Computer crash

[Mr. tech]

Well, my computer crashed today... First time since July last year. It's our business computer and has all our data saved on it..... Yes, I need a mac...

I'm getting this message:

Windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt: \WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\SYSTEM

My computer has been restarting automatically a few times last week which was probably the cause... I obviously took to long to look into it further...

Luckily I have a complete backup from a week ago and I can set the corrupt HD as a secondary HD to get all the latest data off... Fun fun fun!

I could just keep using the the backed up HD but it will probably only be a matter of time before it crashes again. I don't want to take that chance...

I'm thinking of buying a new computer (I'll make sure I get the most reliable hardware in there) and install a fresh windows on there. I would put all our data on there and then just leave it. I won't install software or anything. I'll just network it and access the files over the network on other computers...

What do you think of that idea? This way the registry etc wont get messed up from random restarts due to dodgey software or hardware...

OR

Should I buy a Mac and network it with my windows xp machines? Would that work just as effectively?

Thanks for your input.

[Trotter]

Do a repair on it. It sounds like a file or few got screwed, but not he whole drive.

Or, it you're backup is good, format, reinstall, then transfer your data, and make a new backup.

You can go with the Jobs cult if you want... but I wouldn't.

[Mr. tech]

But if I do a repair and it works, it will probably crash again down the track... Do you think setting up a computer to act as a server is a good idea?