PC wont boot - possible fooked hd

[SueEllen]

90% was backed up anyway. booting into linux mint has enabled me to recover anything else.

Just PITA having to buy new HD and reinstall windows.

Stop being so mean.

[pr1]

I've used Feather Linux before for the same reason.

Currently trying to recover data from a drive for a neighbour. Her 4 year old daughter dropped the laptop on the floor. It hadn't been backed up in ages. It has all the baby photos on it. Won't boot. No partition found. EaseUS Partition Manager couldn't fix it after 12 days. (750GB drive being seen as 2TB)
Now running CGS Photorec 7.1.
Time to complete: 382hr 54min.

I hope you're billing her by the hour

[psychocandy]

Hmm. Well it worked for a bit. Got most of the stuff off - unfortunately now bios wont recognise so I guess its goodnight irene?

Is there anything you can do? Stick in freezer? (Surely this is bollox?)

[NotAllThere]

Hmm. Well it worked for a bit. Got most of the stuff off - unfortunately now bios wont recognise so I guess its goodnight irene?

Is there anything you can do? Stick in freezer? (Surely this is bollox?)

Try it and find out. Nothing to lose.

[Scruff]

Hmm. Well it worked for a bit. Got most of the stuff off - unfortunately now bios wont recognise so I guess its goodnight irene?

Is there anything you can do? Stick in freezer? (Surely this is bollox?)

The Freezer trick works (I have used it twice, succesfully). I had 2 drives where the stepper motor just "clicked" and the spindles would not spin up.

Get tablespoon dry rice, or preferably, silica gel sachet and place in a Zip-lock freezer bag. Place drive into Freezer bag, squeeze as much air out as you can, zip it and place into freezer for sufficient time for the drive to come to ambient freezer temperature.

Remove from freezer and place into drive caddy, and hopefully, it will spin up, giving you sufficient time to copy your data off. Don't delay it and don't try use it again, other than to copy the data that you need from it.

[psychocandy]

The Freezer trick works (I have used it twice, succesfully). I had 2 drives where the stepper motor just "clicked" and the spindles would not spin up.

Get tablespoon dry rice, or preferably, silica gel sachet and place in a Zip-lock freezer bag. Place drive into Freezer bag, squeeze as much air out as you can, zip it and place into freezer for sufficient time for the drive to come to ambient freezer temperature.

Remove from freezer and place into drive caddy, and hopefully, it will spin up, giving you sufficient time to copy your data off. Don't delay it and don't try use it again, other than to copy the data that you need from it.

Apparently, it doesnt work on modern drives. Interesting that you've had some joy with it though.
BUT its screwed anyway it seems so worth a try. Trouble is the file I want on there is 650Gb (its an encrypted partition) so its going to take hours to copy off. Even if the freeze does work it wont last that long! (unless I stick the usb cradle in the freezer and run cable out the door lol).

Luckily the stuff on there is not drop dead stuff I need just a bit of a PITA so even if I knacker the drive completely Im never going to send it off to the pros or anything. £550 BTW Seagate want to recover it. Yeah right!

[Scruff]

Apparently, it doesnt work on modern drives. Interesting that you've had some joy with it though.
BUT its screwed anyway it seems so worth a try. Trouble is the file I want on there is 650Gb (its an encrypted partition) so its going to take hours to copy off. Even if the freeze does work it wont last that long! (unless I stick the usb cradle in the freezer and run cable out the door lol).

Luckily the stuff on there is not drop dead stuff I need just a bit of a PITA so even if I knacker the drive completely Im never going to send it off to the pros or anything. £550 BTW Seagate want to recover it. Yeah right!

It worked for me on a 500GB USB SATA drive less than 2 months ago. What did you use to encrypt your partition? I would suggest trying it and DON'T try decrypt the partition if you are able to then access it. Get it on, get it off, get it out and get rid...

[MrMarkyMark]

Apparently, it doesnt work on modern drives. Interesting that you've had some joy with it though.
BUT its screwed anyway it seems so worth a try. Trouble is the file I want on there is 650Gb (its an encrypted partition) so its going to take hours to copy off. Even if the freeze does work it wont last that long! (unless I stick the usb cradle in the freezer and run cable out the door lol).

Luckily the stuff on there is not drop dead stuff I need just a bit of a PITA so even if I knacker the drive completely Im never going to send it off to the pros or anything. £550 BTW Seagate want to recover it. Yeah right!

But important enough to have encrypted it

[TheFaQQer]

But important enough to have encrypted it

Sensitive != important

[Pondlife]

<placeholder> had to redownload my collection and now Goldeneye want another £1000 off me</placeholder>