Computer question for you techies..

[Syvelocin]

Well, I wanted to try here to see if anyone knows enough about computers...

Well, my hard drive is screwed. Don't know why. Ran diagnostics and got a hard drive error. So, Dell's shipping a new one later this week.

What I'd like to ask, however, is if anyone knows if there's any possible way to salvage files off that hard drive without being able to boot the laptop? I know it's my stupid fault for not backing up my files in some form, but the damage is done, and I've been holding on to some kind of hope that I could get my novel back that I've been working on for two years now, my poems, and my photography.

[Scarface]

http://www.piriform.com/recuva here, try that, I hope this helps. BTW that program is free to install so nothing to worry about :)

[Syvelocin]

How would you use that? Like, would it work after I replaced the hard drive? Because I can't even boot my computer without the new hard drive.

[Commander Thor]

If I knew the EXACT error you were given, I may be able to say yay or nay.
It really depends on what's wrong with it.
If the motor has gone out, you're really going to need to have a professional data recovery expert handle that.
But if it's something simple like the boot sector is corrupted, then yeah, it's easy to snag your files off the HDD. And even better yet, if it's the boot sector that's botched, there's actually nothing wrong with your hard drive at all.

EDIT: Btw, the program Ronnie suggested, won't help in this situation.
Recuva is used when you wish to recover DELETED files from a hard drive, when the drive itself fails, the program is useless.

[Syvelocin]

Error code 2000-0142, Dell hd.

[Commander Thor]

Well that was mind-numbingly un-helpful.
Thanks Dell and your stupidly vague error codes.

[darkwoon]

Well, I wanted to try here to see if anyone knows enough about computers...

Well, my hard drive is screwed. Don't know why. Ran diagnostics and got a hard drive error. So, Dell's shipping a new one later this week.

What I'd like to ask, however, is if anyone knows if there's any possible way to salvage files off that hard drive without being able to boot the laptop? I know it's my stupid fault for not backing up my files in some form, but the damage is done, and I've been holding on to some kind of hope that I could get my novel back that I've been working on for two years now, my poems, and my photography.

Use a Linux bootable LiveCD, and use its NTFS mounting facilities to try to see if you can recover some or all the files. There is an example walkthrough using Ubuntu here (http://www.rptech-world.com/computer-tricks/windows/fix-damaged-ntfs-filesystem-windows-ubuntu.html). If you cannot read the filesystem, try at least installing smartmontools, then run the self-test diagnostics on your hard disk with:
smartctl -t long /dev/sdX
...where you replace "sdX" by the identifier of your hard disk, as described in the tutorial above (usually, if it is the first hard disk on the machine, it will be "sda").
Wait for some time (the above command will tell you how long), then do:
smartctl -a /dev/sdX
...and you'll get a detailed report of the hard disk self-test results.

An alternative is using UBCD4Win (http://www.ubcd4win.com), which is a LiveCD specifically made to diagnose and solve various Windows-related issues.

Hope this helps!

[PJay]

Use a Linux bootable LiveCD, and use its NTFS mounting facilities to try to see if you can recover some or all the files. There is an example walkthrough using Ubuntu here (http://www.rptech-world.com/computer-tricks/windows/fix-damaged-ntfs-filesystem-windows-ubuntu.html). If you cannot read the filesystem, try at least installing smartmontools, then run the self-test diagnostics on your hard disk with:
smartctl -t long /dev/sdX
...where you replace "sdX" by the identifier of your hard disk, as described in the tutorial above (usually, if it is the first hard disk on the machine, it will be "sda").
Wait for some time (the above command will tell you how long), then do:
smartctl -a /dev/sdX
...and you'll get a detailed report of the hard disk self-test results.

An alternative is using UBCD4Win (http://www.ubcd4win.com), which is a LiveCD specifically made to diagnose and solve various Windows-related issues.

Hope this helps!


Good suggestions as always. Smartctl won't pick up on logical file system errors though, and it isn't going to help repair the damage, so it might only confirm that the disk is sick.

If you aren't getting any life out of the disk at boot time and that error is coming from the bios (eg reporting the same Smart data that smartctl uses) you are probably stuffed unfortunately.

I googled your error and found other people with the same thing and it sounded like most of them had mashed but not completely dead disks. So the good news is if you get as far as "bad or missing operating system" without throwing other errors the disk might phsically be healthy enough to attempt recovery (for as long as it takes to read your data off anyway).

If the file system is mashed you might find some recovery tools help, and you might find some directories are completely fine while others are trashed, so its going to be a bit of a lottery.

Some of those tutorials mention freeze and bake 'tricks' but personally I wouldn't go there if you are getting a warranty repair because theres a chance they might notice you've screwed around and charge you.

[darkwoon]

Good suggestions as always. Smartctl won't pick up on logical file system errors though, and it isn't going to help repair the damage, so it might only confirm that the disk is sick.
Well, not quite - smartctl will actually be more precise and report what kind of error it is, and - if localized on a part of the surface of the disks - where it happened. Those can be handy to determine if the drive can be recovered, how, and with which restrictions.

If you aren't getting any life out of the disk at boot time and that error is coming from the bios (eg reporting the same Smart data that smartctl uses) you are probably stuffed unfortunately.
Ah, well, no, I have to disagree. If the BIOS POST is able to extract SMART data, then it means that the disk controller is still accessible by the rest of the system. The implementation of SMART in the POST is, in most cases, rather barebone - check any short self-test error, and report a "fail" to the user if one is found. But not all SMART errors are actually unrecoverable ones, or mean that the disk is completely unusable.

The 2000-0142 error actually means "Drive Self-Test Failed". In other words, it is a more nerdy way to say: "The hard drive has got a problem". Given the very enlightening content of such a verbose message, it is IMHO worth trying to bypass BIOS's advice and ask a second opinion :).

If the file system is mashed you might find some recovery tools help, and you might find some directories are completely fine while others are trashed, so its going to be a bit of a lottery.
Just as a side note: never EVER try to run filesystem recovery tools on a damaged disk without having made a raw binary backup of it and/or having ensured that you cannot recover anything more by mounting the disk read-only. Recovery tools usually work by solving inconsistencies in the various file/block index tables - the problem is that they thus make changes in the filesystem, which is risky in itself because (1) it can make a poor choice and render a lot of data unavailable or (2) write more stuff into damaged data. The less writes you're making on a weakening disk, the better.

[PJay]

Well, not quite - smartctl will actually be more precise and report what kind of error it is, and - if localized on a part of the surface of the disks - where it happened. Those can be handy to determine if the drive can be recovered, how, and with which restrictions.

Maybe you could, but i'm not sure how knowing which sector of a disk was damaged would help in practice? When I've done this I've basically mount the disk under another OS image with NTFS support, tried to get what I need, and if I can't, its gone. Is there something more clever you can do?

Ah, well, no, I have to disagree. If the BIOS POST is able to extract SMART data, then it means that the disk controller is still accessible by the rest of the system. The implementation of SMART in the POST is, in most cases, rather barebone - check any short self-test error, and report a "fail" to the user if one is found. But not all SMART errors are actually unrecoverable ones, or mean that the disk is completely unusable.

Yeah I know all that ... but I said if the drive is not responsive AND blah. So I'm thinking the OP isn't going to know as much as you about what all this means, so just trying to highlight bigger clues. "Some nasty disk error plus no sign of disk activity is a bad thing"

it is IMHO worth trying to bypass BIOS's advice and ask a second opinion :).
Fair enough, but I wouldn't know what to do with that extra information myself - what useful new data does this give you?

[Syvelocin]

Honestly, I'm lost o.O I'm only semi-fluent in computer. :P

I had my dad take a look, software engineer. He couldn't come up with anything. He e-mailed a friend of his however who might have some ideas.

I just can't access a thing on that hard drive. I can't log in via safe mode or anything, so I don't know quite how I'd go about trying. However, the new drive did the trick of course.

[TheMatrix]

i had something like this with my old hard drive - it went 'kedunk, kedunk, kedunk' the whole time. no files were accessible after that :(
but a new hd solved that.
does your hd make strange noises too? if it does - sorry, probably broken. if not - there's still hope.
i hope the latter is the case for you. :)

[Nilnoc]

get a mac. Itll last three times longer, and genuis bar appointments are free.

[Aves]

OP Request

:locked: