Argh! Stoopid hard drive

[amanofgodforever]

When I turn my computer on, having just installed windows afresh onto this hard drive (*), I get this message:

A disk read error occurred
Press Ctrl+Alt+Del to restart

And it just stays like that, but everytime I restart or turn of the PC and turn it back on later, I get the same message. This HDD has never been used before, although it was bought about a year ago, just left in its original packaging, and has now had Windows XP Home Edition installed onto it (and all my files copied onto it!!!)

What needs to be done?
Cheers

* Details are as follows -
Manufacturer: Seagate
Product: Barracuda 7200.7
Model Number:ST340014A
Capacity:40 GB
Speed:7200 rpm
Seek time:11.5 ms avg
Interface:Ultra ATA/100

[pcdoc4christ]

Man of God:

It's likely NTLDR (a file Windows XP uses to boot to Windows) was damaged during the installation.  Try reinstalling Windows XP using the Windows XP CD.  Did you see this error during the installation of Windows XP, or after you installed it?  Were you ever able to successfully boot to Windows on this hard drive?

Doc

[amanofgodforever]

This error occured after I had installed windows. I had managed to boot up the drive a number of times. I then used it as a slave in my old computer to transfer my files across and then put it back in the new one as a master.

I am currenthold of the windows recovery console cd from anyone i know. The cd I used to load windows from, whenever I boot from that, doesnt seem to give me the option of the recovery console, it just wants to format teh drive and reinstall. This is not really an option atm seeing as I have just transferred lots of things onto it and dont want to lose them. (And yes I am learning the value of backing up things!)

Cheers for your help, can you recommend anything else or should I try and repair windows first and let you know how that goes?

Keep earnestly seeking our awesome God

[pcdoc4christ]

Man of God:

I'd recommend a repair installation (keep in mind that you will lose everything in your shared documents folder and have to reinstall most of your programs):

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;315341

Here is some info on installing and using the Recovery Console, however the option might not be available with your system restoration CD:

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;307654

Embrace the grace,
Doc

==========================

PS i will!

"What is more, i consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake i have lost all things.  I consider them rubbish, that i may gain Christ and be found in Him...I want to know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in His sufferings, becoming like Him in His death, and so, somehow, to attain the resurrection from the dead."  
--Paul (Philippians 3, verses 8-11)