My computer recently had a BSOD crash and now goes through the "Startup-->windows is loading files-->Can't repair files automatically" loop. I was able to run a pre-boot test for the hardware and it passed. I figure it's just the OS that's corrupted, so I want to get my information extracted from it before I re install windows and put the information back on it. I have heard of using Ubuntu to recover the files. That seems to be the route I'll be taking, but I was wondering if it recovers ALL files. Not just the popular ones (wma, mp3s, jpgs, gifs, pdfs etc) because I have some software and software specific files that I need to recover as well. I would like to recover the entire 400 gigs on my 500 gig drive, and have at least 98% of the files working like before this disaster. Is this feasible or too optimistic?
Very feasible. Get yourself a USB to SADA/IDE converter and you can plug it up to an external HDD and transfer all your files over no matter how corrupted the OS is.
Yep, it recovers all files. Ubuntu isn't a file recovery program, it's an OS. After you are in Ubuntu you will be able to copy/paste any file you want, just like you could when you were in Windows. Even if it doesn't know how to open the files it can still copy them
OP, do you have another hard drive? Where are you going to transfer 400gigs worth of stuff? If you do have another hard drive, why not just clone your primary, format and reinstall windows, then transfer the files you need back to the primary.