Need help with a failed hard drive please.

[atlwindsurfer]

I'm running into this problem and any help or suggestions is greatly
appreciated.

I have a hard drive that is not recognized by windows. I see the drive
in the bios and disk management in computer management. However, when
windows boots up, I don't see it in My Computer. When in disk
management, it's shown as 'unallocated'. Obviously, I can't access it
to get the data I need out of it.

What choices do I have at this point? I really need some of the data
from the drive. The last backup I did was in March 2006. I know I
should have done a better job at backing up the data, but what's done
is done. What should I do now? I have tried OnTrack, but it didn't
work. For some reason, the computer re-starts itself after about 30
minutes of scanning while I used OnTrack.

Is there other software I should use or sending the drive to
professional data recovery system is pretty my only option left?

Thank you very much for any help and assistance.

 

[Rod Speed]

I'm running into this problem and any help
or suggestions is greatly appreciated.

I have a hard drive that is not recognized by windows. I see the
drive in the bios and disk management in computer management.
However, when windows boots up, I don't see it in My Computer.
When in disk management, it's shown as 'unallocated'. Obviously,
I can't access it to get the data I need out of it.

What choices do I have at this point?

Generally best to use some recovery software to get the data off.

I really need some of the data from the drive. The last backup
I did was in March 2006. I know I should have done a better
job at backing up the data, but what's done is done.

Or not done in this case.

What should I do now? I have tried OnTrack, but it didn't work.
For some reason, the computer re-starts itself after about 30
minutes of scanning while I used OnTrack.

Try turning the restart off in the OS.

Is there other software I should use

You could try booting a knoppix CD. It can likely see the
data and if there is something that XP doesnt like about
the drive that is causing the restart, knoppix may not care.

or sending the drive to professional data
recovery system is pretty my only option left?

Nope, there is quite a bit of recovery software around.

If knoppix doesnt work for some reason, try R-Studio.

 

[Fabien LE LEZ]

I have a hard drive that is not recognized by windows. I see the drive
in the bios and disk management in computer management. However, when
windows boots up, I don't see it in My Computer. When in disk
management, it's shown as 'unallocated'. Obviously, I can't access it
to get the data I need out of it.

Well, first of all, I'd recommend unplugging it for a little while.
While you do some tests and read some litterature, it's best not to
let Windows attempt to destroy the disk even more.
When you think you're ready to do some serious recovery work, plug it
back.

What choices do I have at this point? I really need some of the data
from the drive.

Do you have another hard disk, that works perfectly, and big enough to
store the data? If not, go and buy one.
You can dispatch the recovered data onto several hard disks, but it's
really more convenient and reliable to recover the data as a whole,
into one directory.

The last backup I did was in March 2006. I know I
should have done a better job at backing up the data,

Definitely. I just hope this will convince you to make daily backups.
Even a simple rsync from one disk to another is better than nothing,
though not sufficient.

Seems like everyone learnt the hard way that backups are not optional.

What should I do now?

Well, I happened to have roughly the same problem: Windows couldn't
see any partition, and asked me if I wanted to format the disk. Seems
like Windows does like to destroy partition tables, but fortunately it
can't access the disk anymore, so it can't destroy the actual data.
I managed to recover all the data with GetDataBack:
<http://www.runtime.org/products.htm>.

 

[Folkert Rienstra]

Well, first of all, I'd recommend unplugging it for a little while.
While you do some tests and read some litterature, it's best not
to let Windows attempt to destroy the disk even more.

What disk to destroy further, windows doesn't see it.

 

[Folkert Rienstra]

I'm running into this problem and any help or suggestions is greatly
appreciated.

I have a hard drive that is not recognized by windows. I see the drive
in the bios and disk management in computer management. However,
when windows boots up, I don't see it in My Computer. When in disk
management, it's shown as 'unallocated'. Obviously, I can't access it
to get the data I need out of it.

What choices do I have at this point? I really need some of the data
from the drive. The last backup I did was in March 2006. I know I
should have done a better job at backing up the data, but what's done
is done. What should I do now? I have tried OnTrack, but it didn't
work.

For some reason, the computer re-starts itself after about 30
minutes of scanning while I used OnTrack.

That restart may be because of a feature that needs to be disabled
if other products cause the same result.
That 'feature' isn't useful anyway when it doesn't solve anything to
prevent the next time from happening.

Is there other software I should use or sending the drive to
professional data recovery system is pretty my only option left?

Thank you very much for any help and assistance.

Words to google: findpart and Svend Olaf Mikkelsen.

 

[atlwindsurfer]

Thank you everyone very much for your input to my problem.
Well, I have tried everything mentioned in your replies, and nothing
worked so far.
Khoppix sees the drive, but it can't access it because it was not 'able
to mount'.
All the programs I have tried so far did not work either. R-Studio,
OnTrack, RunTime, etc. The computer reboots everytime when those
programs try to scan the drive.
I'm really lost now. Any input is really appreciated. Maybe it's time
to spend some money to get some proffessionals to get it restored I
guess. Or I can spend the next 3 weeks trying to restore work in the
last 5 months. lol, either way don't sound too good at all.

 

[Rod Speed]

Thank you everyone very much for your input to my problem.

Well, I have tried everything mentioned
in your replies, and nothing worked so far.

Khoppix sees the drive, but it can't access
it because it was not 'able to mount'.

OK, then the drive must have got significantly corrupted.

All the programs I have tried so far did not work either.
R-Studio, OnTrack, RunTime, etc. The computer reboots
everytime when those programs try to scan the drive.

You can disable that reboot in the XP config.

See what the event log shows, that should give you some
useful information on why those reboots happen and it may
be possible to fix that so they will recover your data.

I'm really lost now. Any input is really appreciated.

Worth trying with that drive in another system as a slave.
That should allow you to run OnTrack and recover the data.

Maybe it's time to spend some money to get
some proffessionals to get it restored I guess.

Yes, some arent outrageously expensive, try www.retrodata.co.uk

Or I can spend the next 3 weeks trying to restore work in
the last 5 months. lol, either way don't sound too good at all.

Its likely possible to get OnTrack working.

 

[Fabien LE LEZ]

The computer reboots everytime when those
programs try to scan the drive.

Maybe there's something wrong with either your PC or your Windows
installation.
I'd recommend trying with another computer. The motherboard should be
recent enough to handle big hard drives, and if possible, with a
chipset rather different than the one you have.

Note that when accessing a damaged hard drive, I've yet to see Windows
reboot. It can completely stop responding (even to Ctrl-Alt-Suppr),
but it won't reboot.
You may have a temperature problem (either on the chipset or on the
processor); check the temperatures during the whole process (e.g. with
speedfan).

 

[Folkert Rienstra]

Thank you everyone very much for your input to my problem.

Well, I have tried everything mentioned in your replies,

No you didn't.

 

[Neil Maxwell]

I'm really lost now. Any input is really appreciated. Maybe it's time
to spend some money to get some proffessionals to get it restored I
guess. Or I can spend the next 3 weeks trying to restore work in the
last 5 months. lol, either way don't sound too good at all.

A co-worker recently reported that he had a similar problem - a disk
that BIOS could see, but Windows couldn't.

He booted from a True Image boot CD, and it could see everything on
the disk just fine. He backed it up and was able to retrieve his
files from the image.

I don't know what was wrong with his drive, but it's worth a try. You
can get the demo version of TI from www.acronis.com.

 

[Folkert Rienstra]

A co-worker recently reported that he had a similar problem - a disk
that BIOS could see, but Windows couldn't.

He booted from a True Image boot CD, and it could see everything on
the disk just fine. He backed it up and was able to retrieve his files
from the image.

I don't know what was wrong with his drive,

Often a missing bootsector. There is a backup bootsector on FAT
volumes that DOS and other OSes are happy with but not Windows.