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Rescuing Files from bad hard drive

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by sdhines3

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I have a laptop in which the hard drive needs to be replaced and its covered under warranty so I will send it back...But first..I want to save my files from it..specifically my photos...About a year ago a friend had a similar issue and to fix it I just popped in a SUSE live cd and copied her files to a usb stick...Problem is that I forgot how to do it...any suggestions...I havent snooped around in Linux for a while now( sadly) and I completely forgot where to look...

13 replies

by cmiller5400

This sounds fishy to me... If you did it a year ago, and you forgot, how did you learn it a year ago? That's your answer... Maybe.

by sdhines3

"This sounds fishy to me... If you did it a year ago, and you forgot, how did you learn it a year ago? That's your answer... Maybe."

As I said...I havent worked with Linux in over a year so I forgot...If you dont have anything productive to say then dont say anything at all...

by cmiller5400

[i]If you dont have anything productive to say then dont say anything at all... [/i]

I DID say something productive. I told you to refer back to where you learned it before.

But to make your life easier, look into [url=http://www.ubcd4win.com/]ubcd4win[/url]

by clarkd038

when you say it needs replaced, does this mean that (i'm assuming you are using XP)you can not even load up into the operating system.

There is the alternate route of getting a hard drive enclosure to extract the data.

But you should be able to use a live linux, in which you can access the HD, from there you shouldn't even have to use the command prompt unless you have to "mount" the thumb drive. And just copy the files over that you need.

I recommend the Hard Drive Enclosure as I am not a linux guy. It is easy to just pop the HD in and pull the info to another machine.

Hope this helps.

by bizzo

Don't remove the harddisk, as this may invalidate the warranty.

by the altruist

There are Windows Live CDs as well as Linux though Linux CDs are easier to acquire. Download a Live CD of your choice and burn it to CD. Boot from the CD, and navigate to your files on the Windows hard drive. It will probably have some funny name like /mnt/hda1 or /media/hda1. Bear in mind any Linux Live CD will need the NTFS drivers so just be aware that IT MIGHT NOT WORK. SUSE looks likes it will work, so stick with what you know.

by oh smeg

SUSE will do but I really would recommend that you remove the HDD fit it to a USB Caddy and plug it into another Windows Box as it's easier and as you have to pull the drive anyway it's easier for you.

If you use SUSE or any other Live Linux it may have some hardware issues and not work with your hardware which is always a Crap Shoot if you haven't used it previously. Just because it worked once on different hardware doesn't mean it will work this time on your Hardware. nd when you have problems with Faulty Hardware it's always best to remove that from the possible problem area.

As for the HDD what makes you think that it's faulty. Just because Windows no longer boots doesn't mean that there is anything wrong with the HDD you really should test the Drive with the Drive Makers Testing Utility. If you don't know who made the Drive then Seatools is always available and works with all HDD's.

It's available here to download

http://tinyurl.com/35d6lt

If you want to give Linux a go then the newest Distro available with the Best Hardware Finding is Mandriva so it's more likely to work with most commonly available hardware it can be downloaded from here

http://tinyurl.com/6sa9vz

If you knew Linux better it would be my first suggestion but as you don't I wouldn't recommend it as my first option.

Col

by sdhines3

Do I access the files the same way...mnt\hda1 etc....i really dont want to remove the harddrive because Im quite nervous removing one from a laptop

by dumphrey

/mnt/hda1 but no guarantee (sata drives now treated as scsi much like usb and mount as sd now instead of hd). Also, it shold put an icon on your desktop for the HD, at least ubuntu does. I have not used a Mandriva Live cd, just an install disk. As long as you do not try to save anything to the HD, only to the flash dive (most likely /mnt/sda1 or sda2 if your HD is sata) you should have no problems or worries about loosing data and feel comfortable to explore some. Live CDs a good tool for data recovery.

by oh smeg

But I do have a Live Mandriva Disc which I used the other day and it picked up a SATA Drive and placed it on the Desktop with no problems opening it and no need to mount it. As you said you don't know Linux that well I just thought this would be the way for you to go as it looks easy to use well the few days of testing that I have done with it at least was a breeze.

I was thinking about easy to use for the novice rather than anything else. I've been using Knoppix STD for the past few years for this type of recovery myself and you do have to mount the drive and USB Device. It's just with the little testing with Mandriva that I've done this wasn't the case.

Anyway Best of luck OH and pulling a NB HDD is easy you only have to remove a couple of screws up to four and with most models 2 screws to slip out the Drive & Rail and then 4 screws that connect the HDD to the Mounting Rails.

Col

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