Hard Drive Not Detected!!

[freemonkey]

There was a power outage Friday night and my WinXP computer got shut down. I turned the computer on yesterday evening and it booted up just fine. I didn't do anything on it, but when I came back less than an hour later I learned that the hard drive was not being detected.

I've got some work on that drive that I really, really need. Like now. We're talking hours and hours of work that I don't get paid enough to do the first time. The only other computers around here are a couple older Macs, a desktop running Win2000 and a laptop with WinXP.

I've never tried connecting a harddrive from one computer to another computer to get stuff off it. Can I connect the XP drive to a Win2000 computer?

[J.T.]

Do you have a second hard drive on your computer? I had a similar problem, and when I disconnected my backup drive, my main drive started working again.

[ceptimus]

I got a blue screen with 'Error 7 (and a load of other numbers and junk) Invalid boot device' on a windows box recently. It seemed to happen for no reason. I tried rebooting, safe mode, last good configuration, etc., all without any joy - I just kept getting the same blue screen of death.

The funny thing was, the PC could obviously see the HD, as it was displaying a Windows splash screen and a progress bar in the stages prior to the blue screen.

I was able to fix it by booting from the windows CD, selecting repair and recovery console (or something like that) and then executing the command:

chkdsk /r

The disk whirled for aaaaggees... with a few text messages saying like '57% complete', and then after a reboot, everything was back to normal.

[freemonkey]

The original hard drive on this computer failed within the first couple months I had it. The recovery disk I have was made from that disk when the computer was new. After the drive was replaced I was getting those "create a recovery disk" messages, but every time I tried I got "the recovery disk has already been made".

I tried to use the recovery boot disk this morning (after checking my connections), but I keep getting "drive not detected".

Hopefully I can get the computer into a shop Tuesday AM, but I'd like to know (how) if I can get my files off it, so I can complete some jobs.

[freemonkey]

Originally Posted by ceptimus

I was able to fix it by booting from the windows CD, selecting repair and recovery console (or something like that) and then executing the command:

chkdsk /r

ceptimus, if I try your method, do I risk losing my files? Also, this computer did not come with a Windows CD, but I do have one or two handy, from hubby's computers. Can I use one of those?

[ceptimus]

There's always a risk of losing files, I'm afraid, with any method.

If the files are vitally important, then I would try connecting the hard disk as a second drive on a working computer, and attempt to retrieve them that way.

If you're able to back up the vital files like that, you can then always put the drive back in the original PC and try the chkdsk /r thing later. Just taking a copy of the files onto a different HD shouldn't alter anything on the faulty drive. Any windows CD (providing it's the same version of windows i.e. XP) should be fine for booting and running the repair console.

[livius drusus]

You can definitely connect an XP hard drive to a W2K system. I've done it multiple times with laptop hard drives.

I actually have an HD to USB cable, which makes it all hugely easy. If it works, you'll see the secondary hard drive without even having to reboot, and if it's not too corrupted, you can retrieve the data with a simple copy and paste.

[viscousmemories]

Originally Posted by livius drusus

I actually have an HD to USB cable, which makes it all hugely easy.

Wow, that's cool. I didn't realize such cables exist.

[livius drusus]

That they do. They also have HD to PCMCIA cables + cards, but the USB ones are much more reliable.

[livius drusus]

Maybe something like this would be worth buying, freemonkey. It would work with your Macs too, so you could get an extra HD and use the enclosure for storage when you're not using it for recovery.

[Ari]

As long as you aren't getting head-crashes when you turn the drive on, there is a good chance the data is still there, even if that means taking it to a recovery specialist.

[freemonkey]

I was going to get an enclosure for a DVD drive that I can't get into the computer, just didn't get it yet. Is that USB cable something I can get at someplace like BestBuy or Circuit City? I've got a little bit of a deadline and time crunch here.

What about recovery specialists? Its not as costly as it once was, is it?

[livius drusus]

Circuit City has them.

Recovery specialist are still very costly, in my experience. Five hundred just to look at it; up from there depending on how much data needs recovering and how hosed it is. Two and three thousand dollar recovery bills were common for a few CDs worth of data in my workplace.

[freemonkey]

Originally Posted by livius drusus

Circuit City has them.

You're talking about the cable, right?

Recovery specialist are still very costly, in my experience. Five hundred just to look at it; up from there depending on how much data needs recovering and how hosed it is. Two and three thousand dollar recovery bills were common for a few CDs worth of data in my workplace.

Crap. It would be cheaper for me to buy a new computer and then to do the work all over again. Its three jobs for two different clients. Fortunately, I think they don't need their stuff right away. Unfortunately, I'm swamped with other things right now.

If I get brave enough, I'll just put the HD in this computer later. I want to know, but I don't want to know. Y'know?

[livius drusus]

Originally Posted by freemonkey

You're talking about the cable, right?

No, that's a USB enclosure. I don't know if they make cables for desktop hard drives. My cable is for a 2.5" HD.

Originally Posted by freemonkey

If I get brave enough, I'll just put the HD in this computer later. I want to know, but I don't want to know. Y'know?

I know, I know. And putting in a hard drive into a desktop is such a huge pain in the ass thanks to that evil power cable.

[freemonkey]

Originally Posted by livius drusus

No, that's a USB enclosure. I don't know if they make cables for desktop hard drives. My cable is for a 2.5" HD.

Oh, I was looking for the cable.

[livius drusus]

The cables run 30 bucks anyway, so there's no great savings with them, I'm afraid.

[freemonkey]

I just realized that the windows 2K computer already has 2 hard drives in it. Swapping out the second one won't be a problem, will it?

[freemonkey]

Gaaaahhh!! It's a tangled mess in there (2K machine). I got the master mixed up with the slave, couldn't get the drive bay out, got cables mixed up. Bah. Ain't got time for this right now. [/frustration]

[livius drusus]

Crapity crap. Did you get everything back how it was before?

[freemonkey]

Originally Posted by livius drusus

Crapity crap. Did you get everything back how it was before?

Yes. I'm posting from the Win2k computer right now.

I'll take that other one to a pro on Tuesday morning. Looks like I'm sort of saved on the files, too. I have proofing copies on the Mac. Not as large as I'd like them to be, and I'll have to re-do some of the work, but its better than starting from the beginning.

[freemonkey]

UPDATE: The fucking thing was DOA, my data unrecoverable. Apparently this happened to lots of computers this weekend, presumably because of the power surge/outage.

So, fuck.

ETA: Javaman, if you're reading this, I may take you up on your offer to point me in the right direction for parts to build my own in the very near future.

[livius drusus]

Oh noes... I'm sorry, freemonkey. That sucks.

[foo fighter]

yes, i swap hard drives all the time. you can as long as the protocal is not too old. if it is, it won't even boot. but you should be able to do it.

[viscousmemories]

Sorry, freemonkey.