WinXP Pro SP2 won't boot-boot sector etc?

WinXP Pro SP2 all MS updates
Dell Latitude D600
Western Digital 160GB HD
EZGig II cloning software

Last night I attempted to clone my HD (#1) as a backup using EZGigII-current
version of 2 months ago. Internal HD was disk #1 and external USB HD was #2
and I used the normal cloning process (#1 to #2). When the system went to
boot for the locking of HD#1, I received the normal Dell splash screen but
then I received a message to Cntl+Alt+Del because the system couldn't boot.
It appears that, for some reason, I may have lost the boot sector or EISA
partition (94MB) or ??? on the internal HD (#1). I then swapped the drives
to see if I could boot off of HD #2. Uniquely, this booted fine so I brought
the system up all the way and plugged in #1 in a USB port of the laptop. I
can 'see' all the directories on #1 (now external) and #2 looks fine (backup
of 2 weeks ago).
Late last night I started a directory compare (BeyondCompare II) to
determine the specifics of the directory differences. WHen I awoke this AM I
had the Cntl+Alt+Del on the laptop again. :-(
I'm at a different computer and I can still 'see' the #1 HD partititions.
When I click into the EISA 94MB system partition, I get the normal slashes.

Is there a utility to copy the boot sector or to evaluation the boot sector,
if this is my issue? Uniquely, I have another backup of two weeks ago that
I've carried around in my laptop case so I could use this (#3) and copy it to
HD#2 as a test?

Anyone have any guidance here?
Anyone think this is a laptop issue rather than a HD issue or ????
Is there a way to save the registry etc off of HD #1 etc. to recreate it?
I have previously downloaded some RoadKil files (bootbuild, diskImg,
DskSpeed, RawCopy and SectEdit, fwiw, but I have not used them).
TIA!!

The message is a "Disk read error". Forgot to include this...


"Tom" wrote:

> WinXP Pro SP2 all MS updates
> Dell Latitude D600
> Western Digital 160GB HD
> EZGig II cloning software
>
> Last night I attempted to clone my HD (#1) as a backup using EZGigII-current
> version of 2 months ago. Internal HD was disk #1 and external USB HD was #2
> and I used the normal cloning process (#1 to #2). When the system went to
> boot for the locking of HD#1, I received the normal Dell splash screen but
> then I received a message to Cntl+Alt+Del because the system couldn't boot.
> It appears that, for some reason, I may have lost the boot sector or EISA
> partition (94MB) or ??? on the internal HD (#1). I then swapped the drives
> to see if I could boot off of HD #2. Uniquely, this booted fine so I brought
> the system up all the way and plugged in #1 in a USB port of the laptop. I
> can 'see' all the directories on #1 (now external) and #2 looks fine (backup
> of 2 weeks ago).
> Late last night I started a directory compare (BeyondCompare II) to
> determine the specifics of the directory differences. WHen I awoke this AM I
> had the Cntl+Alt+Del on the laptop again. :-(
> I'm at a different computer and I can still 'see' the #1 HD partititions.
> When I click into the EISA 94MB system partition, I get the normal slashes.
>
> Is there a utility to copy the boot sector or to evaluation the boot sector,
> if this is my issue? Uniquely, I have another backup of two weeks ago that
> I've carried around in my laptop case so I could use this (#3) and copy it to
> HD#2 as a test?
>
> Anyone have any guidance here?
> Anyone think this is a laptop issue rather than a HD issue or ????
> Is there a way to save the registry etc off of HD #1 etc. to recreate it?
> I have previously downloaded some RoadKil files (bootbuild, diskImg,
> DskSpeed, RawCopy and SectEdit, fwiw, but I have not used them).
> TIA!!