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  • #2199120

    SATA hard drive problem

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    by msiemers ·

    I have a 128GB SATA hard drive. I ran TuneUp Utilities 2010 thorough drive analysis. This ran all night. When I checked it in the morning, there was some message about a Windows system file missing and to try using the XP CD repair option. When I tried that, it told me no hard drive is present. In both Hiren Boot CD and BIOS, the drive is detected. No physical errors were reported when I did different scans using Hiren. So I installed a spare IDE hard drive and got into Windows XP. I checked Disk Manager. The 128 GB drive is there. It is showing Healthy and 128 GB in the lower portion of the windows. However, in the upper portion it is showing only 10 MB with 10 MB free. Can anyone help? I just need to try to recover the data on it at least.

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    • #2840350

      Clarifications

      by msiemers ·

      In reply to SATA hard drive problem

      Clarifications

    • #2840345

      Why were you running drive analysis anyway ?…

      by older mycroft ·

      In reply to SATA hard drive problem

      Presumably there was a problem with the drive before, causing you to run this diagnostics program?

      • #2840332

        Why I was running drive analysis

        by msiemers ·

        In reply to Why were you running drive analysis anyway ?…

        Thanks for your reply.

        My customer reported that the computer was running slowly, which I confirmed. I used AVG to scan for malware, but nothing was detected. When I ran TuneUp Utilities, it informed me that there were file system errors detected and that I should run a thorough analysis (which required a reboot since it can’t be run in Windows – needs exclusive access to disk). I have done a thorough scan disk many times over the years but never had a hard drive crash as a result. Could it be that it got pushed over the edge – meaning it was on the verge of failure previously?

        • #2840330

          Yes it could have been failing and since died

          by oh smeg ·

          In reply to Why I was running drive analysis

          The only real way to check is to use the Drive Makers Testing Utility to test the HDD before it stopped working properly.

          But none the less I would be in the process of testing the HDD with it’s makers testing utility if for nothing else to see what is being reported.

          http://www.tacktech.com/display.cfm?ttid=287

          If you don’t have them all already. 😉

          Col

        • #2840211

          Will give it a shot

          by msiemers ·

          In reply to Yes it could have been failing and since died

          Thanks.

          I will try it and let you know what happens.

          BTW, I just found out from the customer that this happened twice before. She told me both times that a tech was able to retrieve the data. She thought that it would be fine if it happened again. She just didn’t want to mess with reinstalling her programs and uploading her files.

        • #2843117

          Sounds as if there is something seriously wrong here

          by oh smeg ·

          In reply to Will give it a shot

          If the drive fails the test remove it from this system and fit it to another system and test again. If it still fails the Drive is shot and going to [b]Silicon Heaven.[/b]

          But if it passes the second test the M’Board. Power Supply or Data Lead is shot and needs changing.

          As for her Data you should be able to recover it by fitting the Drive to a USB Adapter and reading directly from the HDD.

          As for repairing the system if you have a Real Copy of Windows as apposed to a Recovery Copy you can perform a In Place Install by following the directions here under Method 2.

          http://support.microsoft.com/kb/315341

          Cheers

          Col

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