More It Help

Gordon @ Convergent AV · 10-07-2006, 10:44 AM

OK,

My PC had a catastrophic hard disk failure last week. Came in and it was making really nasty screeching noises with blue screen of death....now it will not boot and when using recovery disks t says there is no hard disk....there is alot of data on it that doesn't appear to have been backed up to my off site backup. I may have to try to recover this data. So, has anyone got any ideas. Remember this is going to require removing a hard disk from a laptop and then using somehting to look for the data...all and any help gratefully recieved...in fact I may even send out some free calibration dvd's to anyone who comes up with something that works!

Gordon

Setenza · 10-07-2006, 11:00 AM

Gordon, sounds like the hardware is physically damaged and that the internal platters are fouling.

Remove the hard drive and install it in an external caddy/enclosure. These are easily availble from MISCO etc.

http://www.misco.co.uk/search/~drive...res~/index.htm

Then once you have the damaged drive set up as an external unit, attach it to another computer.

Now there are various tools that can be purchased that can assist in scanning and attempting to recover data from the damaged unit. Ontrack Data recovery have a selection of professional tools online. There are free trial versions but it may cost $300 for a fully funtional version.

http://www.ontrack.com/easyrecoveryprofessional/

Alternatively you want to go for the free ware options. Here are some that are available from PC Worlds web site.

http://www.pcworld.com/downloads/col...5,pg,1,00.asp#

It all depends on how desperately you need to recover your data. If this approach does not work then the only other alternative is to send the disk to a professional organisation such as Onrrack. They will remove the platters in a clean room and see if any data is salvageable. But it is a costly process.

I have some software myself that may be of use. PM me if you want to discuss this further. Good luck.

OldAndSenile · 10-07-2006, 11:01 AM

If you're lucky, it's only boot sector that's screwed and you can recover the data quite easily. However, the "screeching" doesn't sound good, and if there's a mechanical failure with the drive, professional recovery may be the only way to go...

If it's just the boot sector, what you can do is take the hard disk out of the laptop and connect it up to another PC/Laptop as a secondary device (you may need to change some jumper settings on the drive to do this, depending on the age or type of disk).

When you boot up this 2nd PC, you may be able to see the 2nd hard disk and perform recovery tasks on it you couldn't do when it was the primary disk. You may also be able to read enough of the disk to get the important stuff off it...

Gordon @ Convergent AV · 10-07-2006, 11:02 AM

Thanks,

I have downloaded a trial version of recovery software from stellarinfo.com Just wasnt sure where to get a laptopHD caddy thingy....will try now.

Gordon

Gordon @ Convergent AV · 10-07-2006, 11:09 AM

Any idea of what caddy I need for a Dell laptop Hard disk?

G

Gordon @ Convergent AV · 10-07-2006, 11:13 AM

Worked it out....2.5" ide drive caddy, is that correct?

G

Setenza · 10-07-2006, 11:19 AM

Yes indeed. Readily available from MISCO or Jungle or large branches of PCP World.

sue_hall · 10-07-2006, 11:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gordon @ Convergent AV

Worked it out....2.5" ide drive caddy, is that correct?

G

Gordon,

If the drive is a laptop drive then yes it will be a 2.5' IDE

Dave

sue_hall · 10-07-2006, 11:27 AM

Gordon,

Something else which may work which is a method I've used in the past.

Often it is not the drive that is knackered but the controller on the drive. If this is the case, then you can always buy a drive which is exactly the same then swap controller boards from the new one to the old one and wala working drive.

The fact that the recovery discs are not seeing a drive suprises me as it's a chip on the controller board which reports that info. If the platters had gone etc, the recovery discs would still detatct a drive, they just wouldn't be able to write to it.

If The recovery discs can't see the drive, that to me says that either the IDE port on the board has gone or the controller on the drive has gone.

If you go into the BIOS of the pc can does it autodetect the drive?

If you put that drive into another PC does it get autodetected?

Dave

Gordon @ Convergent AV · 10-07-2006, 12:02 PM

The Bios can't detect it. I haven't got the caddy to try it in another PC yet.

G

Nobber22 · 10-07-2006, 12:51 PM

Gordon: the adapters and caddies models can be hard to work out when you go online.

Make sure you get one which is 2.5" into 3.5" IDE.
Also known as hard disk mounting adapter.

Good luck. That screeching noise doesn't sound good.

Gordon @ Convergent AV · 15-07-2006, 4:08 PM

Thank you to everyone who contributed to this thread. I followed the initial advice and all is well with the world....

Gordon

Reign-Mack · 15-07-2006, 4:13 PM

If all fails you could try The Freezer Trick know a few people who swear buy it, including Rigid Mic.

NGD Boy · 15-07-2006, 6:03 PM

I had this exact same problem a week ago... blue screen and would boot up.... hard drive trashed somehow.... my son took it to his mates father and intalled new HD...£85 with labour... working fine now

GaryB · 15-07-2006, 6:08 PM

We haven't used a freezer but we have recovered the contents of a couple of failed HDDs from JVC Mini-Note PCs by popping them in the fridge for an hour or two. If there is a problem with the actuator or bearings, this seems to get them working for 10-20 minutes.

Gordon @ Convergent AV · 16-07-2006, 8:14 AM

OK I amnow considering getting the old laptop back working. The disc that came out of it obviously has some defects as I cannot write to areas of it. I can either reformat it I suspect or just get a new disc.

If I get a new disc would this be the correct type? I thought it'd be ide but all I see are ATA or SATA whatever that is...

http://www.misco.co.uk/productinform...%20ATA-100.htm

The linked drive looks like the old one but I want to be sure.

Also any ideas how to format a drive without putting it back in the laptop? Just now it's attached to my new laptop by USB port and caddy.

Gordon

Setenza · 16-07-2006, 8:31 AM

Gordon, the old drive thats currently in the caddy and attached by USB2, can be formatted via "Windows Explorer" (I'm assuming your using a Microsoft O/S).

Locate the drive then right hand click on it, and select the format option.

Alternatively, there are numerous hard drive preparation tools available. Here's a free one:

http://visopsys.org/partlogic/

You can remove all partitons, set new ones, and then do a comprehensive format with this utility.

However, if the hard disk drive is physically damaged, then formatting and re-using may not be appropriate. It may be wonce you've salavaged your data to ditch it.