Is it safe to restore the Windows.old folder?

BACKGROUND:

I have a Dell Studio 540 in Windows Vista Ultimate which suddenly crashed, then wouldn't restart, saying: "no available boot device." Apparently, the hard drive boot sector had been corrupted. After of the painstaking efforts to save as many as possible training and have unsuccessfully using CHKDSK or Seagate tools to repair the drive, I finally resorted to a clean reinstall using the Dell OEM Windows Vista reinstallation disc. I chose the option to move all old files/folders in a folder Windows.old and I am now able to start Windows. However, all settings prerequisites, programs, files and folders from the previous installation are still in the Windows.old folder. For now, I run a full CHKDSK again (and he says 'Corrupt file attribute Deleting the file record segment X X' so I hope that some repairs happens)...
But what I would do, if possible and if it will not cause problems, use the instructions in this MS support article "how to restore a computer to a previous Windows installation after you install Windows Vista." But before I do that, my question is the following:
QUESTION:
If I had to do a reinstall of Vista due to damage/corruption of the hard drive, and if all what information has been moved to the folder Windows.old during this process, is it possible that restore the folder Windows.old to the previous installation would restore any damage/corruption existed, thus causing the problem to return or make things worse? Or should I not worry about the restoration of the old "problem"?

Hello

You can use the restore feature if the previous installation was good.

It is not in your case; If this isn't an option for you.

You can use the windows.old folder to retrieve your data.

http://support.Microsoft.com/kb/932912

But the programs must be reinstalled form the original media.

And when you're done with the windows.olf folder you can delete.

"How to use the disk cleanup feature to delete the Windows.old folder after you install Windows Vista"

http://support.Microsoft.com/kb/930527

And it is perhaps an idea to run Dell Diagnostics and eventually replace your drive hard if it comes up with errors.

http://support.Dell.com/support/eDOCS/systems/WS340/en/UG/DIAGS.htm

See you soon.

Tags: Windows

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