i have a maxtor 80 gig hard drive, and recenly i left my computer to do something and when i came back it had rebooted and said that i have a corrupt or missing system file. i fixd that and when it rebooted it said that i have a corrupt or missing NTFS.sys file. i tried booting into recovery console but it skipped giving the option to boot into recovery console and goes right to the screen that says i have a NTFS.sys file. even worse its a self made computer so i dont have tech support. anyone know what to do?

Take a look at this link to the Hardware forum
http://www.gidforums.com/t-748.html.

k thanks ill check it out

Hope it helps

im just wondering i have that hard drive hooked up as a slave drive. im trying to copy the file that corrupt from the master drive to the slave when i do it says that it is has to be formated if i do all the data will be erased including the OS then i would have to buy a new one. im wondering if i could format then copy the entire windows file into the slave drive and then not need to buy a new OS.
Can I?

Did you read the forum i directed you too? Did you try RAM? Might save some problems.

It might be possible, I can't say for sure though because I haven't done it. The only thing I can think of that might get in the way is the registry settings and Service Packs/updates that are installed on your current "Master" vs the current "Slave". Anyone else have an idea?

Also, Microsoft isn't going to make you buy a new O/S cause your HD/Software crashed. Call them and tell them you installed a new HD and they will talk you through activation over the phone.