FR withdrawal!

8/24/02 | me

[Former Fetus]

HELP!

My PC is giving me an "error reading drive C" message and it won't boot. I have been told that the hard drive has kicked the bucket and all I can do is replace it. Fine, but I have oodles of my children's pictures in that hard drive!

I know, I know, I should have burned disks with those pictures, and from now on I will, but I'm devastated at the loss. Anytime I have asked a question in Free Republic I have got invaluable advice, so is there anything I can do before tossing the hard drive, and some very dear pictures, away?

I am sorry, I know this is not the kind of stuff you post in FR. Please, Jim, don't pull this thread. I'm just a mother who doesn't know where to turn for help. Thanks.

[Radix]

Is it a gateway?

[johniegrad]

Please. I'll only tell you this once. Log in!!

[longshadow]

do a web search on ["data recovery" + "hard drive"] and you should have no shortage on info about recovering data from a dead hard drive.

I don't expect that it will be cheap.

[chance33_98]

Replace it, put the old one in as drive D - try running Drive Rescue on it or check with the manufacturer's web site for disk recovery software. If it is getting the error during booting it may have some bad spots related to those areas of the disk only - if you hear a bad grating noise though...

[July 4th]

If your hard drive is truly shot, there are data recovery services that can get the info off of it for you.

A quick Google search reveals:

http://www.iomega.com/data_recovery/
http://www.datarecovery.net/
http://www.datarec.com/af501red.asp

Be advised that these services can be VERY expensive. A few years ago, I had a friend who had a regular IDE drive recovered for about $300.

I'm sure there are others here with better ideas.

[chance33_98]

PS - I have recovered several drives that have seemed dead by hitting them in the center gently with a hammer as a last resort. Got them running long enough to get the data off. Have managed to get this work in several dire cases for clients (mechanical parts can stick - but only do this in certain cases and if everything else has failed).

[dighton]

I have been told that the hard drive has kicked the bucket and all I can do is replace it.

Did you give Norton Utilities a shot?

If that failed, you might give Drivesavers a call. They're not cheap, but can often recover data from badly messed-up hard disks.

[Khepera]

I have had this happen before and I fixed it by using my boot disk to get started and reinstalling windows.

[Radix]

What has probably happened is that your cooling fan stopped working. That results eventually in the hardrive overheating. It is a common problem with Gateways as I have since learned. It is a design flaw, and I suspect an intentional one.
The plastic fan blades on my Gateway actually melted. I lost 20 gigs of precious Data (that is a lot). My computer was 14 months old. I replaced my hard drive, and I had to reinstall an Operating System (Windows). Due to the fact that my warrantee had expired I received little help from Gateway.
It wouldn`t have mattered if the warantee was still in effect. The warantees do not cover lost data. I also came to the conclusion that the Tech Support at gateway is abominable. I actually lost my cool with them via e-mail. I actually swore at them in my e-mail.
I do not know if that is what happened to your computer. I do know that there are services which provde data recovery. It can be very expensive. For me it will be quite a bit. I do not have the dough right now, but eventually I will get my data back.
I hope that it is less serious for you.

[Reeses]

Percussive maintenance sometimes works but with disk drives I would first remove it and twist it quickly a few times to cause inertia to move the disk platter. That twist has worked for me in some cases.

[chance33_98]

Good point.

[Vidalia]

First of all, DO NOT TRASH YOUR HARD DISK. If need be take is out of your case and replace it for now since they are reasonably cheap.

Your fats may be corrupted, but as long as the disk itself has not been physically damaged, it may be possible to recover your data, regardless of what file type.

Recovery of your pics depends upon what value you place on them, sentimental and financial.

Much like the recovery of the data on "black boxes" of crashed planes, there are public commercial outlets that may be able to recover your data.

You will need to do the research on who, what, when and where's in S. Carolina, but it is possible.

If nothing else for now, put the disk in a dust free non-metalic bag and save it for later technology, since it is a gold nugget for you...

[Vidalia]

I have recovered several drives that have seemed dead by hitting them in the center gently with a hammer as a last resort.

Well, uh, in that case it damn sure would be the last resort.

I smell a bit of horse jest, if not, maybe that's what your mom did to get you to make your first sound?

[TomGuy]

Boot up from a floppy. Then see if your system recognizes C drive. If so, then the FAT (File Allocation Table) may be corrupt, but you can still access much of the data.

You might have to try several times and even let the system sit (cool) overnite.

It could be a sector problem (a blimp on the disk platter) or a mechanical problem with the disk mechanism. Either way, the data itself may be recoverable. You might have to get someone experienced with such problems to recover your files/pics.

[Vidalia]

By the way, anything resembling F-O-R-M-A-T, FORMAT, or format is the dirtiest word found in the computer galaxy.

DO NOT FORMAT...

[Abcdefg]

You might also get into the BIOS (if you don't know how, don't try this) and let it detect the hard drive again. See what the BIOS says about it. If that checks out okay, boot with a floppy and run scandisk or chkdisk on the hard drive. If none of this makes sense to you, get a kid to help you.

[chance33_98]

I smell a bit of horse jest, if

No, it actually works. Last time I did this it was for an engineer who had a $45k program running on his system with ton's of data he needed. The program had to be installed by the manufacturer so he was looking at being down a few days and the thing was dead as a doornail. I took it out after testing, tapped it on the floor several times and put it back in. Worked - we got everything transferred and got rid of the drive.

I read about the technique in a book on hardware many years ago and have used as I mentioned in some cases. Have only had it not work once - but I only try when I can recognize the sounds made by the hard drive.

[dennisw]

Thanks for the advice! I have a dead HD I will try it on. It's making a clicking sound and the bios will not detect it.

[Vidalia]

Your problem is not a Gateway planned obsolescence, but a blame everyone in sight-thought. Your hard drive probably was recoverable, but you quickly blamed someone else...