The Total Commander utility also includes a pretty quick file manager with an integrated FTP client and compression software at your disposal. Start this program using the menu sequence "Go, Programs, Total Commander". Total Commander presents the contents of two disk drives, each in one half of its program window. You can use simple drag and drop moves to copy files from one drive to the other. For NTFS formatted drives, you'll also get a pop-up window that asks if you want to also "Copy NTFS permissions" - if you like, this lets you transfer the original permission settings along with the files. You can use this technique to rescue important files from a defective Windows installation and even retain secured copies of important documents on your USB flash drive. If you run low on storage space, use the integrated ZIP tool to compress files you want to rescue. Mark this files by pressing the [Strg] button.

Hard Disk Repair

If your PC won't boot, that might indicate a damaged or defective sector on your hard disk. Check the drive using the Windows Checkdisk tool, which is accessible on your flash drive through the "Go, System, Storage, Check Disk" menu sequence.

If you want to verify your PC's boot drive, enter "C:" when prompted to "Enter drive:". Answer the "locate sectors..." query by striking the Y key, to instruct Checkdisk to find defective sectors and attempt their repair. Strike the Y key one more time to launch the disk check. If repairs on damaged sectors fail, Checkdisk writes the readable contents of all such sectors to files, and stores them in the root directory of the checked drive. On a partially defective drive, there's still a good chance that you can save at last portions of the damaged files.

Rescue the saved files and sector images once the scan has completed by copying them to your flash drive. Should Checkdisk repair the defective sectors, you can keep using that disk drive. But should such problems recur in a short period of time, you'll want to replace that drive immediately thereafter.