User Panel
Posted: 1/5/2006 7:50:49 AM EDT
get any files off of it before replacing it?
Quick rundown: Neighbor called, said her Dell's hard drive took a crap. Dell customer svc is replacing laptop, but neighbor has files on there she needs. Any way to get them off? |
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depends on the condition of the drive. sometimes you can freeze the HD in a static bag overnight. then the drive could possible work long enought to get the data off. or if its not a drive failure, there is specialized software can retrieve the data. either way its not cheap
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Yes, usually when people say the HDD took a crap they just mean the main files did not load for windows.
Has she tried a repair yet? If yes and that didn't work then after she installs the new HDD also install the old one as a slave. Then boot up and just copy the old files from the old HDD if theyare still there. Otherwise, it gets expensive. |
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She hasn't taken it for repair since Dell said they'd replace it. IM to ya, DarkHalf. |
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Yes, if the hard drive still functions, put it in another working PC and copy files off of it. If it was a main head crash (If you hear a constant "Clicking" noise from the drive when the PC is on), it's a goner. the only way to have a chance to retrieve information in this case is to send it to a data recovery specialist who will remove the platters and manually retrieve data bits, with special hardware. This is UNGODLY expensive. I had to send one off for data retrieval 3 years ago, main head crash, and it cost about $3500. But plug it in to another working PC, if the drive is working and you have your jumpers configured correctly, the PC and OS will see the drive, and you can copy/move files. Don't forget to plug in the power as well as data cable to the drive. |
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If her problem is really that Windows is broken, then retrieval shoud be a snap. Just hook the drive up as a slave drive in a good PC, or even better, with an IDE to USB adapter. Then just pull off whatever files you want to keep.
If the drive itself has actually physically failed, then retrieval of some or all the data is still possible, but we're talking mega-bucks to a professional data-retrieval company. ETA: _DR beat me to it. |
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slave the drive and pull the data over.
if that does not work there is a program (software) called Winternals that will allow you to retrive lost data and even if it has been erased. a damn good program! I've used it when one of my drive DID crap out completely. I could not retrive anything with it being slaved. I used Winternals and was able to pull all the data I needed. |
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if the hard drive is not clicking you have a good chance of getting data off. if the laptop is complaining that there is "no hard disk found" then that is bad news. since it is a laptop hard drive, connecting it to a desktop PC will require an obscure adapter. 2.5" -> 3.5" adapter to be exact. if you can buy one locally, do it. otherwise go to Best Buy and purchase an external 2.5" hard drive enclosure kit. it is made by adaptec and should be in the hard drive aisle. you can take the hard drive out of the laptop and put it inside the enclosure. the enclosure then plugs into another computer via usb. good luck |
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And the exact opposite works sometimes too. My brother works for a company that uses a LOT of computers. He noticed an IT guy putting a hard drive in the trunk of his car one summer. Curious, (thinking the guy was probably permanantly borrowing it), my brother asked. Turns out thee was froze, and the summer heat in the trunk got them hot enough to work for a short time. |
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Thanks for all the help, guys. I think I'll have the Mr. slave the drive when he gets back in town tomorrow. Neighbor said she doesn't hear clicking, so hopefully this will work.
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that's funny heat is one of electronics worst enemies. but hey anything is possible |
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Not anymore. I had a 200Gig external drive take a dump while traveling on vacation. I had a lot of photos on it, including the only copies of pics from the delivery room of my son. It was even clicking! I would have paid anything to get it back... but found some retrieval software that cost $129 if you're honest, or you can grab it from a file-sharing program. I got EVERYTHING back with it. Stellar Phoenix Data Recovery Software I highly recommend keeping a copy of this around. Their CD recovery tools look cool, too. |
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Sig line material right there.............. |
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Mine crashed the other night as well. I took it to the Geek Squad at Best Buy. They are doing a raw file recovery for me. Dell is sending me a new drive.
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I had mine go down, and was quoted $800.00 to get the shit off.
I lost a lot of family pics and music |
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Dude. I was just thinking "This thread is getting along so well without someone saying something like "Hehehehe, your hard drive went down on you? GET IT??? PS Post pics hehehehe!" |
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i use that software everyday |
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Notebook to standard size IDE Cable adapter w/power: $20
Software: If you don't come up with something, IM me, I have a couple links for freeware somewhere, google "Ultimate Recovery CD", it is a linux based boot CD that will grab all the bits of the drive that are readable, and it is free. I gotta look around to find the name of the other one. If the drive doesn't feel like it is spinning (you'll know, touch lightly with fingertip when powered on), put in freezer in bag (no condensation when you take it out), plug it in, lightly tap sides/top if it isn't spinning, once it spins up, you might only get one chance to copy things off of it. If it does spin up and doesn't make grinding noises (head crash), it is probably the controller board. Swap out with another drive's (the green thing on the bottom, don't open up the metal!) of the same make/model and that will do it. When a drive just goes "Click...Click...Click", it is usually the board, a new one will make it work fine (freezing might "shock" it into working as well). I haven't had a drive I couldn't get most everything back from, finding somebody with the right controller board is hard, so I keep dead drives and steal the boards off of them. Only time this won't work is when the head breaks loose from the armature, which then is like running a key down your car, but inside the drive on one or more platters instead. You can still recover portions, depending on the software you use. |
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Theory being that whatever lubricant was inside got hard. Heating it helped loosen it up. Yes, heat is bad for electronics, but drives are built to handle it. It isn't as if I suggested putting it in the oven at 500F. |
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Mines easy. I do monthly Ghost backups, drive can go tits up, what do I care? At most I lose 1 months worth of data
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Here's a product that I've found very useful for accessing old data off of an internal drive without having to reinstall the old drive. It's just an empty box with the right wiring to quickly plug the old drive into the adapter. The adapter then is connected to a PC by a USB port and transfer the files.
www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=6991605&type=product&id=1099392683637 |
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You know, I never would have thought that sounded even remotely bad. Perv. |
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Neighbor's(sure)....hard drive(we really know what you mean)...went down(Jason having problems).
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those enclosure's go bad more often than hd itself |
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SP1grrl, if you're "near" Carrollton, TX, Altex might stock what you want. Here's a link to what I believe will work. It's listed as a 2.5" hard drive adapter kit, complete with brackets and cable & power adapter. Call em to make sure they have it in stock.
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Burn some $$$ and say a prayer. The same result as data recovery will be obtained.
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You misunderstand. If the drive HARDWARE has failed, no software can retrieve anything as the drive cannot function, no data can be read in that state. Software data retrieval can only work if the drive is functioning from a hardware standpoint, even if the file system, individual drive sectors, or even the BIOS has failed or been corrupted. This is a different issue altogether. If the drive is clicking, it may not have crashed the main head yet, but failure is likely impending. If your main data reading head has crashed, THE ONLY way you will get data is to remove the data platters, throw away the remainder of the drive, and use special data readers that cost tens of thousands of dollars to extract the data bit by bit. Often times even this fails if the drive was left on after it begins clicking (head failure) because it drags accross the surface of the platter disrupting whatever data survived the initial failure. Only if it is shut down right after failure is there an excellent chance of data recovery. We are not talking "Software" anything in this case. |
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that was an OLD fix for the older drives with stiction problems don't try heat on a current manufacture drive. if you get it hot enough to make a difference you'll probably be using a torch and will warp the platters. |
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Your HARD DRIVE went down.......on who?
My, my; they just keep putting delightful new features in those things don't they? |
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+1. And boy does that shit get expensive. Clean room fees. Software and data fees. Parts hunting fees for obsolete drives. Extra special payment because you need them to try their damndest to get this specific information. |
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I use knoppix to scp (secure copy) the files to a linux server on "took a crap" systems several times a week. But in a Winblows only world I'd have no clue unless the freezer trick works. Before anyone asks. I do have a linux server at home too. |
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Get one of these. It will allow you to connect the old notebook hard drive to a desktop computer IDE cable. If the drive is still functional, it will show up in MY COMPUTER when you boot up. You can then try to copy the files off of the notebook drive to the desktop drive. Possibly the drive will work long enough for you to copy the files you need. If it does work, it may run very slow, so be patient.
Then burn them onto a CD or use a USB memory stick etc. to get them onto the old notebook that has the new hard drive in it. Link |
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tag
Have a work HP Tablet PC reporting bad blocks and crashing on a regular basis. have a new dell D610 laptop on order, but not sure if it will come in time as well as need various ways to transfer data also. everytime i try to run various backup software (retrospect, windows backup, etc.), they all fail at somepoint with a HD issue. I did get HP to send me a replacement drive so i might try ot ghost it (just orderd ghost 10.0, not here yet) and atleast have some stable hd to run from. Suggestions? ETC: Also any suggestions on a tool to wipe the old HD clean as well as the replacement HD when i turn in my old laptop? |
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That's just the power cable adapter pictured above, not the IDE data cable adapter, you would still need tthe data cable or the drive will have power, but no ability to transfer data. You won't find a USB memory stick that can hold the contents of a 20 GB hard drive, and you might not be able to break up files. CDs only hold 650-700 MB. Much easier to transfer files via network share/ethernet. |
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+1, sometimes. I had students hardrives in the freezer right now. |
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spinrite 6.0 from www.grc.com if it's not mechanical. I've had great success to get it to spin up ONE last time by banging it gently against a rubber mousepad on a table 2-3 times (not hard, kinda like a drop from about 8 inches). Whatever you do, don't turn off the power once you get it running one last time. Boot to dos, load DOS net drivers and offload stuff to somewhere else. Don't boot to windows because if it encounters a bad spot, win will lock up and you'll be screwed and forced to recycle the power. Freezing? IMHO NO! That just introduces moisture into the drive's internals and gunks up the oil on the motor's spindle. |
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Looks like it's everything to me. They sell it at Altex Electronics stores, which is what I linked to above also. 15 bucks is cheap to get the data off the drive if it's still accessible. Just plut that adapter into the drive, plug the power cord into a spare power port, and the IDE cable from the host machine into the adapter and bang. Good to copy over. And copying files directly off the hard drive (installed in a host machine) is MUCH faster than doing so over a network (which she wouldn't be able to do anyway, since the HD took a crap). |
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Now that I look at it, you are correct. The pinout from the stock drive include the power contacts so they broke it out into a molex. My apologies. |
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