, but if he had a spare 1 hour to do this I rather him do it this way.
I figure 2 jacked up OS on 2 drives + a good formatting would put him on the right track. :/
Atleast he'll have a record of his files on his flash drive or whatever portable drives he'll store this store on.

Just think about it over time and you'll understand why I am doing it this way.

 

[carnageX]

Just think about it over time and you'll understand why I am doing it this way.

To each his own. I've been doing it that way for quite a while now without issue. Only time I actually format is if there's a real issue with Windows, or a virus infection. You can suggest your way, and I'll continue to suggest your way. Both ways are valid, which is why I offered my suggestion as well. I'm not forcing the OP to do it the way I suggested either: just giving additional options.

 

[maarten]

Help me understand what your saying, why is kill disk abit too much to do a simple wipe of hard drive and format using this ?

The topic starter needs to reinstall Windows, and does not need to wipe every single bit off of the hard drive first. A simple format will do, and is much faster.