Talk to me!!

We have a Dell Laptop thats shit itself. Looks like the HD has failed. Whats the deal, can anyone retrieve the info/files from it?

 

Be more specific, when you says 'Shit itself'. Do you mean it won't boot your operating system?

 

Just restore the lost files from your backups. Coz you do backup dont you?

 

take hd out and connect as slave to another pc and copy files of

 

Or boot it from cd using knoppix and copy the files off. Knoppix is an OS that runs from memory so if Windows is corrupt you can boot it this way

 

No good if the HDD has failed is it.

Need to determine what is actually wrong with it first.

 

Is it spinning up? It is making a 'clunking' noise?

 

On booting up, you see the Black Windows screen for about 1-2 seconds before it goes to a blue screen which says :-

"A problem has been detected and windows has been shut down to prevent damage to your computer...... etc etc"

We have two identical laptops and swapping the hard drives over moves the problem.

These laptop HD's are not like PC ones and the laptop can only take on HD I think. I did think about booting the machine, then trying to browse the HD.

 

You can get a USB to laptop HD converter for a few quid.

 

If the hard drive is fried, then you got no chance of recovering files from it, unless you have got the skills and tools to take out the ceramic disc inside that contains all the data. and also if you had a password on it, it could prove to be quite tricky. If there was no password on it, and its not the actual hard drive thats fried, the cheapest and easiest option would be to get a portable 2.5" hard drive caddy, which can take the harddrive, and plug into another pc/laptop, and extract the files. Just be aware that some caddys can only take up to a certain size hard drive, and also some laptop hard drive caddys will not connect to a pc, only other laptops (could probarbly be fixed with updated drivers). You can pick up 2.5" caddys for £3 or £4 plus postage from fleebay.

 

Being a dell I guess the laptop drive has a flat connector. That just unplugs to show the pin for a 'normal' laptop HD connector

 

Sorry, one more thing to remember is there are 2 types of laptop hard drive, newer 1s have SATA connection, and older 1s have IDE. Some caddys have both connections, but some are 1 or the other.

 

You could just send the drive to me and I'll recover all the important files for you and put them on a USB flash drive (as well as look for naked pics of Beccy )

 

Have you tried booting up in safe mode, or go to last good configuration?
If Windows XP is the only operating system installed on your computer, booting into Safe Mode with these instructions.

• If the computer is running, shut down Windows, and then turn off the power
• Wait 30 seconds, and then turn the computer on.
• Start tapping the F8 key. The Windows Advanced Options Menu appears. Ensure that the Safe mode option is selected.
• Press Enter. The computer then begins to start in Safe mode.
• When you are finished with all troubleshooting, close all programs and restart the computer as you normally would.

 

Windows Vista is similar to Windows XP for starting in Safe Mode.

• Turn the computer on or Restart the computer
• Start tapping the F8 key. The Windows Advanced Boot Options Menu appears. If you begin tapping the F8 key too soon, some computers display a "keyboard error" message. To resolve this, restart the computer and try again.
• Ensure that the Safe mode option is selected (the top option)
• Press Enter. The computer then begins to start in Safe mode.
• When you are finished with troubleshooting, close all programs and restart the computer as you normally would.

 

Okay so the hard drive is fine, its just data recovery you want.

Very very easy when you know how, so don't pay someone lots to do it for you as its an hours work at most.

 

could always try the old freezer trick!! for a 1 time boot

 

???

I've since been to Maplin and bought a USB device that allows me to plug the drive into the normal PC.

It's saying that the drive is 'corrupt or unreadable'.

 

then the drive is indeed fooked, give up and learn a lesson for next time about backups

 

bugger i just sold a brand new SATA 80gb on ebay for £20 aswell.

 

The drive is not fucked. The data on the drive is corrupt, but how much is unclear.
You need data recovery as I said.

 

Mr C,

I apprecaite that my phone isn't working but still, you could of dropped me a PM

Try the above with regards to safe mode, once you have pressed on the power / on button tap the F8 button to get the options up, press the down arrow to safe mode and then press enter. If it get's into safe mode you can copy your files across the network or backup to a USb drive.

If it still give's the old "A problem has been detected and windows has been shut down to prevent damage to your computer...... etc etc"

Then you could try the repairing windows XP thread in the Computer discussion section if you have the cd.

The Mrs is going to visit her old man in Tittleshall at the weekend which is 20 miles away from APT according to Autoroute so she could come get it or meet you if need be.

 

We use the USB > HD thing daily, and unless its showing as a drive, its fooked as far as the easy option.

If the data on the drive is invaluable, then it requires the platters taking out the drive and data taken off that way.

VERY VERY costly.........

 

Funny that I have a dell desktop which shows the same screen sometimes straight away and some times its ok for 10 or 15 minutes then it happens. This startde less than 2 months after warranty ended aswell.

 

Data Recovery

http://www.majorgeeks.com/downloads38.html