URGENT: Hard Drive Recovery

Stitchy626 · 01-21-2007, 10:57 AM

ok.. how can you recover files from a crashed computer? Any programs out there or how in the hell so you fix it?

A friend of mine has files he needs to recover... I'm not sure if he restored the hard drive though... so if he did that is it impossible?

Ferre · 01-21-2007, 11:53 AM

*Moved from Lobby

**G10** · 01-21-2007, 12:10 PM

The most basic way is to put the hdd into another computer as a slave drive and then use that pc to drag the files that you want off it.

If you have restored the hdd, then obviously it isn't a hardware issue otherwise the drive would not be working.

The problem lies that if you have restored over the top of the crash and overwritten your old data, it now becomes more tricky to salvage the previous data and requires some specialist software. It can be done but it can now start getting costly and usually not worth the hassle.

Stitchy626 · 01-21-2007, 12:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by G10

The most basic way is to put the hdd into another computer as a slave drive and then use that pc to drag the files that you want off it.

If you have restored the hdd, then obviously it isn't a hardware issue otherwise the drive would not be working.

The problem lies that if you have restored over the top of the crash and overwritten your old data, it now becomes more tricky to salvage the previous data and requires some specialist software. It can be done but it can now start getting costly and usually not worth the hassle.

Just incase... u know of any good recovery software that can be used?

Ferre · 01-21-2007, 12:51 PM

How do you put the hdd into another computer as a slave drive? I have a pc here that doesn't want to start up anymore with loads of data on it that I want to recover as well. I never opened a pc myself, but I'm never too old to learn.

Stitchy626 · 01-21-2007, 04:03 PM

hope this helps Ferre...

http://www.helpwithpcs.com/upgrading...hard-drive.htm

Ferre · 01-21-2007, 04:12 PM

Thanks. I think it does.

**G10** · 01-21-2007, 04:56 PM

I haven't looked at that article yet but here's a basic idea of what to do.

Take your faulty hdd out of your system and check the jumper settings on it. If it was the original hdd in that system, the jumpers are probably selected to master. Set them to slave or if that doesn't work, choose cable select (CS)

Put this drive into your other working pc on the spare ide or SATA cable.

Switch the pc on and hopefully, it will find the new drive and give you a chance to copy the data from it the old drive.

Give windows a few moments as it will probably try to install drivers for the new hdd.

If you are not sure about anything here, don't do it and ask otherwise you could end up goosing up your other system.

Notes:

You need to know whether your hdd is running off an IDE cable or SATA cable (some examples of SATA)

Together, with the link stichy found, you should be able to get things moving along

Andy06 · 01-21-2007, 05:22 PM

Yeah, one thing you have to know is if the hard drive that's not working properly is SATA or IDE. If you're running a SATA hard drive, you have to make sure the other motherboard on the other computer supports SATA cables (or has SATA cables). There are two types of hard drives, and it makes it more confusing for people who have never seen them or have never opened a case.

Taltos · 01-22-2007, 11:01 AM

Hey Stitchy, I don't know if you have already solved your friends problem or not but these guys used to be really good.

www.ontrack.com

I haven't had to use anything like this in a while so I don't have recent experience with them. Their software isn't cheap but it was really good at recovery. Good luck!

Radnor · 01-23-2007, 09:48 AM

I had a laptop that I needed files off of, the OS was hosed. So I booted Linux and move them off to a different computer. Reinstall OS, move files back.

From your post, not sure if you have a HW or SW issue.

Stitchy626 · 01-23-2007, 12:37 PM

Thanks guys for the help... my friend is a stubborn ass and has a problem with a Girl being the one to fix the problem... so screw him! hahaha He's mad cause I know more about computers than him... but what can you do. Least I got some info for the next time.

Taltos · 01-23-2007, 03:15 PM

Fool, is all I have to say for him. Hell, I would have loved to find a woman that was a great looking geek. Where were all of you before I got married?!?!?!?

whitegrass · 01-23-2007, 05:07 PM

if the comp crashed and not the hd try putting the hd into another comp as a slave

Stitchy626 · 01-23-2007, 05:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Taltos

Fool, is all I have to say for him. Hell, I would have loved to find a woman that was a great looking geek. Where were all of you before I got married?!?!?!?

hahaha... funny thing is that I get along great with his brother... he can appreciate a chick that knows her way around a computer..

casperl · 01-24-2007, 02:48 PM

What if the second computer did not see the hard disk either? I had a disk in that situation? Is there any way to recover it personally

whitegrass · 01-24-2007, 03:08 PM

I personnal have not tried it but there is data recovery software around that just reads whatever it can of a damaged drive. I do not know how effective it is but i would think it would involve reorganizing the data once it is retreved, a long and complicated process. the other alternive is to have a data retrieval company do it for you. that option is likly to be expensive and there would be no garantee that the data would be of any use.
I am sorry I can not help any further. the fact that a second comp does not see the h drive at least confirms it is the hard drive Please do not be offended but I presume you have the jumpers in the right places with each manufacturer having differant configurations and using differant ways of telling you what they are it is easy to get it wrong. anyway good luck please let me know if you find a solution so I can try it next time it happens to me
cheer jem

cccp_sila · 01-24-2007, 03:27 PM

the best way is to use partition magic 8 but u need a good hdd with windows on it and the bad one set to slave in the same computer, i used this program befor for many times and its great, thankfully i have new pc and i donw warry about crash or other stuff

StupidScript · 05-24-2007, 03:38 PM

I've used a program called GetDataBack several times to recover data deleted or overwritten by formatting. Any of this type of software will get a lot of data back from delete-space, but it requires a functioning hard drive.

As has been mentioned, you need to add the bad drive as a secondary/slave drive to a functioning system, and see if the drive is accessible. If it is, as noted above, just copy the data you want to keep over to the good/primary drive or burn a disc.

If the hard drive is physically bad (not spinning, no primary/slave will recognize that it is there, etc.), then you will probably need to seek out a "data recovery" professional in your area, hand the bad drive over to them, and let them use their professional ($$) tools to try to recover data from it.

In that case, either you will get back all of your data (unless there is a platter issue), a lot of your data, or a bunch of gibberish. A lot depends on what's wrong with the drive.

photocrats.com · 05-24-2007, 10:12 PM

Solution from EE :

Code:

here a cheap recovery company :

http://www.gillware.com/      

and some data recovery softwares :

http://www.ontrack.com/                                    ontrack
http://www.ontrack.com/easyrecoveryprofessional/                  Easy Recovery
http://www.runtime.org/                                    GetDataBack
http://www.stellarinfo.com/
http://www.bitmart.net/                                    Restorer 2000
http://www.snapfiles.com/get/restoration.html                        Restoration
http://www.snapfiles.com/get/activeundelete.html                        Active undelete
http://www.pcinspector.de/file_recovery/UK/welcome.htm                  pc Inspector
http://www.snapfiles.com/get/smartrecovery.html                        flash recovery
http://www.cgsecurity.org                                    Test Disk + utils