United3dArtists Archive

MY COMPUTER IS OUT OF ORDER WITH ALL MY WORK!!!
Is there anyone in this community who has an idea to do with a hard drive which has crashed. Has got estamated cost to recover the information between 250 and 1000 Euros depending how much is destroyd. Is there an other solution to the problem?

difficult to say without the possibility to study the problem.
If the problem is only the FAT you can try to use different software. if the hard drive have the OS, you need before to connect the hard drive on a computer as a second device to try to find error.
if the error is physical, the price to recover the data can be huge, it depend of the size of the hard drive and the importance of the problem.
in any case, DON'T FORGET TO CREATE A COPY OF YOUR DATA ON ANOTHER EXTERNAL DRIVE REGULARLY!

Damn, I know how that feels. If you're not sure what the problem is, just check if you can access your files using a different OS. I have UBUNTU installed on a small USB Flash-drive and I can just launch it whenever my operating system isn't working. However if there really is something wrong with your drive, as Marcel said, the cost can be huge to recover lost data and there is never a guarantee that you'll get it back.
I strongly recommend you to buy an external HD (preferably a 1TB so you wont run out of discspace lol, it happens more often than you think)
I myself have a 1.5 TB Western Digital, it's great for storing files that take up a lot of disc space and the price is one of the best.

What happened exactly?? That was physical or software problem?

What I do when I suffer this indignity and I have to get something off the old drive is ......

1) Install new HD in machine, install OS.

2) Use a Sabrent 5 in 1 cable to connect the old drive to the PC via USB. These cable can be had from $10 to $35 depending on who you buy it from.

3) Look at the old drive to see what I can get back if I can see the drive at all. Usually the Boot sector is toast but the PC can read the FAT on the old drive.

When you have this all hooked up you can also run disk recovery utilities to try to get back the data that the OS cannot immediately read.

If the Boot sector is the only thing lost you should be able to read all of your data.

After you recover follow the sage advice you have already received....

Good luck

in the worst case, there are professional companies, that are able co completely dismount the harddrive and get the data out. They are well equipped to do miracles.

if its not to serious, you can do it yourself:
in case of electronics fault, you can get a very similar or the same model of HDD and change the electronics board of the HDD
in case of software fault there are dozens of programs, that can analyse the disk. The severity can be very low or very high. Like recovering only part of format (partition table, master boot record etc.) or it can be very severe that you need to do some deep analysis. Be carefull every program works better for something else. One can save on problem but is not good to solve another.

rule 1: DONT EVER TRY TO WRITE ON THE DAMAGED DISC, READ ONLY!

I cant remember the names of software that proven themselfs well, so I can look at home. Now iam at work.

I am thinking of the same solution as you vr3d3. Wiser of what happend i have bought 2 harddrives. I'm putting them in RAID configuratione. Two discs with the same information. If any of them crashes the information is still there. I will then se if it's possible to get the info from the chrashed HD. I have found a Linux based OS Knoppix whixh I shall also try to use,

The error code is windows/system32/config/system

Next, smoke the motherboard and you'll be in the same boat I am!

Hi all i think my sons pc is cooked .it wont load ,all
i get is the side where it says Press <tab> to switch to bios .
it hangs there and i can do nothing to get farther
any ideas . i tryed with original window disc still nothing.
help please or tell me the worst

HI all i just put the norton internet security disc in and it booted ok
thank god for that

Tommy:
when do you see that error regarding windows? Does this mean, you have already connected the bad drive and another in the RAID configuration, and have the Linux OS installed? Because, if that's the case, perhaps windows is just FUBAR? Well it is anyway but you know what I mean.

Pugman:
When you press Tab, do you actually get to the BIOS page? Or not?
I have had that problem; I have had to turn off the PC, let it sit, and reconnect the hard drive cables to the motherboard. I had to do that several times with one computer here. I have not had that problem in quite some time but it's a real pain in the ass to deal with it though. It takes a few tries and it finally starts working.

Not me.

Hi Froo No but now i have maneged to get the windows disc in
and its serching for the prob. hope this works

Finis try booting with your anty virus disc

@pugman, if the pc is an older unit you might need to look for a battery on the motherboard and replace it.

I'm not having these problems. It is Tommy and Pugman.

I did have the battery for the CMOS go out not long ago. Very slow to boot until it wouldn't. A new battery made it all better.

I apologize Finis; I don't know why I started typing your name instead of Tommy's.
I typed that this AM; still sleepy I guess. sorry about that.

Sorry Finis.
Hi v3rd3 the pc is 3 years old the battery is ok thanks
I now reinstall windows and hope that works
I had the vue render cow on this ps, shame.

Problem sorted, it was the driver from the graffic card. my son installed a game
and it needed to install a driver he did and that somehow erased the graffic card
driver and the on board driver. now its ok after 100 windows updates and all
driver up to date

good new. for the future use a different physical hard drive for your data (external is better for security). In case of serious problem you can try to change the bios or/and format the bad hard drive to install a clean OS without risk to lost data. most of the time you win time if you don't know what is the problem and it avoids being anxious.

I have manage to make a RAID 1 mirror with my two new HDD. Windows XP now needs more drive rutins from the motherboard through floppy disks. I have no floppy disk and if i connect an old one my graphic card will not fit because the connections from the floppy disk are in the way. FUBAD (I have learned a new word!!) to everything with computers, Should I upgrade and use Windows 7 instead? Any suggestions?