Booting a 2nd hard drive from within windows - TechRepublic
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July 26, 2007 at 04:37 AM
consult troy

Booting a 2nd hard drive from within windows

by consult troy . Updated 18 years, 11 months ago

I have a laptop that has just lost some system files for Windows XP Pro. This laptop is encrypted and the password is required for the laptop to boot the hard disk. I intend to rescue this using a second computer and a 2.5 inch usb drive enclosure.
What I need to know is, if there is any way that I can boot a hard drive (from the boot sector onwards as I need to un-encrypt the drive before i can edit the sys files) from Windows XP Pro. Or any other OS for that matter.
Note: I still have the encryption password, I simply can’t fix the system files till i can un-encrypt the drive and still be able to change files afterwards.

Also if there is an absolute way of changing Windows XP Pro boot order with out changing the contents of the hard disk. Such as a key stroke to invoke safe mode or simillar, even a command prompt should suffice.

Any help would be much appreciated, I have extremely important personal data on the drive that I need in the next few days.

Thanks in advance.

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