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  • #2207118

    Hard Drive Needs TLC or RIP? Help I’m A Girl

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    by helpimagirl ·

    Hi I read your 200 ways to revive a hard drive and at about #15 my eyes started to glaze over and by #21 I was mumbling and drooling. Here are my specific bits of info regarding my problem…

    When I hook the newly failing or failed drive in as a slave (it has always been a slave there is no OS on it) I choose the boot drive and my computer reboots…The first thing I get on the iniial black page with white type that runs thru and detects and reports whats in your computer etc. is a “warning hard drive failure is imminent press F2 to continue) so I press F2 aND i get the initial windows screen and then when it transitions t what would normally be my user log in page it transitions to the black screen and then never comes back (thats what happens 9 out of 10 times) the 10th time iT BOOTS all the way …then when I go into my computer to see if the 500 gig drive (divided into 3 sections by me) i showing up there I see all 3 drive letters —-please note these were labeled with names as well like “Legal Archives” and “Music and Music Videos” etc. when I try to access these drives it tells me it’s empty and asks if i want to reformat or something ….this HD was almost full … I am a research attorney who researches and writes appellate briefs and petitions for review and this HD is very important and I need to be able to at least copy. Please tell me there is a magic software program I can run that will recover the data contained on this POS Maxtor HD. It feels like it’s doing something when i touch it. I have tapped it with the end of a screwdriver handle. also why won’t my normal drive with my OS system on it not boot everytime with the slave it seems like it should boot up everytime whether the bad drive does or not? Thank you !!!CJ

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    • #2833609

      Data Recovery

      by thechas ·

      In reply to Hard Drive Needs TLC or RIP? Help I’m A Girl

      First, technical questions should be posted as questions and not discussions. More of the people who are apt to answer your question monitor the questions section.

      As to your dilemma, it sounds like the data on the drive has value and you would be willing to spend money to recover it. In that case my best suggestion would be to research and send the drive to the data recovery service of your choice. Expect to pay a minimum of $200 if you limit the recovery to the most critical files. More if you want the entire drive recovered.

      The less you do to the drive the less work the recovery service has to do and the lower the cost to recover the data.

      As to the messages you are getting, the hard drive is reporting to the BIOS that it has failing. Your boot problems are from Windows attempting to access drives that are not functioning properly.

      To lessen your risk of loosing data in the future, invest in at least 1 external hard drive and use it to back up your data files at least once a week and any time you have completed a critical file update.

      It would be good practice to have a second external drive that you store in a secure location other than your home or office. Back up your files at least once a month. That way, in case of fire or theft, you have a set of backup files you can recover.

      Chas

    • #2833606

      Don’t try to recover the drive yourself…

      by nicknielsen ·

      In reply to Hard Drive Needs TLC or RIP? Help I’m A Girl

      …unless you are very comfortable working with computers and hard disks. You may not wish to spend the money, but my recommendation is that you take the drive to an accomplished technician or to a data recovery service to recover your data.

      If you decide to try recovery yourself, use the Maxtor PowerMax drive utility to troubleshoot your drive.

      Download the utility using the links on this page: http://www.tacktech.com/display.cfm?ttid=287#maxtor

      [i][b]Warning:[/b] It is possible for you to destroy the data on the drive when using this software.[/i]

      If you have a CD burner, I suggest you download the .ISO file. Burn it to a CD-R, then boot your PC with that CD. Allow the utility to detect and diagnose the drive unit. If it detects a corrupt partition table or master boot record, allow it to fix those issues. [b][u]DO NOT[/u][/b] allow the utility to reformat or otherwise change the individual partitions (drives) themselves.

      Even after using this utility, you still may not be able to recover your data. In that case, a data recovery service is your best choice.

    • #2833602

      The guys

      by shellbot ·

      In reply to Hard Drive Needs TLC or RIP? Help I’m A Girl

      have gave you sound advice..I’ve noting further to offer..

      However, please don’t embarrass both yourself and us by saying “I’m just a girl”..

      Just because IT is not your area of expertise, it doesn’t mean that you are incapable of doing it because your a girl.

      • #2833595

        That was my first response

        by charliespencer ·

        In reply to The guys

        What does gender have to do with this? It reminds me of that controversial ‘talking’ Barbie doll a couple of decades ago. One of her phrases was, “Math class is hard!”

        • #2833587

          That’s because

          by nicknielsen ·

          In reply to That was my first response

          she was having trouble reconciling six inches on a ruler and what Ken told her was six inches.

      • #2833585

        I think it is simply that

        by michael jay ·

        In reply to The guys

        she heard we like girls, even women in fact.

        • #2833580

          I’ll admit…

          by nicknielsen ·

          In reply to I think it is simply that

          My first response when I read the handle and saw the avatar was “You certainly are.”

          More acceptable thought processes resumed before I tried to enlarge the avatar! 😀

        • #2833579

          The prurient

          by santeewelding ·

          In reply to I’ll admit…

          I did squint, but thought better of my motives.

          I then elevated my thinking to her role as a research attorney, poring carefully through all that stuff — a most honorable, ancient, and necessary role.

          She appears not to have applied the same due diligence when having trusted all her good work to that artifice of the new-fangled.

          Occurs also to me: that stuff exists nowhere else but on her drive?

      • #2833498

        That’s right

        by jck ·

        In reply to The guys

        Women rule. Men drool.

        Speaking of…I wonder if she’s single. :^0 😉

        My advice:

        Don’t try to recover. Using a failing drive can cause damage if the write head is physically failing.

        Get the money together, and send it to a reputable recovery firm. They will go in and extract everything which is readable.

        Okay. Now. Back to being my normal, swillish, bad self. ]:)

    • #2838356

      You guys

      by shellbot ·

      In reply to Hard Drive Needs TLC or RIP? Help I’m A Girl

      are such neanderthals 😀

      • #2838333

        We’re neanderthals?

        by charliespencer ·

        In reply to You guys

        She comes in here asking for help because “I’m a girl”, and we’re the neanderthals? She practically hit herself over the head with her club and dragged herself into the cave by her own ponytail (complete with mastodon-hide ribbons).

        Grace Hopper’s spinning fast enough to power a Cray.

        • #2838328

          ROFL

          by shellbot ·

          In reply to We’re neanderthals?

          Ok, yes, I agree Palmy…

          😀

        • #2838261

          you guys are gonna scare her off…

          by jck ·

          In reply to ROFL

          Don’t ruin my chances! :^0

      • #2838262

        Nope, not neanderthal

        by jck ·

        In reply to You guys

        I don’t own a club.

        I don’t wear fur.

        I have lesser frontal cranial ridges.

        I can speak.

        I take baths. :^0

        • #2838241

          You keep selling that story.

          by charliespencer ·

          In reply to Nope, not neanderthal

          I can see the tracks in the dirt where you were dragging your knuckles. If you speak, it’s only because you’re a mouth-breather. Of course you don’t wear fur; you can’t kill a wardrobe if you don’t have a club.

        • #2838234

          Good one Palmie

          by tink! ·

          In reply to You keep selling that story.

          Got me giggling. Especially the [i]”Of course you don’t wear fur; you can’t kill a wardrobe if you don’t have a club”[/i]
          😀

        • #2838108

          That wasn’t my knuckles dragging the ground

          by jck ·

          In reply to You keep selling that story.

          :p :^0 ]:)

        • #2838092

          Well, reel it back in,

          by charliespencer ·

          In reply to That wasn’t my knuckles dragging the ground

          ’cause she hasn’t been seen since her initial post.

      • #2838229

        There comes a time in every woman’s life…

        by forum surfer ·

        In reply to You guys

        where she appreciates some neanderthal-ish behavior to an extent. That warm, sympathetic, caring, nurturing, sensitive to your feelings guy has to man up and take charge (from time to time you have to switch who’s running the show, of course) in the bedroom or things will get dull.

        🙂

        Just my 2 cents. Excuse me now, I’m off to drag my knuckles elsewhere!

        • #2838223

          Well of course

          by shellbot ·

          In reply to There comes a time in every woman’s life…

          I didn’t say men couldn’t be men..!!
          (it was the whole looking at her pic that i was refering to) 😀

          A guy who can’t man-up and take charge is useless. I don’t want someone more emotional than me hanging around all the time!!

        • #2838107

          Oh thanks, Shell

          by jck ·

          In reply to Well of course

          So, sensitive men who don’t go bossing a woman around are useless.

          Now I’m useless [b]and[/b] incorrect.

          I’m going to leave work early and go home and drink myself to oblivion.

          Christmas sucks. Bah humbug. :p

        • #2834295

          Its a fine balance JCK

          by shellbot ·

          In reply to Oh thanks, Shell

          Thats the trick, ya gotta know when to be sensitive..and ya gotta know when to take charge.

          Now see, don’t be so touchy..who said anything about being bossy 😀

        • #2834265

          There’s no center point on that balance, Shell

          by nicknielsen ·

          In reply to Its a fine balance JCK

          No matter what decision we make–sensitive or take charge–the woman involved will always tell us we’re wrong.

          Just stay in Al Bundy mode, guys. That way you’re only wrong half the time. 😉

          etu

        • #2834251

          paradox

          by david.lavie ·

          In reply to There’s no center point on that balance, Shell

          If a man says something and there’s not a woman there to hear it does that mean he’s wrong?

        • #2820787

          i just have bad days sometimes

          by jck ·

          In reply to Its a fine balance JCK

          I guess she’s not coming back either.

          Oh well. 🙁

          Anyone got a Guinness handy? :^0

        • #3023240

          I have a nice bottle of merlot!

          by forum surfer ·

          In reply to i just have bad days sometimes

          My one week this month on call…it figures. Lol, sitting at home sipping the leftover merlot straight from the bottle while the girlfriend whines about me being on call…and I’m whining about it too! At least I can fix all my issues via vpn, no hands on required.

          Happy New Year!

      • #2838191

        Yeah, so?

        by nicknielsen ·

        In reply to You guys

        You expected something different? ;\

    • #2838236

      Curious

      by tink! ·

      In reply to Hard Drive Needs TLC or RIP? Help I’m A Girl

      because I just had a similar situation. My kids’ computer wouldn’t boot all the way and was giving that “hard drive failure imminent” message.

      I ended up pulling it out and adding it as a slave on my PC. Once done I was lucky enough to be able to pull most of the data off.

      The thing with yours, although you say it always WAS a slave – it sounds like it’s trying to boot from that slave. Mine actually did the same thing. In order to bypass this I had to wait until my PC got past the inital boot screen (where it says press F2 to access Startup, etc) and THEN connect the slave drive before Windows fully loads.

      I do not however, recommend doing what I did, and I’d would urge you to follow the original responses you’ve received – take the drive in to a recovery service. Handling the hardware in this manner I described can cause all sorts of problems such as short circuits (which can then cause loss of data) and other catastrophies.

      • #2838235

        Boy, you scared the stuff out of me.

        by charliespencer ·

        In reply to Curious

        I’m so glad you added that last paragraph. Portions of me clenched when you described connecting that drive while the power was on.

        “Professional technician on closed network. Do not try this at home.”

    • #3023147

      Imminent failure…

      by smackwaterjack ·

      In reply to Hard Drive Needs TLC or RIP? Help I’m A Girl

      That same thing happened to me, someone told me to try the drive as a slave in another computer, telling me that some motherboards are more fussy than other. It worked–be ready to copy all the info off the drive then and there, you may not get another chance. If it doesn’t work, try it in yet another computer… . best wishes

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