recover data from dead hard drive

[bilebalar]

hi, all.

i have a out-of-warrantly (2 yrs old only) dell inspiron 8600 laptop. when the user brought it to me, the fan was not spinning and the hd was making loud spinning noise.

it cannot be booted into windows. it gives a 'STOP 0X00000078' error which indictes a hd problem. i tried booting up with the Windows XP installation CD and went to Recovery Console to see if i can do a chkdsk. i was not prompted for the admin password. the result of a 'chkdsk c:' is THE SPECIFIED DRIVE IS INVALID OR THERE IS NO DISK IN THE DRIVE'. oh my, it sounds like the hd is not recognized.

i went to the BIOS and it does list there there is a 60GB hard drive!

ok, so i got this try before you buy GETDATABACK from runtime.org, so i made the bootable cd and but when i run it, it said 'YOU MUST HAVE ADMINISTRATIVE RIGHTS TO ACCESS LOGICAL OR PHYSICAL DRIVE'.
hmm... in BIOS, the admin password feature is disable.

is there any way to get access to the drive? if i get a laptop to ide hard drive adapter, and hook it up to a desktop as slave hd, will i be able to access it?

please please advise!!!

thanks a bunch in advance.

 

[kestrel1]

You should be able to access the drive if you do as you say & use a Windows XP machine to do this. Another option is a USB caddy, but I think the adapter may be the better way to go.

 

[bilebalar]

hi, kestrel1.

i did do what i said i did but nope, can't access it... thanks. i think i will get the adapter...

thanks.

 

[vacunita]

I would buy a laptop HDD to IDE adapter they are failry common and fairly cheap. and plug the laptop drive to a desktop Pc. see if the BIOS picks it up, if it does, then you might be able to get Getdataback to recover whatver is in there.

otherwise, maybe a professional data recovery service, might be the option, if the data in there is worth it.

----------------------------------
Ignorance is not necessarily Bliss, case in point:
Unknown has caused an Unknown Error on Unknown and must be shutdown to prevent damage to Unknown.

 

[wolluf]

Try the drive manufacturer's diagnostic - usually available from their website. Often have some ability to fix as well as diagnose.

 

[bilebalar]

update~~

yeah... i got the data off the drive by connecting as a slave to my desktop with the help of an adapter!!!

yeah...

so i guess the damage of the drive isn't that bad....

 

[kestrel1]

I wouldn't trust the drive. They are fairly cheep these days.
I am working on a laptop at present that keeps BSODing & I think the drive is failing. I am getting another drive before it goes all together.

 

[vacunita]

I would not trust that drive to muhc either. Maybe format it, and work with it a while, if it goes out the window again, its probably time to change it. Also a surface and Sector usiong suing the mfgr's driv tool should yield some helpfull information of the status of the drive.

----------------------------------
Ignorance is not necessarily Bliss, case in point:
Unknown has caused an Unknown Error on Unknown and must be shutdown to prevent damage to Unknown.

 

[bilebalar]

yeah...i got a new drive... i am just guessing only the boot sector is damage?