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Can you see any of the folders on that drive? If yes, you can Take Ownership of them.
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You should be able to reinstall Vista, however, you should back up any files on the drive first, just in case. You can attach the drive to another computer to do this. You might consider making an...

What exactly happens when you try to boot the laptop? DO you get any error messages? Does anything appear on the screen?

Also, post the exact message you get when you attempt the repair?
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