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Problem with hard disk

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by pita_ruben

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Hello guys,

My problem this time is the following: I had a PC running normally with a hard drive Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 SATA 160GB, happens that I removed this HD and put it in a place in my office just to install a new one in order to evaluate a new OS in that PC.

Happen that after one month or so that I take the HD to install it again in this PC I was surprised that Windows stops and the PC restart itself over and over again in any F8 option available.

I tried R-Commander that I usually used to boot damaged OS, it fail, so I cant access the HD and I have very valuable information there that just cant afford to lose as my 6 years or so Music and videos collection.

What you suggest me to do in this case, what tool I could use to try to access and backup my info?

Thank you so much for your support.

Best regards.

11 replies

by peconet tietokoneet

Put your NEW hdd in and load on your flavour of Windows, when you have done ALL of the updates, drivers etc, etc, then shutdown your computer and put your OLD hdd into the case and copy all of your music and other data that you have on it from "My Computer" icon.
Please , please do a BACKUP of all of your data so you do not have this happen to you again. So remember, BACKUP, BACKUP, BACKUP. :)
Hope this helps you.

by pita_ruben

Thank you for you replay, the problem is I can only attach one drive at a time to that PC, its a Dell Optiplex 755 SFF, it only has a connector for one HD and one for the slim DVD Drive.

by michael jay

exact flavor of Dell, if the DVD drive is also sata, you should be able to connect you failing drive there.

by peconet tietokoneet

If you have then get a Powered USB/firewire caddy (external USB/firewire case) and fit the HDD into it. Make sure you read the important instructions first though.

by seanferd

Or connected in an external USB drive enclosure?

You can try entering BIOS setup to see if this drive is being properly detected. BIOS may also have disk-checking capabilities.

Have you tried entering recover console with the installation or boot CD / recovery partition?

This huge roadblock to troubleshooting is the default Windows behavior "reboot on failure", which does not allow you to see error messages. Since you cannot access the drive in any manner as a boot drive to change this setting, use the suggestions above.

Edit: Totally odd. I saw none of the previous reply posts when I posted. So my apologies for just being redundant.

by pita_ruben

Thank you to all of you guys for your responses. I just bought an USB enclosure box for 40 bucks and that made the trick,Im happily copying my files now.

Thank once again.

Best regards.

by oh smeg

http://www.seagate.com/ww/v/index.jsp?locale=en-US&name=SeaTools&vgnextoid=720bd20cacdec010VgnVCM100000dd04090aRCRD

Test your HDD. If ti fails the test remove it from this system fit it to another and retest.

If it still fails the Drive is faulty but if it passes the second Test the M'Board, Data Lead, Power Supply is faulty in the first computer and need attention as required.

As for your Data if the Drive is truly damaged and fails the Seatools Tests you should package it up and send it to your Preferred Data Recovery House and get them to recover your Data.

If you mess with this drive now and fail to get your Data off it you will increase the costs involved in doing a professional recovery and decrease the chances of having a successful recovery performed.

However if this data is just nice to have and isn't worth the $1,000.00 + involved for a Professional Recovery you can try a Data Recovery Application

Here is a short list of the better ones

http://tinyurl.com/273ay5

http://tinyurl.com/rmvrv

http://tinyurl.com/yvrsl

http://tinyurl.com/yyk8cm

http://tinyurl.com/382vm

http://tinyurl.com/ynwnel

http://tinyurl.com/nc4kx

http://tinyurl.com/2wox7l

http://tinyurl.com/374d8b

http://tinyurl.com/djw6u

http://tinyurl.com/f73se

http://tinyurl.com/8bd3f

http://tinyurl.com/afu2j

While the last 2 are from the same company they are very different products. Win Hex should only be considered foe use by someone who knows Hex Inside Out while Davory is a great cheap General Purpose Application.

Personally I prefer the On Track Option but it's anything but cheap. However because I use this type of software a lot it's paid for itself many times over by now, for a cheaper option Spin Rite from Gibson Research or Stella have both very good reputations by other TR members.

Col

by acidbomb

you could easily setup your OS again on the other partition of your HD without formatting or deleting your old OS Partition. then easily go into your new OS and Access your data. even if you have just one partition you could setup your new OS in the same partition as your old one but in another folder.

another way is to Boot from Live CDs or bootable version of some Operating Systems in removable medias like flash drives or... and access your files.

by john_east

..should by all means not create a problem.
The problem lies for sure not on your original hard disk. The BIOS can change automatically and does so when you insert a new hard disk configuration. If you have the original BIOS configuration for the original hard disk, you can reset the BIOS to the original settings, insert the hard disk - and it will run as before. Have you given this a try? Or have you already changed things on your original hard disk? - Well actually there are most likely already changes in the boot file of the orig. HD since Windows does this without asking. Use the Windows install CD, select the old operating system and select repair. The boot file will be reset to the original configuration. Tell me what happens!

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