Computer Help

[illdecide]

Lads i checked the hardrive last night and it appears to be OK. I ran chkdsk and it only went to 50% from my recovery disk and stopped saying there was a problem with the volume. I tried to run the recovery disk to repair but it kept jumping stages 6 & 7 and went to stage 8 which was to format the laptop and reinstall windows (which would obviously loose all my pictures)

Is my best option to remove the hardrive and link it up to another PC and then format and reinstall Windows?

[mylestheslasher]

Looks like you fu*cked up your HD so. You have to go into salvage mode now!

I would suggest you buy a laptop usb enclosure like this one...

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/USB-2-0-Enclosure-Case-for-2-5-Laptop-IDE-Hard-Drive_W0QQitemZ300376652632QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_Collectables_HardDriveEnclosures_RL?hash=item45efd7fb58

Just make sure it is compatible with your hd. You should be able to copy the stuff onto another pc with it.

[Mhic Easmuint]

Yep doesn't sound healthy at all.
I'd try and get the data backed up before doing anything else. 
You could try plugging it into another computer to see if it picks it up, otherwise get a device to plug it into.  This one might actually be better as it should be compatible with your hard drive whther IDE or Sata. 
http://www.amazon.co.uk/SATA-Adaptor-Cable-Power-Adapter/dp/B000Q5YW76
I've got one and has been a great job for different things. 

[illdecide]

Thanks for the great news . Its a HP Laptop and is about 4-5 years old so i know it's quite outdated, it runs on XP. Sounds like a 2llb lump hammer is required

[mylestheslasher]

Thanks for the great news . Its a HP Laptop and is about 4-5 years old so i know it's quite outdated, it runs on XP. Sounds like a 2llb lump hammer is required

Its a 2,5" HD so, the yoke I gave you a link to above will work with it. Put the hammer away, thats how you got into this mess!

[illdecide]

Lads i had my bro in law take a look at the Laptop last night and he has told me the HD is damaged and that i need to formatt the HD and then see what sectors i can salvage but of course that means i loose all the pic's of my 2 kids that i have not backed up.

If this is the case and the HD is damaged is there no way of extracting data from the HD?

[AbbeySider]

Lads i had my bro in law take a look at the Laptop last night and he has told me the HD is damaged and that i need to formatt the HD and then see what sectors i can salvage but of course that means i loose all the pic's of my 2 kids that i have not backed up.

If this is the case and the HD is damaged is there no way of extracting data from the HD?

Yes you can copy the hard drives raw data onto another HD.
Use some Data Recovery software to copy the data and it will do so byte by byte.

It happened to me before but I copped a PC HD onto and external HD (using another PC).
You may have to get the HD out of the laptop, put it into an external case and plug both that and another HD into a separate PC and leave the software running for a few hours.

For all this to work, the software may insist on re writing the boot sector of the bad disk but that should be Ok.

Now, you could get a Computer/PC shop to look at it instead. I think PC World and even the smaller shops provide such services so shop around for a price if you dont want to attempt it yourself.

[Main Street]

AbbeySider describes it well but I would change
"if you dont want to attempt it yourself"
to
do not attempt this yourself !

Is there not s a windows repair software on a cd that you could boot the laptop from and would try to repair the hard disk?

If not then you are going to have to have the HD replaced, install windows and get up and running.
It's a 2.5" drive.
You can buy a cheap 2.5" usb external enclosure, place the damaged HD inside it and use that to connect to a computer and try and salvage the data on it with suitable software.

After you do that, you can chuck away the damaged HD and replace it with a new one and use the external usb 2.5" HD for back up.

[illdecide]

AbbeySider describes it well but I would change
"if you dont want to attempt it yourself"
to
do not attempt this yourself !

Is there not s a windows repair software on a cd that you could boot the laptop from and would try to repair the hard disk?

If not then you are going to have to have the HD replaced, install windows and get up and running.
It's a 2.5" drive.
You can buy a cheap 2.5" usb external enclosure, place the damaged HD inside it and use that to connect to a computer and try and salvage the data on it with suitable software.

After you do that, you can chuck away the damaged HD and replace it with a new one and use the external usb 2.5" HD for back up.

Main street i have already tried the recovery disk that gives you the repair option but it will not work all it wanted to do was reinstall Windows. I also ran chkdsk on it and it got to 50% and then stopped saying there was a fault with the volume???. It also appears that the HD was blank (nothing on it) as it states there is 57345 bytes and there are 57345 free bytes (i may well have left a digit out there ) so dunno what to make of all that. My bro in law ran the most basic command and it wouldn't do that either!!!

I'll certainly try the option of trying to link it up to another PC and see if it is transferable...If and when i get this sorted is it wise to buy a new HD and then reinstall Windows and continue with the old Laptop or is it worth binning the hoor and buying a new wan?

[Denn Forever]

As someone on the board said, why don't you ring PC World or other computer place and see if they can recover the data and how much it would cost.

You said the laptop is quite old so It may be cheaper to buy a new one. 

Find out how much it would cost and let someone else do the work.

[Main Street]

AbbeySider describes it well but I would change
"if you dont want to attempt it yourself"
to
do not attempt this yourself !

Is there not s a windows repair software on a cd that you could boot the laptop from and would try to repair the hard disk?

Main street i have already tried the recovery disk that gives you the repair option but it will not work all it wanted to do was reinstall Windows. I also ran chkdsk on it and it got to 50% and then stopped saying there was a fault with the volume???. It also appears that the HD was blank (nothing on it) as it states there is 57345 bytes and there are 57345 free bytes (i may well have left a digit out there ) so dunno what to make of all that. My bro in law ran the most basic command and it wouldn't do that either!!!

I wasn't thinking of the windows install disk. Usually the repair utilities that come with an install disk are limited in scope.
But if there was a 3rd party software utility software on a cd that you can boot up the laptop and do repair.

For Mac OS, I have Disk Warrior and Tech Tool Pro on a cd, can boot up with them and repair bad sectors etc on a hard drive.

[AbbeySider]

I'll certainly try the option of trying to link it up to another PC and see if it is transferable...If and when i get this sorted is it wise to buy a new HD and then reinstall Windows and continue with the old Laptop or is it worth binning the hoor and buying a new wan?

HD Recovery software will read all sectors byte-by-byte and copy them to a new space on another HD.
You will then be able to transfer files and format when your finished.

If it seems to be reading sizes then its suggesting the the boot sector is corrupt and doesnt sound like a total hard drive failure (or physical problem). 

All is not lost and I would be confident you can get those photos back.

Price the job in the various PC repair and outlets, then price the HD recovery Software and decide what to do.

Best of luck dude

[Fear ón Srath Bán]

Typical PC/Laptop lifecycle

Buy new PC
Shortly after, Critical Windows Update (CWU) --> no perceptible performance penalty
Shortly after again, CWU --> no perceptible performance penalty from most recent CWU
Shortly after again, CWU --> no perceptible performance penalty from most recent CWU
...
Shortly after again, CWU --> no perceptible performance penalty from most recent CWU, but it  seems not to be as fast as it was when new, but perhaps only your imagination
Shortly after again, CWU --> no perceptible performance penalty from most recent CWU
Shortly after again, CWU --> no perceptible performance penalty from most recent CWU
Shortly after again, CWU --> no perceptible performance penalty from most recent CWU
...
Shortly after again, CWU --> no perceptible performance penalty from most recent CWU, but these days it definitely seems to be under strain, maybe it's just too old 
Shortly after again, CWU --> no perceptible performance penalty from most recent CWU
Shortly after again, CWU --> no perceptible performance penalty from most recent CWU
Shortly after again, CWU --> no perceptible performance penalty from most recent CWU
...
Shortly after again, CWU --> no perceptible performance penalty from most recent CWU, but these days it's impossibly slow at times, mustn't be powerful enough for these 'modern' programs
Shortly after again, CWU --> no perceptible performance penalty from most recent CWU
Shortly after again, CWU --> no perceptible performance penalty from most recent CWU
Shortly after again, CWU --> no perceptible performance penalty from most recent CWU
...
Shortly after again, CWU --> Unusably slow, no option but to buy a new PC

Don't you just love Critical Windows Updates!

[illdecide]

RIGHT LADS THANKS FOR ALL YOUR HELP AND ADVISE...I'M AWAY NOW FOR CHRISTMAS...

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR

[bigfrank]

What is the name of the lead or wat should i be lookin for/asking for if i wanted to link my laptop up to my tv..been watchin Peter Kay stand up and other things and would be cool if could put it on for everyone to watch


thanks and merry xmas