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help with a failed harddisk?

18 Mar

k. my hard drive wont boot so i put it in another comp set as the slave drive. when i try to open it windows just says this disk is not formatted, format it now? i have no clue what to do. help is greatly appreciated.

 
3 Comments

Posted in Recover Data Files, Unerase Files

 

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  1. Dalton C

    March 18, 2010 at 7:10 pm

    NOTE: If you format, you lose EVERYTHING. This means all files including the windows OS. Make sure you have the CD and the serial #.

    Heres what you should try first:

    Put it back into the computer as master like it was originally

    You need to run a chkdsk.

    Here:
    1. go to poweriso.com and download the FREE version. you can remove the program later.
    2. go to here http://www.ausgamers.com/files/details/h...
    3. scroll down a bit and the yellow download now button in the middle is what you want. Just save the file to your desktop for now.
    4. open poweriso program and click file > open and select the .iso file that is now on your desktop.
    5. click the burn cd [flame on cd icon] and click start
    6. once its finished take it to your computer
    7. turn on your comp and put the cd in
    8 it should boot to the CD automaticly. If not read step 8B

    [8B] while you’re computer’s booting up look for text in a corner like “F# = boot menu” whatever the # is, press that key repeatedly. If it doesn’t say, try F10 or F12. You’ll know if you got the right key when a list pops up with “CD ROM, Hard Drive, USB drive, ETC” select the CD rom.

    9. scroll to Filesystem tools. press enter.
    10. scroll to NTFS tools. press enter
    11. select the Avira NTFS4DOS Personal
    12. select the chkdsk utility.
    13. everything should run automaticly, with a few questions asking which drive you’d like to scan. the C: drive.
    14. reboot, take the cd out, and it should load fine.

     

  2. Brian F

    March 18, 2010 at 7:36 pm

    That *could* be because the other computer is seeing the drive differently in relation to number of heads/sectors. The bios has to play trick to access hard drives over certain sizes…

    It could also mean the old driver is really F*#&$ up…

    Put it back into the original machine, and boot from your windows boot CD. when it stops on the first blue screen, it should have an “R” option to go to Recovery Console.

    When you get into the recovery console, type
    chkdsk /p

    This will force a check disk on the drive and *might* fix your problems.

    If the boot CD does NOT see any previous versions of windows (it will tell you that, maybe not in those exact words) while booted from the CD in your original machine, the drive is really hosed. Some recovery software like from http://www.active-undelete.com/products.htm might be able to recover it for you. If I remember right, I think you can actually do a scan with the software and it will tell you what it can recover, before you pay for it.

     

  3. Rod G

    March 18, 2010 at 8:33 pm

    I know of one program that may work it is called spinrite, From GRC.com It is designed to repair a hardrive failure if it is from a software problem. It will not fix a hardware problem. I have had good luck with it. each case is different. It is not a cheap program but I have not found anything else for free. Good Luck