Hard Drive failure?

[PierBridge]

Does anybody have any ideas how to retrieve Hard Drive info my friends Hard drive will not boot it says "hard drive Failure back up all data" Hard Drive error 0.

I'm heading over to throw the drive in my external encloser and see if I can get it recognized, she did get to boot in safe mode once but she just gets the error message.

Sounds like a boot sector failure?

Best Buys Geek Squad quoted her $550 and no guarantees....ouch.

Thanks Pier.

[upnorth]

You could attach the hard disk as a secondary disk to another runable PC and see if you can access it that way. If she got it to load in safe mode it could be that some of the Operating System (Windows) files are hosed and that the data maybe retrievable.

[Whoaru99]

If it's truly a disk failure so that it's not possible to slave the drive, then $550 is on the low side from my experience.

I checked into professional data recovery once for a friend who's drive fried. The estimate was $1000 to $1500 to recover their valued family pictures. As much as she was bummed, she didn't think $1K was worth it.

To everyone, myself included...

Take the time to back up your important stuff (pictures, letters, etc) on a regular basis.

There are some freeware, shareware, or purchase software utilities that can help, but it depends on the nature of the drive failure. Look on C-Net downloads for starters.

[311Hemi]

If the drive is still being recognized there is a chance to get the data back. Let us know if you can get into windows with the drive showing (slaved to good PC). If so easy to copy files/folders to good drive if they are showing.

If the drive shows in windows with a drive letter but no file system is present (no files or folders show) it's possible you may be able to recover the data or some of it. I may be able to help in that case.

If the drive is physically dead and not spinning...you will need to get it to data recovery place (not cheap!).

It all depends what exactly happened to the drive. I have software that is used to recover data called On-Track data recovery...but it's not cheap.

[perchking]

Get one of these, I am an IT Director and it has saved my a$$ many times...

USB IDE ADAPTOR

[MNmikew]

Quote:

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Get one of these, I am an IT Director and it has saved my a$$ many times...

USB IDE ADAPTOR

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Yup. Saved me from losing all my pics once. I bought a USB-IDE enclosure for about $30. Put bad drive in enclosure and hook up to a good PC with USB.

[PierBridge]

Thanks guys I'm heading over to work on it if I can't get it to boot I'll throw it in my external HD en-closer and hope for the best.

I've told her and others a thousand times take the 5 minutes and back up your files regularly.

Thanks again.

[PierBridge]

Update.

I do have the drive recognized in my en-closer it is spinning and making some loud clatter however when trying to access the documents folder "IMPORTANT STUFF" its empty or an inaccessible error, also having problems stopping drive in device manager.

53 gigs out of an 80WD of important work data along with pictures and music.

I guess I'm mildly encouraged at this point and I'll continue to putz with it at home.

I don't think the jumpers are a concern as I have the drive recognized any other ideas appreciated?

Thanks Again.

[311Hemi]

Quote:

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it is spinning and making some loud clatter

53 gigs out of an 80WD of important work data along with pictures and music.

I guess I'm mildly encouraged at this point and I'll continue to putz with it at home.

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Jumpers should not be a concern if the drive is recognized and you have access to the contents of the drive.

Sound like the drive is taking a crap if it's making clunking noises. Continuing to run it could further damage it....so I would ask if they are at all thinking about otherwise sending off to some company to possibly spend a lot of money to receover (if possible).

If they are not planning on sending it off, and you can't get access to the "important stuff" after fiddling with it more. This On-Track may be able to help recover it if the drive hold up and the data has not been corrupted.

I have recovered data from noisy drive by sticking them in a freezer for an hour or so and then hooking them up again. Sometimes you can get the hardware to hold long enough while cold to access the data before the drive is fully warm...but that all depends on the issue.

[Whoaru99]

Quote:

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Get one of these, I am an IT Director and it has saved my a$$ many times...

USB IDE ADAPTOR

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Just bought the Vantec version from New Egg. $24.95 shipped and it has adapters for notebook and SATA drives in addition to the normal sized IDE drive stuff. Works good.

[PierBridge]

Thanks Hemi and everyone else, she is not going to spend a lot of money on this for sure, the Freezer trick is already on my list and I'll poke around for On-Track.....frustrating once it popped and I saw the Folders I thought I had it....

Thanks Much....Pier.

[Whoaru99]

I had one drive that seemed to only work with the USB adapter (one I had borrowed) when the drive was in the cable select setting.

If you haven't tried all configurations (MA, SL or CS) might want to give that a shot.

[PierBridge]

Thanks Whoaru99 good idea.....

I think I may try throwing it in an old PC I have laying around collecting dust and trying to boot it also.

I wonder if she had this password protected and that is causing me not to be able to access the Doc folder the entire freaking drive is showing up?

[IndyEFI500]

I once got one to live for a few days by heating it up pretty good with a hair dryer and then slapping in the freezer. If you try this, be careful of frost and moisture. It worked long enough for me to get a few more files off that drive but I still lost some. Of course that was literally the one time that I hadn't backed up. I am a amateur geek and store all my pictures and important data in two or three different places on my home network.

[PierBridge]

Windows Can't find the drive anymore.....I figured when I got lucky and found the drive at her place it was a one chance deal..I get about 2 minutes of double clicking chatter and then nothing, it finds the usb case but thats it.

Oh well! it Could have been big points for me...