My PC crashed, how do I get my stuff off the HD ??

About a week ago my 2nd pc fell apart on me. When I turn on the pc it just beeps, no boot, nothing on the screen. Dell gave me a new HD, but I have ALOT of important stuff on the old HD. How do I get that stuff off the HD?

Thank you for the help.

 

I assuming you have two choices:

1. Fix the computer in which the HD is located.
or
2. Take out the HD and install it in a working computer to copy the data.

I know not much help, but you really do not have alot of room to innovate.

 

That pc has already been fixed. But when I put the old HD in there it wont boot.

 

Install both and boot from the new/working one. Then, you can copy the data from the non-working HD to the working HD.

 

yea just put the h/d with the information on as a slave drive and try to access it that way

 

I did that, the pc won't boot with the bad drive connected.

 

Did you change the jumper of the old one, to the slave position?

 

Provided everything is correctly set up, there is another option available. Boot into a "Live" version of Linux and recover the files that way. I would recommend Knoppix for file recovery.

 

Failing all else, you could try sealing the HDD in a bag and putting it in the freezer.

http://articles.techrepublic.com.com/5100-6255-5029761-2.html

Or replacing the onboard electronics with those from an identical drive.

 

If the PC doesn't boot with it connected it could well be a failed drive, so you may need to have it recovered if you can't get the data off, which is expensive. You could try a home-bodge repair job, but the slave drive needs to be ABSOLUTELY IDENTICAL to the failed drive, and if it ain't, good luck getting your data back! You could still try putting it in an external enclosure and seeing if it works, it's possible, though unlikely. External boxes are quite cheap.

 

I've never used linux, and I don't know what live is. How do I do it?

I don't know about putting it in the freezer.

How do I try to repair it at home, and why do the drives have to be identical?

 

no74
I take it you ahve XP?
Do you ahve a CD/dvd drive?
Do you have XP running on a diffrent HD?
Dose the HD power up and sound like its spining/movieng inside?


repalce the CD/DVD with the old HD then boot it up wth it on a diffrent IDE channle it should coem on with no trouble if it powers on but the bios cant find it then go into XP theres a 50/50 chance it can find it.


If the HD is still not found remove the jumper from it and try again I ahve ran into a few HDs that thier master jumper hates soem mobos also it can hate the slave jumper as well.


if you cant boot the drive up doing this..it might be dead....

BTW this should work for lunix/unix or even mac *L*

also I would advise to let XP/whatever scan for errors befor you dig your files out if the drive is damaged have it scan the sectors as well.

 

If the drive circuitry has failed and you're swapping it, you need to replace it with circuitry thats the same or it won't find the drive, or worse... I wouldn't bother with Linux, if windows can't read it that's that. You can connect it with an external box and your PC boot up ok. If the drive gets recognised but you don't see the data, you can use a program like Acronis to try and get your stuff back. Listen to the unit when it powers up. If it makes unhealthy noises, or no noise at all it's probably done for. If it spins up and then grinds for a brief moment it should be ok physically (not always).

 

@sammorris
I hate to disagree with you, but Linux can read drives that Windows will not read or even see.

@no74
A LInux "Live" version is one that runs off of a CD. You download the ISO file and burn it to a CD. Then boot from the CD. It installs nothing on your system.

 

Well by all means try Linux, particularly a Live version, but my experience with it has been quite the opposite, not noticing drives Windows can see, not noticing the partition for windows on the same drive as Linux is installed.

 

dolphin2/sammorris

not to sound dim but...mmm wouldnt it come down to witch Linux version/driver you are useing?

 

Potentially, but they're all based off the same idea, so I would have thought Hard disk recognition would be quite similar across the board. I used Suse 9.

 

dolphin2

XP is pretty good at finding a drive where it can read it 100% of the tiem is a diffrent thing but finding it shouldnt be a problem becue I ahve had a few HDs to not show on the bios yet show in XP 0-o

how easy is it to find a live drive linux?
can it read NTSF??
if it can I might start useing that as a file mover /copier/disk checker *L*


sammorris
^^

 

I don't know, I really couldn't get the hang of Linux so I didn't bother reinstalling it on my current PC. Drivers are what bug me, they're needlessly difficult to install.

 

sammorris
thant and DX for gameign has kept me from messign with it >>