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| Thread ID: 127011 | 2012-09-29 09:29:00 | Imaging a dead harddrive, what are my options? (Kinda urgent) | 8ftmetalhaed (14526) | Press F1 |
| Post ID | Timestamp | Content | User | ||
| 1304053 | 2012-09-29 09:29:00 | Hey all, I've been given a Sony Vaio (pink thing) laptop to fix. Seems like the harddrive is dead. Won't boot past the bios logo, sits at a blinking cursor. Tried using my windows disk chkdsk /r at the command prompt, tried making a mint 13 bootable drive. The mint disk utility states the 320gb file system can't be mounted, and the smart status is 'has a few bad sectors', but it could mount the 13gb recovery partition. Downloading Livecd@ thing at the moment to try and image the recovery partition if possible, but beyond that what are my options? I wouldn't mind being able to recover the data from this thing, do you think I'd get better results putting it in my desktop and trying? (don't have a sata enclosure) If I can get the recovery partition imaged, would it even work? Just rebooted it and tried f10 to get into the console, but it's currently sitting at a black screen. Beyond that, it's got an OEM sticker for vista which I guess I could try reinstalling with those ISO's I can get through MSDNAA, but do they follow the same workaround as the win 7 ones (delete ei.cfg, install any version?) Hell, even if I do, is it likely to work on a drive with bad sectors? |
8ftmetalhaed (14526) | ||
| 1304054 | 2012-09-29 10:13:00 | Bad sectors? Hmmm, so if it still detectable by the BIOS, it isn't totally dead. Image it. Dunno whats good with that these days, the 2003 version of Ghost (The last real one before Symantec chnaged it) would image with errors using command line switches. If successful, then you just Windows Repair the new drive. |
pctek (84) | ||
| 1304055 | 2012-09-29 10:39:00 | alright, well i managed to get an image of the recovery drive. currently, the partition recovery tool of this active@ live cd is able to see the folder structure of the C drive (at least the root, didn't check further before setting it going). Just reading the log outputs of it, it's 10% done and currently can't read a number of sectors, but hell if it can pull anything of the drive that I can use, awesome. At least it doesn't mind being sat there to do its own thing. |
8ftmetalhaed (14526) | ||
| 1304056 | 2012-09-29 10:41:00 | For data recovery, if you can get another PC to boot with the Drive attached, then scan it with www.easeus.com The Free version only allows 1GB of data total. If you want more then you need to pay for it. Just finished doing a Friends HDD, had 5381 Failed sectors, yet managed to get a lot of the data back. Some usable some not. The drive was seen, but could not be opened, even Ubuntu turned its nose up at it. |
wainuitech (129) | ||
| 1304057 | 2012-09-29 10:47:00 | I might have a go at taking it out and putting it either into that old HP laptop I've got, or into my desktop or something then. (the hp laptop has 2 hdd's. neato, assuming it's the same interface) Provided I did manage to pull the data off this thing, would reinstalling windows onto it be viable (lol pun) or would it indicate the drive needs replacing? |
8ftmetalhaed (14526) | ||
| 1304058 | 2012-09-29 11:12:00 | My general rule is, if a Drive has bad Sectors, forget using it. Once they start,sooner or later they usually continue failing . If a Drive can be replaced under Warranty Due to Failed Sectors by the manufactures, thats a good indication of whats gonna happen. |
wainuitech (129) | ||
| 1304059 | 2012-09-29 12:22:00 | alright. Bummer is, the power adapter's shaky too (only charges when held in a certain direction) which was causing it to also flash lights at me when I tried booting it, so nto sure if I should suggest a new drive or what. Will see. |
8ftmetalhaed (14526) | ||
| 1304060 | 2012-09-30 06:05:00 | Also, laptop drives are so darn delicate. My gut feeling is that the less they are handled the better, so I'd rate moving it to another machine as a last resort, as the process just might damage the drive even further. Never ever grip a laptop hard drive with fingers/thumb against the flat faces - they're just not tough enough to give adequate protection. |
Paul.Cov (425) | ||
| 1304061 | 2012-09-30 09:35:00 | I should stop doing tat to mine then heh In any case, not touching it till tomorrow now, but tried using photorec to pull images, docs videos and music from the drive. Didn't have too much luck, but it took like 6 hours before I cancelled it at 98% done. Imaging it took equally long last night, but the damn thing didn't even work. TL;DR it seems it's buggered. I think though, I'm gonna try and use my old laptop drive in it. I'll see if I can use that recovery partition I pulled to restore it onto my drive (which DOES work) and then if it does I'll let them know they'll need a new HDD. Bit of a convoluted process to go through, but mum reckons they mightn't be the type to want to spend alot of money (re:any) and I don't intend on giving away anything for free (IE my old HDD, or a license that I have spare for an OS sitting around. what a blah. |
8ftmetalhaed (14526) | ||
| 1304062 | 2012-09-30 11:22:00 | and I don't intend on giving away anything for free (IE my old HDD, or a license that I have spare for an OS sitting around. Or hours of your life you will never get back? :) |
fred_fish (15241) | ||
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