Recovery after complete reinstallation of Windows and software

Hi,

 

I'm sure these issues have come up before, but not for me -  until now.

 

Windows XP crashed and couldn't be restored, so I had to do a from-the-ground-up install of the system and software on a new hard disk.

 

I have two problems:

 

1. Is it possible to retrieve the (very many) Identity Safe logins from my old Hard Disk via USB, and if so, how? Since that old disk contains the broken version of Windows, I can't run it any other way.

 

2. I have successfully reinstalled and reactivated 360 v 5, but I also have Norton Untilities, which I think was included with my Norton 360 renewal last time. But I don't recall how the activation code was communicated to me, so I don't know where to find it, and my account page shows no activation code for Utilities - how can I proceed with reactivation?

 

All advice very gratefully received!

 

Thanks!

Hi,

 

I'm sure these issues have come up before, but not for me -  until now.

 

Windows XP crashed and couldn't be restored, so I had to do a from-the-ground-up install of the system and software on a new hard disk.

 

I have two problems:

 

1. Is it possible to retrieve the (very many) Identity Safe logins from my old Hard Disk via USB, and if so, how? Since that old disk contains the broken version of Windows, I can't run it any other way.

 

2. I have successfully reinstalled and reactivated 360 v 5, but I also have Norton Untilities, which I think was included with my Norton 360 renewal last time. But I don't recall how the activation code was communicated to me, so I don't know where to find it, and my account page shows no activation code for Utilities - how can I proceed with reactivation?

 

All advice very gratefully received!

 

Thanks!

Hi

 

Thank you, Hugh.

 

Yes - the original system had 360 v 5, and that's what I've installed again (from my saved original download) and reactivated on the new hard disk.

 

I have a USB SATA caddy, so I can already see all my files are intact on the old drive, The problem is that I just don't know how to retrieve log-ins from Identity Safe if Identity Safe is not running on the drive containing them. I don't think I have a separate backup of the log-ins, (although I have always used the regular 360 backup schedule facilities to backup another HD. Not sure if 360 automatically backs up Identity Safe data? If so, maybe I can access the logins from that?) I also have a full system backup (using a different backup program) on the other HD.

 

You're probably wondering why I didn't just restore my system from the backup. Well, although my XP operating system was working (after a fashion) it was already a bit flaky when all of those backups were made, So I didn't really want to restore from those backups and put that partially flaky system back on the drive - and I decided to 'bite the bullet' and re-install from scratch.

 

I don't think the original problem was an infection, although I can't be 100% sure. I reinstalled 360 and updated it before connecting the old drive and scanning it, and nothing showed up. I think the original problem may have been caused by my KVM going faulty - first symptoms were a delayed response to keyboard inputs and a sticky mouse movement - similar to when a CPU is heavily loaded and the mouse cursor movement gets jerky - except there was no overload of the CPU or memory. It got steadily worse over twenty minutes or so, but seemed to improve briefly after a reboot .  But it eventually quit accepting mouse and keyboard input altogether. A couple of resets later, the machine wouldn't reboot, and reported Config / System damage, and recommending I repaired Windows using the original XP CD. I booted from the CD, but the system reported it could not repair the problem - (i've forgotten the exact wording, but it mentioned something about a 'Bad Collector Pool' or some similar phrase). It wouldn't even start in Safe Mode.

 

Even with the new (definitely clean) drive installed, there was no response to the mouse and keyboard until I plugged them direct into the PC (ie not via the KVM), that's what makes me think this damage was due to a hardware problem initially.

 

Glad you have one of those adapters -- life-savers.

 

You'll have to hang on for help on the ID data since I think it can be done but I don't use it so I've never played with it.

 

I'll ask my colleagues to jump in.

Thanks.

 

That blue-screen problem I mentioned was 'Bad Pool Caller' - I checked on the net and it's a known problem which is caused by Acronis-based disk management software, not quite sure how it came to operate in my particular case, but it has to do with restoring backups, so it's not surprising - I think maybe I asked the system to restore to the last known good configuration.

See if this helps.

http://community.norton.com/t5/Norton-360/Norton-360-Identity-Safe-File/m-p/380534#M40114

 

In step 2 you will of course be searching the external drive instead of windows.old

Dave

 

edit- in XP the file path should be

 C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Norton\{real long number}\N360

I did a google earlier on 'Bad Pool Caller' which had come up somewhere here and as you say it is not uncommon.

 

I use TI myself but haven't run into it -- however some versions do have problems with SATA drives apparently.

 

You would have TI if you downloaded any of the tools that most drive makers offer for imaging and backing up --it's a branded version of a fairly recent TI but not the latest.

 

I see you are getting some guidance on locating the ID files......

Thanks - I'll give this a go and see what I can do!

 

I'll get back to you!

Thanks!

 

I will let you know how I get on.

Hmmm - I made sure hidden files were displayed but neither my newly reinstalled system drive nor my old hard drive appear to have any file or folder called 'IdentitySafeDataStore' or 'S-1-5-21'. 

 

On my system drive, looking in the Norton folder inside All Users\Application Data reveals three folders, one of which has a really long numeric name. Inside that, amongst other things, I can see there's N360_5.1.0.29. There are 33 more folders inside that but none called IdentitySafeDataStore or S-1-5-21. Automated search can't find either of these names either.

 

Am I doing something wrong, I wonder?

Hi

 

Well - somehow, the relevant folders have now appeared. I don't know what I did to make them apppear. Previously, I couldn't find them by searching manually in the path described, and Search was adamant there were no such folders (despite Folder Options being set to show hidden files during both types of search).

 

Anyway....

 

I've now done what was required - copied the contents of S-1-5-21 on my old hard disk to a new folder, restarted the computer in Safe Mode, deleted two icons I found in the S-1-5-21 folder on my system drive, pasted the contents of my new folder into the system drive's S-1-5-21 folder and restarted the PC again - but still no log-ins show in Identity Safe.

 

Within S-1-5-21, there is a folder containing thumbnail images which relate to the missing logins - BT, Facebook, etc. so the data is definitely there.

 

So I am now wondering what else needs doing.

 

One thing I discovered though - I was under the impression that the version of 360 I was running before my system crash was 360 v 5. But I noticed that the folder inside Application Data/Norton appears to be 360 v 6.

 

So - if my Identity Safe data was actually created in 360 v 6, would that account for the fact it can't be seen in the version I  have perhaps re-installed mistakenly, which is 360 v 5?

Hugh, Dave

 

Thanks for your help - all sorted now.

 

Yes, it was the fact that I had re-installed 360 v 5, thinking that was the version I was running, when in fact it was v 6.

 

I updated the installation to v6 and now all is well and the logins are back.

 

Thanks again guys. Really helpful!

That's a relief.....

 

Export a set off the system!


avgrafyx wrote:

Hi,

 

2. I have successfully reinstalled and reactivated 360 v 5, but I also have Norton Untilities, which I think was included with my Norton 360 renewal last time. But I don't recall how the activation code was communicated to me, so I don't know where to find it, and my account page shows no activation code for Utilities - how can I proceed with reactivation?

 

All advice very gratefully received!

 

Thanks!



If you haven't found your Product Key for NU yet,  sign in to your Norton account and click on View Order History.  Your NU purchase should now be displayed.  If you click View on the right hand side it will show your Product Key and there is also a Download button if required.

 

Cheers,

Dave.