Hi, When I start up my desktop computer I am getting a Disk Boot Error message. I think my HDD may have died. It doesn't appear to be detecting the HDD. Its not a sudden thing, its been getting slower and slower of the last few months and freezing up more regularly. I did manage to back up the photos, but there are still loads of files I could do with retrieving. Is there any way I can do this? Cheers....
No, its not showing in bios. I have tried disconnecting and reconnecting it. I can feel it running, so its definately getting power but its not making the usual sounds you hear when its being accessed. I don't have any other boot disk either.. I'm feeling a little stumped with this. I'm hoping that I may be able to put the HDD in to a different computer as second HDD and access it that way?
I would buy a new HDD and then somehow try to copy the contents of the old drive with a tool like Acronis TrueImage, if at all possible. Truth be told, this should have been done a while ago when the drive first showed signs of impending failure, but then again HDD issues can be insidious unless the drive outright fails on you.
Pretty much as above. There is some remote chance it may work on another pc, but don't count on it. If not showing in bios it is 99.999% chance it is dead and all data lost. You can send in for warranty if it is still under, not much else to be done unless you want to send out for expensive professional data recovery.
And you never thought to back up? It's at least a 99% certainty that it's dead if BIOS refuses to see it. It may be worth putting it another machine as a non boot disk and see if you can access it, but it's not likely. Once you got this sorted, and lamented the loss of your data, you'll see the sense in investing in back up, yes? Back up may not be exciting, and people never want to pay hundreds of pounds on something they will see no immediate benefit from, but one day you'll be grateful, as this will not be your only drive failure on your life.
If it is a bad as you say, the chances are it is borked. You could try the freezer trick as a final last ditch effort to retrieve data. As has been mentioned, backup... Which reminds me, I really should sort mine out.
I have backed up everything that was imortant to us such as photos and videos. There are other things on there that are replaceable but would save a lot of work if I can retrieve them, such as CV's, spreadsheets, passwords etc I'm hoping that there is something wrong the mobo which is the reason for it not detecting the HDD. I know the Chip Fan is completely bust, hopefully something else is too!
Nope esteban. If it was going slower and slower and now it is dead, then it is clearly a hard drive issue. Your only chance of getting those files back is a data recovery company, but i don't think the price of that service will be acceptable compared to the value of the files you lost.
As mentioned above, the freezer trick can work (Just google hdd freezer trick) - I've never tried it but reports are that it can work... I'm a week overdue my monthly backup - think I'll get round to that this evening...
When you say monthly backup, what exactly do you do? Back-up the whole HDD to another HDD? Is there a useful tool to do that with? I'd never really considered backing up a whole drive, it was always just photos and vids.
I've become a little data paranoid so yes - I use EaseUS To Do Backup Free for the job (I do a system image and a disk image just to be certain) - I then put the hdd in a case and keep it at work (i.e. not at home). That way if the worst was to happen (hdd failure, burglary, fire, flood, zombie apocalypse etc) I've got a copy of everything somewhere safe. The other thing is that there will always be something you miss if you just do individual files - for me it was game saves and stuff like that which are hidden away. I also use GameSave Manager to be certain (told you I was paranoid). Also for automated file backups SyncBack Freeware is good - my NAS backs itself up daily to an external hdd daily using that.
If you want to look into backups im sure there are plenty of people here who can help. I am currently using a Windows Home Server on a HP Microserver to backup all my Machines, then a USB Drive to backup the homeserver. Works like a treat and a quick repair if anything ever did go wrong
I do daily backups, without even moving a finger. How to : 1) get a spare computer (HP Microserver etc) with some disk capacity. 2) install Windows Home Server 2011. 3) on your desktop computer, install the Windows Home Server. 4) set up automated backups on that computer. 5) enjoy.
It's also worth looking at some kind of online backup like Mozy, Skydrive, DropBox etc. You probably won't have the space to backup everything, but you can at least backup pics and documents etc.
Another option if you have a nas or external drive or something that you back up your data too would be a combination of shadow spawn and robocopy. I spent the better part of last week configuring a method using those two applications to perform live backups of my users systems since the app we were using wasn't licensed for how we were using it and they wanted to charge us almost $200 to get the correct license. If anyone is interested PM me and u can send you a copy of the process we came up with, properly sanitized if course.
Great news folks! I have put the HDD in our new computer and it does show up and allow me to take files off it. It tends to disappear after about 20 minutes, which I assume is when it starts getting too warm. I can now put some serious effort in to getting eveything backed up regularly!! Thanks for all your help and suggestions, all very much appreciated.
