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Retrieving data from failing hard drive

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leedwala

Technical User
Jun 9, 2004
1
GB
hi there

My hard drive is a Maxtor DiamondMax Plus 9 80GB Hard Disk Drive - 7200rpm and is split into 2 partitions:
-C: which has XP, apps and is 20gb
-D: has all my data stored and is 60gb

Last week my comp kept on hanging on the Windows XP Prof start screen, which is black with a moving bar at the bottom, and did not let me login.

So i took the HD out and put into an older PC as a slave drive. I was able to see all the data on both partitions of the HD the first time but the next time i rebooted, the "C" drive of the slave didnt let me in, saying "you need to format this disk" but this did not happen with the D drive on the slave.

Then i used recovery console on the XP CD using the CHKDSK /R. this stopped on 25% on the C: drive and on 75% on the D: drive.

I then reinstalled XP on the C drive (back in my new comp), thinking that i would solve my problems. However wen i booted the system XP started to check for file or disk consistency using CHKDSK and listed a number of "filerecord segments" which were deemed to be "unreadible". After this i decided to install Nero on the C drive and tryed to burn my stuff from the second partition D:. However, the burn process failed when i tried to burn some of the files.

It was clear to me that the HD was failing and verified this using PowerMax software availible from maxtor.com. This gave me a warning that the hard drive was failing as well as a "deada379" code which I couldnot use since my warranty on the HD has run out!

Obviously im gonna have to buy a new HD and am thinking of getting a 80gb Hitachi Deskstar 7K250. also i intend to make the failing Hard drive a slave and in that way slowly retrieve data from the D: drive by copying it accross.

-is this a good idea?

-how can i minimise the loss of data from hard drive since i noticed that wen trying to delete some files on the D: i get a "cyclic redundancy" message?

-im assuming that the less i try to modify any data the less it will affect the corruption, though does simply accessing the data effect the corruption?

-also, wen ive HOPEFULLY retrieved the data, deleted all partitions and formated the failing HD, is there any way of using/fixing it so i can boost my capicity to 160gb with the new one
(though this isnt essential but would be a big advantage)
???

Hope u read all that, SORRY for the long post and i hope u can answer my queries and give me some HELP!!!!

THANK YOU IN ADVANCE
 
You need to get that data ASAP (not slowly). How much actual data is there? I'd disconnect the drive until you have new drive installed, up and running an o/s (if its failing, the less use the better). Then connect it as slave and copy everything you need immediately to the new drive (from where you can backup to CD/DVD or whatever). Then bin the old drive - it will only ause you grief if you try repairing/reusing it.

PS. Hopefully you'll recover all you need & take the lessons (always regularly back up what you can't afford to lose, and if you have signs of a failing drive - act quickly to recover what you need - which shouldn't ne very much if you start a backup regime).
 
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