Help! IT Geeks needed!

[Gubb]

I just went to start up my PC this morning, and it won't boot. It gets to the "Would you like to start in Safe Mode" screen, counts down, fires up a loading screen, then goes back to the Safe Mode screen. It's doing this in a continuous loop.

I hit the "Settings" button, did an "IDE check" (I take it this is hard drives?), and it performs a check, and comes up with

Drive 0: ST3160212A - Fail Return Code: 7

I think this is my C:\ Drive

Does this mean my Hard Drive is stuffed?

Anyone I can take it to that can perform a miracle on it?

[Mully]

I
Does this mean my Hard Drive is stuffed?

Yep, ours did that.

Have you backed up lately??

[Gubb]

Fuck. Just did a bit more Googling.

HDD is munted. It's been a while since the last backup.

Cocksnort.

Is there any way to remove/copy the data from it?

[Cajun]

try throwning in a usb hdd inclosure and see if that works, i have used that method before for getting data off

[sinfull]

Fuck. Just did a bit more Googling.

HDD is munted. It's been a while since the last backup.

Cocksnort.

Is there any way to remove/copy the data from it?

You can copy files in safe mode i think mate if ya can get it to run in safe ! But i learnt like this and store all my important files photos and vid on an external drive now !

[Gremlin]

But i learnt like this and store all my important files photos and vid on an external drive now !

Is the external drive backed up? They are no different to the drive within the machine (with the exception of 3.5" vs 2.5", hell, even 1.8")

Gubb, depends how the drive has failed... if it will power up in a caddy, you should be able to copy everything off.

[Burtha]

Whats changed / done for it to prompt safe mode?
have you tried booting normally? if so what happened?

there are a couple of things you can do first.
1. it may not be completely relevant, but worth a try - reconnect the power and IDE cable in the back of the hard drive.
2. do you have a bootable CD/DVD? If so, when bootup starts hit the 'Del' or 'F2' whichever it states to go to the BIOS screen. ONLY change the first boot setup to the CD/DVD, boot from that then see if you can view anything from the harddrive that way first.

[Gubb]

Nothing's changed.

Code 7 is a Read Error.

I'm gonna get another HDD today, and hopefully I can figure out some way of transferring the data over.


Gremlin, I may need to make a house call as you seem to be the one in the know.

Man, I hate laptops with their tiny keyboards, I just end up mashing all the keys at the same time instead of typing.

[sinfull]

Is the external drive backed up? They are no different to the drive within the machine (with the exception of 3.5" vs 2.5", hell, even 1.8")

Gubb, depends how the drive has failed... if it will power up in a caddy, you should be able to copy everything off.

Use the external just as storage and leave it unplgged unless i'm using it to move stuff one way or other !
ironically my pc just went haywire ! Mate been sending heaps of emails lately with vids etc and ya just know they're dirty bloody things ! Had to do a restart/cleaned the browser mem and spyware cleanup , seems to be working ok atm but the keyboard was jamming on this critter ----------- and wouldnt stop RRRRRRrrrrrrrghh

[Burtha]

laptop - arg
sorry couldn't be of more help - and I'm in Nelson so can't take a look etc
If all else fails, after 20 years in IT I came to a very precise conclusion = FBH !!

[Burtha]

One last thought - its been a while since I've need to do such a thing - but there may still be same or similar program around, Partition Manager or similar software tool, if run from CD may be able to scan your HDD and check for errors. At the very least there should be some that can provide you with a report if not a solution/fix ?

[vtec]

Laptop hdd's are a huge weakness. They are much smaller than desktop hdd's and thus have far more engineering sacrifices. Never trust a laptop HDD.

[Gubb]

My bad, i'm on the laptop now.

The one that is stuffed is my desktop. It won't even boot up to be able to do anything to it.

[davebullet]

Boot it up off CD if you can, or transport the HDD to a caddy, or another desktop as a slave to see if it spins up.

At least if it spins up and the file system is muntered (ie. file system tables are gone), there are tools (don't know of any off the top of my head... and depends on file system type, FAT32 / NTFS etc...) that can repair or copy sector-wise files.

If your drive is encrypted however and the NTFS is screwed... your HDD just becomes a doorstop sorry. The other use is the powerful neo-magnets are really good for fridge magnets, but you don't want to hear that right now.

[Lias]

Firstly, if you _really_ value the data on the drive and cant afford to loose it, stop doing what everyone else has been saying and ring a professional data recovery place. Expect to pay a minimum of $1k. Try computer forensics or DTI data.

Secondly If you want to take a ride down to Hamilton in the next week or two, I'm happy to have a look for a box of something. I'm not a data recovery professional, but I'm an IT professional with some fairly highend reocvery software that means as long as the drive still spins and detects I should be able to get some data off it. Given it's still booting into safe mode there is a pretty good chance I can get stuff off it.

Thirdly if it's not quite that important, but it's worth spending a few bucks, you could try a local computer shop but to be honest alot of the techies out there wouldnt have a clue. They might recover it or they might trash it beyond all professional recovery.. YMMV

Lastly your cheapest but most dangerous option is to try and recover it yourself using software off the web, or just plain whacking it in another PC and trying to copy things off.

Unless you choose the last option, I strongly urge you to keep that drive powered off until you take it wherever for recovery, the more its powered on , the more chance of further/catastrophic failure.

My 2 cents