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Hard Disk Recovery

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    Hard Disk Recovery

    After a spectacularly @#%$ day... the laptop ups and dies.
    Harddisk totally shagged lots of clicking and can't be read.
    40 mins on the phone to dell / 3 hours of diagnostics have concluded that I need a new harddisk.

    Most of the files are backed up but could do with recovering a a few items..... any suggestions on where I can get this done without it costing an arm and a leg.

    #2
    you <COULD> do it yourself with some free disk editor software. do a google for 'free disk editor' .....not for the faint-hearted but do-able. you would need first of all to get a new hard drive and set it up with the usual os, etc. make the old one the 'slave' and go. this also assumes that you can physically read the surface. if it's complete mechanical failure, (actually, clicks etc suggest it might be) then this will not work
    it that's not do-able, then a data recovery outfit....arm and a leg country i'm afraid....<<<why no back-ups?>>>

    Comment


      #3
      's funny. My Dell laptop HD gave up a couple of weeks ago as well. Is it an inspiron 8000?

      If you have another machine, and a special cable for 2.5" drives, you could probably get access to your disk to get the stuff off. The adapters though can cost, but how much do you value your data.

      If you live near Swindon, I could lend you mine, though at the moment, it is attached to my hard disk, trying to recover it. (I have already copied my files off my disk, just trying to mark the bad sectors, see how it fairs up under stress again. My adapter will not be available until Thursday at the earliest, even then I can't guarantee it being ready).

      Now, if anyone has an inspiron 8000 keyboard... This broke within my guarantee period, but they were mucking about, telling me to test it using the supplied hardware software. I contacted them 3 times. Now, they eventually had the machine back, but between my first call and my third call, my son spilt coka cola on it, and they tell me that because of this, it is not covered under the warranty. (I suppose I could claim on my house insurance for it though). It is funny though, I bought two machines at the same time, exact same spec, both have had similar failures during their lifetime at similar times (casing around screen cracking, battery failing, power leads cracking (replacement for those are £50) 1 had a keyboard failure early in its life, the other towards the end of the guarantee.

      I thought I had it bad with Tiny Laptops. (I had 2 of those originally, I ended up going through six machines, first 4 developed the same fault with screen casing cracking (second set of screens failed within 2 weeks), then last 2, one wouldn't boot and the other had a faulty battery. I had on site warranty, and they wanted me to return to base. They wouldn't honor the on-site. I managed to get my money back with those (eventually), but their tech line sucks. They must have made more money off me in phone calls than the machines were worth, and then, I had to restrain myself from making expensive frisbees.

      Comment


        #4
        What happened to all those people who said that dell were wonderful high quality items ?


        the adapters for putting a laptop drive in a desktop are a couple of quid I think ?

        I have one floating about somewhere if you want it Karl - post it back to me when finished - drop me an email if you want it.

        Comment


          #5
          <!--EZCODE QUOTE START--><blockquote>Quote:<hr>
          What happened to all those people who said that dell were wonderful high quality items ?
          <hr></blockquote><!--EZCODE QUOTE END-->

          They're out using their machines, having little or no need to look for technical support - on hardware matters anyway!

          :lol

          Comment


            #6
            Have now joined the DELL are pants user group.
            Haven't been able to progress anything on this as the desktop has been down.
            Mark, I might call you later on the offer although if the HD is shagged is putting in into the desktop going to give any benefits ? Any thoughts on using norton utilities to get some of the data off ?

            Also does anyone have any thoughts on the cheapest place to get a replacement 10Gb disk... Dell want £275 + VAT +delivery for a 'Origon' including the drive holder. The original disk was fujitsu (now I no why I always hated ICL).

            Comment


              #7
              !!! £275 ?????

              dabs have ibm 30gb at £90
              toshiba 30gb at £105

              Is that in a caddy or do you need to open the case of the laptop to access it ?

              I have a couple of hd caddies but I am not sure what they are off.

              as to any benefit of putting the old drive in a desktop - it depends what is wrong with it, you may be able to recover some data, problem is that in a laptop you cannot set it up as a secondard drive and just try and read it.

              You may be able to reformat it and reuse it.

              Comment


                #8
                The dell price includes the caddy, but I have already had the disk out and 4 screws gets it out of the caddy. The only problem would be if the screws don't line up.

                I take our point about the second drive, looks like it might be worth a go. I'll drop you a line later.
                Cheers Karl

                Comment


                  #9
                  I think you'll find 2.5in drives are all made to the same spec physically. So screws shouldn't be a problem.

                  I have a Toshiba MK1016GAP 10gig for £40 + p&p & vat

                  Or the 3gig in my Acer for £10 + p&p & vat

                  (will check with my accountant as to whether VAT actually chargeable - both are used, but perfect working order)

                  Comment


                    #10
                    Rob,
                    Thanks for the offer but I managed to source a direct fujitsu replacement 20gb for £90.
                    Have also found an external usb 2.5 hdd caddy for about £40, getting some more information and will let you know how I get on.

                    Comment

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