Help Me….my Hard Disk Is Damaged!

Hi everyone , I am employed as a manager in a firm. I have a problem that I had like to talk about. My system was working fine the other day, but while copying a file by nero….the system hanged and I had to restart it. But I got a disk boot failure error. Then , I tried to run a windows xp installation CD, but that is also showing some error message during installation and the installation fails.I did check the bios settings and the disk fails to show…and had it checked on another system also…but bios cannot detect the hard disk.I think the disk is damaged or something like that.The disk has important data from my company’s point of view…..that I need to recover.
Please let me know if there are any ways to get my data back from this disk!!!!

Hi everyone , I am employed as a manager in a firm. I have a problem that I had like to talk about. My system was working fine the other day, but while copying a file by nero….the system hanged and I had to restart it. But I got a disk boot failure error. Then , I tried to run a windows xp installation CD, but that is also showing some error message during installation and the installation fails.I did check the bios settings and the disk fails to show…and had it checked on another system also…but bios cannot detect the hard disk.I think the disk is damaged or something like that.The disk has important data from my company’s point of view…..that I need to recover.
Please let me know if there are any ways to get my data back from this disk!!!!
[/b]

You can boot the computer with the knoppix live cd, mount the interior disk by first creating a mount point:
Open terminal and su to root then enter mkdir /mountpoint
Then enter this mount command: ntfs-3g /dev/sda1 /mountpoint

Then you can see your files in Konqueror file browser and extract them. To save them attach a usb-connected hard drive and mount it similar to the above. Then use Konqueror to copy/paste the data to safety.

That's the general drift, modify to suit your situation. I use it to save data for clients with crashed computers.

Swerdna

You can boot the computer with the knoppix live cd, mount the interior disk by first creating a mount point:
Open terminal and su to root then enter mkdir /mountpoint
Then enter this mount command: ntfs-3g /dev/sda1 /mountpoint

Then you can see your files in Konqueror file browser and extract them. To save them attach a usb-connected hard drive and mount it similar to the above. Then use Konqueror to copy/paste the data to safety.

That's the general drift, modify to suit your situation. I use it to save data for clients with crashed computers.

Swerdna
[/b]

That will work as long as the disk is just not bootable, however this one sounds like an electronics failure, in that case the disk is dead and the data is not retrievable by normal methods. The data may have to be retrieved by a data retrieval company (read as VERY EXPESIVE). That is why you do backups. Good luck!!

Hi everyone , I am employed as a manager in a firm. I have a problem that I had like to talk about. My system was working fine the other day, but while copying a file by nero….the system hanged and I had to restart it. But I got a disk boot failure error. Then , I tried to run a windows xp installation CD, but that is also showing some error message during installation and the installation fails.I did check the bios settings and the disk fails to show…and had it checked on another system also…but bios cannot detect the hard disk.I think the disk is damaged or something like that.The disk has important data from my company’s point of view…..that I need to recover.
Please let me know if there are any ways to get my data back from this disk!!!!
[/b]

Download the Knoppix LiveCD (you won't need the DVD): http://knopper.net/knoppix-mirrors/index-en.html

then: System recovery with Knoppix @ http://www-128.ibm.com/developerworks/linu...-obg-SysRecover
Follow the guide
or

The Knoppix LiveCD may detect & mount the drive,

If not:
mkdir /mnt/save (for example)
then
mount /dev/yourbaddrive(hdX or srX where X is a number; find with "fdisk -l" as root) /mnt/save
Without the notes:
mount /dev/sr0 /mnt/save
then cd /mnt/save

you may only get one shot at this if the drive is dying, so be prepared to copy your most important stuff to another HDD, usb-drive/DVD/etc. boot with the backup device plugged in.

When you are done:
umount /mnt/save

Good luck

Really a problem! As you have tried to mount the hard drive in another machine I
suppose we can exclude the possibility of loose cables or a bad interface on the
original machine. I'd recommend you to move this drive around as little as possible
as I suspect that what has happened is that the controller card on the drive has
passed away. If this happens while the drive is spinning the heads that reads and
writes data to and from the disk surfaces will not be properly parked, they will
most probably have landed somewhere on the surface where data is stored. Parts of
the surface might have been destroyed when the drive crashed and moving it, unless very
carefully, under those circumstances might worsen the situation.
So what is there to do? Well as you are asking here I take it this is not a machine
from one of the big manufacturers, a Dell, a HP or a Lenovo and with a valid guarantie,
or you are on a low budget. If it's a cheaper machine bought from one of those
retailers that sell anything running on electricity, they usually will sevice your
product, but I wouldn't trust their competence. Now if you decide to have it repaired
by your retailer or any other service provider be very careful to explain what has
happened to them and don't send it by mail or something like that, the best would be
to have it examined and fixed at your office.
That's the tough way, there is another way if you are willing to take on some
responsibility yourself. You mentioned that you had checked the drive in another
system, so you or someone else managed to move the drive between two systems.
That's about the skills you need to replace the controller! You'll need some tools,
a phillips screwdriver, the one you used when you moved the drive, a set of small
torx screwdrivers somewhere in the size T06-T10, you can get them in most hardware
stores. The controller is a little harder, I suppose it will be rather expensive as
a spare part, if you can find it, so the cheapest and easyist way is to get your
hands on a used hard drive of the same brand and model, you can find them on the net
or best borrow one. Be sure to check that it has the same model number, is produced
in the same country and as close to the production year and month of your spoiled
one, that information is found on a label at the top side of the drive.
Now over to the tech job. Be sure to avoid static electricity while working with
the drives. Take your crashed drive and put it upside down in front of you with the
back of it pointing to you. You'll see a small card closest to you, thats the
controller it contains all the electronics for the drive. At the far end of that
card theres a small plastic contact with a flat cable going to something that
looks like an electric motor, it is the motor. On both sides of this contact there
is a little notch, with your nails pull them away from you, both at the same time.
Now the screws, there will be at least 4, maybe more, select one of the torx
screwdrivers and loose the screws. Having done that gently pull the controller
from the drive. Put the drive and the controller aside and repeat the above
process with the healthy drive and put this drive aside. Now take the crashed drive
and the controller from the healthy drive and assemble them into a new drive,
Start by pushing the flat cable into the contact and secure it by pushing the
two notches towards you. Then mount the screwes and tighten them. Finished!

If my theory about the controller is right you should now at least have a drive
that is recognized by the bios and hopefully by an operating system, only be sure
to set the jumper correct if it's a pata drive, you can usually find that info
somewhere on the drive. As you were on windows I suppose that other system is
windows too, nothing wrong with that, thats what you are used to. Be sure to
have the drive set up in the BIOS and then boot. If all goes well windows will find
it too and set it up as D: or something. Now start copying your data over to the
hard drive of the host system, probably C:, concentrate on important data, skip
programs and other stuff that you can reinstall or recreate in other ways.
If a file isn't possible to copy skip it for now and proceed with the next file,
just write down the name and exact location. When finished be sure to make a
backup up your data, and make that a custom, most people do after a disaster
like this.

Now you might have data on the drive that wasn't possible to recover this way
and which you may want to give another try. There's no guarantied way to do
that, there are some commercial products that might be worth a try, most
notably Spinrite from grc.com.

Oh and when all is finished put the healthy controller back on the healthy
drive, sell it, give it back or use it. The crashed one? Destroy it completly,
never trust it.


And of course Good luck!