Q. I am having boot problems with XP and several Recover command prompts are turning up bad results:
FIXMBR - " . . . The disk may be damaged"
FIXBOOT - "The boot sector cannot be fixed"
CHKDSK - "The specified drive is not valid, or there is no disk in the drive."
Also, I heard the hard drive clicking/crunching when I ran FIXBOOT.
So is my hard drive physically shot? How can I tell for certain?
P.S. - Luckily I had recently placed all of my valuable data on an external hard drive, so data recovery is not an issue for me.
FIXMBR - " . . . The disk may be damaged"
FIXBOOT - "The boot sector cannot be fixed"
CHKDSK - "The specified drive is not valid, or there is no disk in the drive."
Also, I heard the hard drive clicking/crunching when I ran FIXBOOT.
So is my hard drive physically shot? How can I tell for certain?
P.S. - Luckily I had recently placed all of my valuable data on an external hard drive, so data recovery is not an issue for me.
A. Find out the manufacturer and model of the drive. Then go out to the manufacturer's site. Look for a diagnostic utility that's usually a free download. Run a full test of the drive to be sure.
You can also try the drive in another PC as a slave, then run Windows scandisk on it, but the diagnostic utility is the most thorough.
You can also try the drive in another PC as a slave, then run Windows scandisk on it, but the diagnostic utility is the most thorough.
How can I retrieve data from my hard drive?
Q. I managed to spill iced tea all over my laptops keyboard the other day, but I pulled the battery out before anything short circuited. How can I get the data from my hard drive without turning the laptop on? Can I take out the hard drive and connect it to another computer? Thanks.
A. There are a couple of fairly easy methods but they require a certain degree of technical savy and the ability to follow instructions. This said--probably the easiest solution is the use a "Hard Drive Enclosure", Simply place the affected hard drive inside then connect to USB of another computer. This will allow the hard drive to be seen as a "mass storage device" and files can be accessed,
https://duckduckgo.com/?q=Hard+Drive+Enclosure
If you are using Windows--you will need third party software although if you are willing to use a version of Linux--there will be no need to purchase special data recovery software. Puppy Linux is often used by Amateurs and Pros alike to retrieve data from hard drives. I will give the basic instructions and locations to accomplish this task.
#1. Acquire the ISO of Puppy Linux--Go here ----> http://www.puppylinux.com/
#2. After you have downloaded the file it has to be burned to a disc. I think Windows 7 can do this but XP and Vista will need a special program outside of the Installed CD burner. Below is a link to a Good Free Utility that will do such.
http://download.cnet.com/PowerISO/3000-2646_4-10439118.html?tag=dropDownForm;productListing;pop
#3. Once the Raw Image of Puppy is burned to a disc. You are ready to recover the data. However YOU WILL NEED TO ALLOW PUPPY LINUX TO BOOT YOUR COMPUTER. Most likely the computer is set to start from Hard Drive. You can manually change the Boot Order to allow it to start from CD/DVD Drive.
#4. While your computer is running Place Puppy Linux in the Optical(Disc) Drive then Restart..Select Start from Disc Drive in the Start Up Options(BIOS). Then Reboot a 2nd time. Puppy will Boot the Computer.
#5. Select "Drives" from Puppy's Desktop Options/Icons and it will display the connected Hard Drive. Double Click and you can begin copying files from it to a flash drive or other external source that is connected.
Good Luck.
https://duckduckgo.com/?q=Hard+Drive+Enclosure
If you are using Windows--you will need third party software although if you are willing to use a version of Linux--there will be no need to purchase special data recovery software. Puppy Linux is often used by Amateurs and Pros alike to retrieve data from hard drives. I will give the basic instructions and locations to accomplish this task.
#1. Acquire the ISO of Puppy Linux--Go here ----> http://www.puppylinux.com/
#2. After you have downloaded the file it has to be burned to a disc. I think Windows 7 can do this but XP and Vista will need a special program outside of the Installed CD burner. Below is a link to a Good Free Utility that will do such.
http://download.cnet.com/PowerISO/3000-2646_4-10439118.html?tag=dropDownForm;productListing;pop
#3. Once the Raw Image of Puppy is burned to a disc. You are ready to recover the data. However YOU WILL NEED TO ALLOW PUPPY LINUX TO BOOT YOUR COMPUTER. Most likely the computer is set to start from Hard Drive. You can manually change the Boot Order to allow it to start from CD/DVD Drive.
#4. While your computer is running Place Puppy Linux in the Optical(Disc) Drive then Restart..Select Start from Disc Drive in the Start Up Options(BIOS). Then Reboot a 2nd time. Puppy will Boot the Computer.
#5. Select "Drives" from Puppy's Desktop Options/Icons and it will display the connected Hard Drive. Double Click and you can begin copying files from it to a flash drive or other external source that is connected.
Good Luck.
How to recover files from a hard drive?
Q. My external hard drive (seagent freeagent goflex 500Gig) doesn't work anymore. everytime i connect it to my macbook it says unreadable (ntfs) and i can't see the files. I think it is corrupted or something. I tried almost every data recovery stuff but nothing just seems to work! There a lot of bad sectors. I just want to know some software that can help me out for mac or something like that before i take it to a store. Please help me, thanks
A. Yeah,all your data is still store on the hard drive and you can recover your data with the help of data recovery software.I used 001 File Recovery to recover data from crahsed hard drive and it worked.You can download it and scan your hard drive for free to preview whether your data can be recovered.
http://search.yahoo.com/search?p=001+file+recover
http://search.yahoo.com/search?p=001+file+recover
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