PC experts??

Dan · 15-09-2006, 12:31 PM

Any PC experts on here that can point me in the right direction of trying to recover info from my hard drive?? My PC at home has gone bang and I got loads of pics etc that I would like to retrieve.

BluFin · 15-09-2006, 12:37 PM

DEFINE bang........................

Power supply is an easy LRU simple job. if a drive there a plenty of data recovery experts who can retrive at a price.
count the number of bleeps from the bios boot that will tell you whats wrong along with any message on screen.
if it's not the drive just fit that drive in another PC and it should work but you may need to reconfig the drive as something else
Primary master (normally allocated to the boot drive c

primary slave
Seconady master
secondary slave
assuming its not a SCSI system (which I'm sure it isn't from ya post)

Matt · 15-09-2006, 12:39 PM

Don't mess around, take it to PC World or your local hardware repair shop.

Matt · 15-09-2006, 12:41 PM

P.S. I've been thinking about backups recently. Never had a hard drive fail on any machine, so statistically I must be due for one, so bought a 300GB USB drive and did a straight xcopy of the entire machine over to it. Bonza!

BluFin · 15-09-2006, 12:43 PM

Not PC world...............all on a YOTP
suppose I have had 3 HDD fail in 5 years but the PC been switched on that long so wont grumble

Edit: YOTP=Youth opportunity training program

verytricky · 15-09-2006, 12:47 PM

Not PC world if you have *any* porn, they specifically scan for it.

I have some recovery programs, but I would need the physical hard drive ( any porn found will be copied )

BluFin · 15-09-2006, 12:50 PM

I think my “reference material” drive is the largest & most full on the system

Captain Chaos · 15-09-2006, 12:57 PM

are you a Jazz fan then JonnyBF?

matt, how do you do a complete copy of your main "windows" drive?

BluFin · 15-09-2006, 01:03 PM

once upon a time in a galaxy far far away BC (Before Chaos) there was the start of an empire where there was a eviel emperor and an Operating system called DOS or MS-DOS (version dependant) could do all sorts of stuff with it read ya bloody help files...........

Matt · 15-09-2006, 01:05 PM

The built in windows backup util that also create a recovery disk, or the way I do is an "xcopy", but it you do a restore it won't restore system files to the right part of the disk. However, for me that fine cos if I lost the machine I'd use is as an opportunity to do a clean install and then just copy back in the bits I want.

BluFin · 15-09-2006, 01:12 PM

I agree with Matt any chance do a clean install & tidy up is great. I only back up data now. Windows reinstalls far quicker than troubleshooting the little hooks & dll errors not worth playing with.

Matt · 15-09-2006, 01:38 PM

Agreed. I suggested Dan take it to a shop cos, as he's needed to ask, he's probably not an IT guru. And the chance of inadvertantly making things worse when you're trying to recover a disk is quite high unless you're pretty competant. Just ask Chaos.

And apologies, Dan, if I'm wrong.

Quote:

Originally posted by verytricky
Not PC world if you have *any* porn, they specifically scan for it.

I have some recovery programs, but I would need the physical hard drive ( any porn found will be copied )

Rupert Munro · 15-09-2006, 01:47 PM

Another way is to have 2 HDs one with windows and one with all your saved stuff, even better have 3 one with a spare copy of windows so you can boot it up straight away if the first fails

Matt · 15-09-2006, 01:54 PM

That's the kind of thing a rib.netter would do.

Rupert Munro · 15-09-2006, 01:55 PM

feck orf, im no ribber

Matt · 15-09-2006, 01:57 PM

Nothing wrong with owning a rib, it's the kendall mint cake, hunting knife (between the teeth) and camo cream that do it.

Rupert Munro · 15-09-2006, 01:58 PM

I didnt say anything (really) wrong with a rib, kendall mint cake is good though

jw. · 15-09-2006, 04:43 PM

If you run a dual OS it is possible to copy all files by using the alternate OS. I use win98 and win 2k. 98 is shit but it allows me to copy all of the 2k files as a backup. I always use 2 physical drives and have everything on both. The OS backup is on the second drive but there is no OS installed onto it.

In the event of a HD failure, which did happen for the first time ever not so long ago, the replacement drive is fitted, partitioned the same as the failed one and the OS's loaded. No drivers or setting up is needed. Boot into 98 and copy all of the backed up 2k files into the directory where the new 2k OS has been put.

Reboot and the machine is up and running just as it was before. It sounds a hassle but it's easy enough and good insurance.

In Dan's case, it's not quite as easy as adding the old HD into a new machine cos the old HD will have a boot OS on it. Sometimes windows will boot correctly from the machines own HD and all will be well but I've often had windows get confused and attempt to read some OS files from the second drive. Swapping out the old drive and fitting it to a new PC may not work either unless the new PC is identical because the installed drivers will not suit the new hardware. It's all a bit tricky.

Matt · 15-09-2006, 04:47 PM

I used to have dual boot with exactly that config - the assumption is that the win2k disc is partitioned as FAT and not NTFS, (last checked win98 couldn't reference an NTFS drive).

jw. · 15-09-2006, 04:53 PM

Yeh, 98 can't read NTFS. Shoulda mentioned that.