Recovery tools

The recovery tools listed are designed to help you rescue data from your system. While BartPE supports internal and external hard drives and USB flash drives, it doesn't support CD or DVD burning, so we've added a free tool to the list. You'll also discover how to take a byte-for-byte image of your corrupt drive, enabling you to wipe your hard drive and reinstall Windows without worrying about losing any data in the process. And if your hard drive is currently corrupt and you're having trouble tracking down deleted or otherwise inaccessible files, you'll find PC Inspector File Recovery is a potential lifesaver, especially when you consider the high cost of data recovery when carried out professionally (we're talking thousands of dollars here).

DriveImage XML
Plug-in: driveimage_xml.cab
Download link: Browse to www.runtime.org/peb.htm - click DriveImage XML V1.18 plug-in
Additional files needed: none

Description
This freeware disk-imaging tool may not have the slick interface of Acronis TrueImage or Norton Ghost, but it packs plenty of punch. Use it to take an exact byte-for-byte image of your hard drive. You can browse this image later and recover individual files to your hard drive - perfect if in the event of recovering your PC you lose an important file or setting

Instructions
Open PEBuilder and click Plugins. Click Add and locate and select driveimage_xml.cab. Click Open followed by OK > Close.
 

CDBurnerXP Pro
Plug-in: CDBurnerXP_Pro_PEBart_Plugin.exe
Download link: direct link, here
Additional files needed: install CDBurnerXP Pro from www.cdburnerxp.se before following instructions below

Description
If you’re looking for a resource-friendly CD/DVD burning tool then CDBurnerXP Pro is well worth taking a look at. This plug-in gives you access to the program from your recovery disc, enabling you to burn data from your hard drive to CD or DVD even when Windows refuses to boot.

Instructions
Double-click CDBurnerXP_Pro_PEBart_Plugin.exe and extract it to your PEBuilder3110a\plugin folder.
Next, browse to the Program Files\CDBurnerXP Pro 3 directory and copy all of the files, plus the Resources and AVI folders into the files folder inside PEBuilder3110a\plugin\cdburnerxprpo3.
All that’s left to do is launch PE Builder and click Plugins. Select CDBurner XP Pro from the list and enable it by clicking Enable/Disable followed by Close.


PC Inspector File Recovery
Plug-in: pcfilerec.zip
Download link: direct link, here
Additional files needed: install PC Inspector File Recovery 4.x from www.pcinspector.de/file_recovery/UK/welcome.htm before following instructions below

Description
If you’ve accidentally deleted a file, you should try to recover it as soon as you can. Booting from your BartPE disc affords you the luxury of doing so without having to write any data to your hard drive, which might overwrite the deleted file. But for this to work you need a data-recovery tool, which is where this freeware tool comes charging to the rescue.

Instructions
Open the PEBuilder3110a\plugin folder and create a new folder inside that called FileRecovery. Extract the contents of the pcfilerec.zip archive to this folder - there should be two files.
Now create a folder inside PEBuilder3110a\plugin\FileRecovery called files. Browse to Program Files\PC Inspector File Recovery and copy both FileRecovery files, plus the help file into the files folder. Finally, browse to the Windows\System32 directory and copy the file INT13EXT.VXD into the files folder too.
Now open BartPE Builder, click Plugins, locate the PC Convar File Recovery entry and verify it’s enabled (if not, click Enable/Disable). Click Close.
 

eRUNT
Plug-in: none
Download link: click here, then choose one of the download links
Additional files needed: install eRUNT and follow the instructions below.

Description
It's a shocking fact of life that Windows 2000 and XP don't come with easily accessible Registry backups. Should one of your Registry files corrupt it's possible to find yourself blocked from accessing Windows in any mode at all (at which point your BartPE disc comes roaring to the rescue). eRUNT backs up the Registry every 24 hours in such a way as to let you recover your Registry with no problems if a file corrupts. Note you can't use it without having created a working backup in Windows first, so install it now while your PC is still working.

Instructions
Download and install eRUNT from the link above. Follow the default settings throughout the installation process (you don't have to place shortcuts on the desktop if you don't want to), then click Yes when asked if you want to allow eRUNT to make a Registry backup each time Windows starts. Once done, make sure Launch eRUNT is ticked and click Finish. Click OK and then click the ... button to choose a suitable location for your backups (each of which is kept in a separate sub-folder with the day's date). We suggest choosing a different drive to your Windows files. Click OK when you're done and that's it in terms of configuration.
Should you need to restore a backup in the future, boot from your BartPE disc. Make sure your Windows drive (typically C) is recognised as the same drive letter in BartPE - this is very important. Once you've verified this, click Start > Run, click Browse and browse to the most recent back-up folder containing your Registry files. Choose ERDNT and click OK twice. The restore program should run, restore your backup and you should be able to boot into Windows again.