NTLDR missing on Vista - and yes - i've looked at other threads already :)

So here's the issue. I recently installed a new hard drive with a clean
copy of Vista (32-bit). I only have one partition. It's been fine for
at least a month until this morning when I got the message that NTLDR is
missing and to hit a key to restart.

I never made a backup given that it's a new hard drive, so would really
like to not have to reformat the drive again as I have lots of new
files.


What I've tried:
1. I booted up from the installation disk - went to repair, and
a)repair startup problems (it found a problem and supposedly fixed it -
but still the same error msg and it no longer detects a problem); b)
tried to restore to an earlier system point. didn't work

2. 'Recovering the Vista Bootloader from the DVD - NeoSmart
Technologies Wiki'
(http://neosmart.net/wiki/display/EBC...r+from+the+DVD)

tried this, but got stuck at step 3 as i evidently don't have
bootsect.exe (tried the path given as well as looking in windows and
source directories)


--
abercrombie1000