Kong, Help Me Recover My Data

[TrakMastaTom]

How's that for a thread title?

I am selling a bunch of my stuff right now to raise money so I can get a professional to do it for me, because I don't want to lose pretty much every rap/poem I have written in the past 3 years. Plus it has over 100 beats I've made and probably 20 songs that are almost finished.

So I turned on my computer one day and I got a blue screen. It basically said "If you installed any hardware in your computer recently, you did it wrong. You may have a bad hard drive. Your computer is shutting down so as not to do any more damage."

And I turned it off and turned it back on probably 3 times. I still get that error.

I made my peace with the fact that I would probably have to pay a couple hundred bucks (?) to get someone to salvage my data for me. But if you can help me be sure I get it back I would be very appreciative.

[Kong]

That is not a hard drive crash. That is a Windows crash. Very different. Recovering from a OS crash is much easier.

Did you make any changes recently to your computer? Install any software or hardware? Change a driver? Windows Updates?

You have a couple ways of doing this. I will list the best ones. If you need more I will list them.

First way.
Get an external hard drive encasement. $25 at local computer store. Put your hard drive in it and connect to another computer. Back up your data.

Second way.
Get a second working computer - desktop, not laptop.
Turn off and unplug both computers.
Open both computers.
Remove hard drive from your computer. Write your name on it so you don't get confused.
Figure out if it is IDE or SATA. IDE is the top picture. SATA is the bottom picture.


It is probably IDE. If it is IDE search google for how to install a second IDE hard drive - Google Search
If it is SATA then search for how to install a second SATA hard drive - Google Search

It is easy. After you have installed your drive in the other computer you can turn it on and see your drive from "my computer". Make back ups.

Third Way
Turn on computer. While it is booting repeatedly press F8. It should ask if you want to enter Safe Mode. Select safe mode and then make back ups of your drive. If you see the Blue Screen again then go on to the fourth way.

Fourth Way
When you get to the blue screen of death copy the error codes. This link shows you what to look for Windows Stop Error - ResNetWiki
Doing this to get the error codes one more time is a good idea. Repeatedly doing it is bad.

After you have made back ups.
You should be able to put the drive back in your computer. Format and reinstall Windows.

[TrakMastaTom]

Oh. Wow. That makes things much easier.
I have a ton of hard drive enclosures. My hard drive is a sata I am pretty sure.
My computer lied to me!
I did not make any changes before I got that blue screen, it came out of nowhere.

The only problem now is that I probably need to buy a hard drive to back everything up on. But that's no big deal I suppose.

I don't know how to reinstall Windows. Do I have to have a disc? Because I don't know that I do.

[Tails]

TMT that title should be made into your next song. :P

[Kong]

Yes you have to have a disk.
After you have the back up, you can try the fourth way listed above and maybe skip having to reinstall.

In case this happens to someone else here are some clearer steps. The goal in these steps is to get the drive to a state where you can make a back up. After getting a back up, you should probably not trust the drive again. If it failed once it could be on it's way out permanently.

1. Try booting into safe mode by pressing F8 repeatedly while the computer is booting.
2. If you get a blue screen of death look up the error code for instructions Windows Stop Error - ResNetWiki
3. Try recovering it by using an external drive enclosure or installing it as a second drive in a different computer.
4. Use GRC|SpinRite 5.0 to 6.0
5. If you know what you are doing use Hiren's BootCD v10.1 (2009) {ET} (download torrent) - TPB If you don't know what you are doing and it is worth it hire someone that does. This should be $50-$200
6. If it is worth you can pay several thousand dollars and have professionals dismantle the drive in a clean room and recover the data from the platters. This could be over $10,000.
7. Slap the drive hard once on your thigh. It is like a record player on the inside. Sometimes the "needle" gets stuck and needs to be dislodged. This can make the problem worse but if you are at this stage it can't get much worse.
8. Put the drive in a zip lock bag and freeze it. While it is still frozen put it back in the computer and turn on the computer and make a back up. It will probably work until it thaws and then it will never work again. Preferably do this as a second drive or external drive.

[TrakMastaTom]

So after I back up the data on my hard drive are you saying I shouldn't use it again because it is likely to have more problems? Or is that not related to my specific problem since it's just the OS? I'm assuming that wasn't directed at me, but just want to make sure.

---------- Post added 01-07-2010 at 12:57 AM ---------- Previous post was 01-06-2010 at 11:25 PM ----------

Also, is there any way I could burn an image to a disc to install my OS? I don't have a Windows installation disc. Could I torrent one? Or maybe I should try Linux rather than spend money on a Windows disc? Or something?

[Kong]

Originally Posted by TrakMastaTom

So after I back up the data on my hard drive are you saying I shouldn't use it again because it is likely to have more problems? Or is that not related to my specific problem since it's just the OS? I'm assuming that wasn't directed at me, but just want to make sure.

Yes that was directed at you too.

Options.
1. Get error codes from BSOD. Google them and find out what caused the problem.
2. Use spin rite. It is fairly easy to use and should do any harm and should either fix the drive or tell you that it is bad.
3. Assume the drive is on it's way out. You risk losing data you store on it in the future or at the very least going through this process again.

Also problems like this are often caused by repeatedly turning the computer off without shutting it down - unplugging.

Also, is there any way I could burn an image to a disc to install my OS? I don't have a Windows installation disc. Could I torrent one? Or maybe I should try Linux rather than spend money on a Windows disc? Or something?

All of those are valid options.

[TrakMastaTom]

Cool. I'll get it worked out, thanks for your help.