12 replies to this topic

[frankliu_]

Please please help...this is urgent...my hard drive failed and I have no idea how to get information back.

I have a Maxtor Hard Drive that does not work when I get into BIOS. BIOS could not be passed because it cannot recognize the hard drive. The bad thing is that I have my project summative in that hard drive and its VERY important because its due on Monday may 26th, or I fail the course.

I do have a seperate hard drive that contains WINDOWS VISTA installed so I could go through there. However, is there a way for me to at least access the other hard drive by going through BIOS and running a disk recovery program on Vista?

PLEASE PLEASE HELP.

UPDATE: Ok, so heres the situation so far.

I was able to scan out the files that were formatted. When I tried to recover them using Handy Recovery 3.0, all I get are empty files that STILL have the right size, but a corrupted file. for example, for my images, after i restored some photos, all of them still have the right size, but windows xp cannot generate a preview image, or view it at all. for documents, the stuff that are recovered appear in weird ANSI coding, not exactly what I want.

Any help and suggestions why this is happening? and any suggestions on another software?

Edited by frankliu_, 27 May 2007 - 07:15 PM.

[Freka]

Just ouch...

[tominorlando]

You should check first to see if the failed drive is spinning by opening the case and putting your hand on it to feel if it's moving.

If it's not, then you're probably out of luck.

If it is, then you need to get an OS going on the good drive.

[frankliu_]

doesn't that just kill the hard drive if I open it? ...

to Freka...yeah, I know its an ouch, I lost my summative along with 20 gb of information, which is 5 years of my music, videos, documents, games...everything gone..

[proenca]

yesterday i got the same problem with my laptop, i say bye bye to a lot of my work.. its sucks

[LazerFish]

doesn't that just kill the hard drive if I open it? ...

He meant open your computer, and touch the outside of the Hard Drive to see if it feels like it is moving inside

Make sure the power connector is plugged in, and make sure the IDE cable isn't loose or something.

I always make sure to back up anything important to a disk. I could format all of my hard drives and be back to normal within an hour, maybe two, with minimal loss.

[frankliu_]

ugh...i know...I ALWAYS told my parents to buy an external hard drive to back stuff up...and told them that one day something will screw up and everything would be gone. They said that it won't happen (procrastinate much...)...well NOW IT HAPPENED! >.<

doesn't that just kill the hard drive if I open it? ...

He meant open your computer, and touch the outside of the Hard Drive to see if it feels like it is moving inside

Make sure the power connector is plugged in, and make sure the IDE cable isn't loose or something.

I always make sure to back up anything important to a disk. I could format all of my hard drives and be back to normal within an hour, maybe two, with minimal loss.

yes it is running. It's even considered healthy

[TituFama]

You may have bad sectors; try using HDD Regenerator (trial) to locate any.
TackTech's Web site features manufacturer-specific utilities for virtually any hard drive vendor. Find out what company made the drive that's failing, then download the appropriate diagnostic application.

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[yanike]

Please please help...this is urgent...my hard drive failed and I have no idea how to get information back.

I have a Maxtor Hard Drive that does not work when I get into BIOS. BIOS could not be passed because it cannot recognize the hard drive. The bad thing is that I have my project summative in that hard drive and its VERY important because its due on Monday may 26th, or I fail the course.

I do have a seperate hard drive that contains WINDOWS VISTA installed so I could go through there. However, is there a way for me to at least access the other hard drive by going through BIOS and running a disk recovery program on Vista?

PLEASE PLEASE HELP.

If you don't know how to fix it after using the softwares or information provided by the WInMatrix community or the Manufacture's site, go to a computer repair store or someone who KNOWS what they are doing. Inform your instructor of what's going on and see if they can give you more time or a chance to make a good enough grade later when you get your project to pass the class. My instructor gave me a week and I still received full credit on my work. Let's just hope you've been nice to your instructor and turned in your work on time.

Another question I'd like to ask, have you been tinkering with your BIOS?

Edited by yanike, 27 May 2007 - 06:33 AM.

[frankliu_]

no, not really. See...I'm not doing all the work, its my dad, because this is beyond my computer skills. He tried to put the hard drive as a slave rather than a primary, and it still doesn't work. The most confusing part is right now we have another hard drive that is wiped clean for no apparent reason (this was in the computer when the hard drive failed). It HAD 2 partitions in it (E,D), now it only recognizes it as F, with nothing in it, and I hope I didn't accidentally format my disk or something.

I know this is confusing to read, but you gotta know the whole story to understand what happened. But the main point is, I have 2 hard drives, one is mysteriously empty, another failed to pass BIOS.

[_deXter_]

Attach the drive to some other PC and see if you can access it from there? Does the drive spin/power up?

[frankliu_]

yes it does. Ok, so heres the situation so far.

I was able to scan out the files that were formatted. When I tried to recover them using Handy Recovery 3.0, all I get are empty files that STILL have the right size, but a corrupted file. for example, for my images, after i restored some photos, all of them still have the right size, but windows xp cannot generate a preview image, or view it at all. for documents, the stuff that are recovered appear in weird ANSI coding, not exactly what I want.

Any help and suggestions why this is happening? and any suggestions on another software?

[LazerFish]

I had a similar problem a long time ago. You can read the old topic here and see if it can help you, too
I would suggest trying multiple data recovery programs, sorry I can't remember which one I used.