Hard Drive I/O Errors, tries to boot, but other OS can't read it.

Toggle sidebar Toggle sidebar
Status
Not open for further replies.
Q

quantumnet

Reputable
Feb 13, 2016
6
0
4,520
I recently encountered a problem with my boot drive for an older laptop. It contains 2 paritions, the first is the main partition, the second, recovery partition. The OS installed is Vista.

Whenever I try and boot the computer, it will load up the Windows start screen with progress bar loop. It stays there for a while with the HDD light on the laptop blinking minimally. After about 5 minutes. There is a very short bluescreen that stays on for less than a second before restarting, making it impossible to read the error. I then decided to get linux on a flashdrive and boot from it to access the drive and copy my files; however, I get numerous I/O errors when trying to access it. I can't do anything to the drive. The drive can't be read, but the partitions still show up. What strikes me as odd, is that the computer detects the drive and tries to boot from it, but it fails to be read in another os. I have also tried opening it in miniXP to run chkdsk, but it results in I/O errors as well. SMART is unreadable.

EDIT: The miniXP tests were done in another computer other than the original ruling out connection problems, ram, etc.

My goal is to try and access the drive to get data off of it.

Any insight on this problem is greatly appreciated. Thanks!
 
Solution
Q
Well, I ended up getting it to open in gparted under partedmagic linux. There, I created a new partition table and booted into miniXP where I used a recovery program to scan the drive for files and I got the files I needed. SMART was also able to be read for a very short period in partedmagic where it indicated the drive had some 30000 errors, so yes, the drive is just about dead. I'm surprised I got it to work at all.

EDIT: I can't seem to select this as the answer, so if a mod could, either mark this as the answer, or delete the thread. Thanks.
Sort by date Sort by votes
Q

quantumnet

Reputable
Feb 13, 2016
6
0
4,520


I've tried to use it in another computer, that's where I did the miniXP tests. However, I get the exact same problems.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
rgd1101

rgd1101

Don't
Moderator
Nov 7, 2011
73,313
3,855
176,290


there are professional data recovery service, is that what you are looking for? or is this one of those "I have important data but didn't backup or want to send money to do recovery"?
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Q

quantumnet

Reputable
Feb 13, 2016
6
0
4,520


It's more or less that I have some important data that wasn't backup, yet the majority is backed up. I feel that there may be some work around to trying to access the drive since the computer can try to boot from it with initial success, indicating that the data is still intact, to a point, and that the drive is somewhat functional. I'm wondering if someone possibly knows what type of problem this is. Like, is it that the platter has gone bad, or maybe the PCB, etc. I just want an answer to what might be to problem, not the easy solution of, "Get a new drive, or send it off to data recovery facilities." The drive has no clicking noises like the click of death, and it audibly sounds similar to drive operation of other functioning drives. There are no visible burn marks or scratches on the PCB as well.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Q

quantumnet

Reputable
Feb 13, 2016
6
0
4,520
Well, I ended up getting it to open in gparted under partedmagic linux. There, I created a new partition table and booted into miniXP where I used a recovery program to scan the drive for files and I got the files I needed. SMART was also able to be read for a very short period in partedmagic where it indicated the drive had some 30000 errors, so yes, the drive is just about dead. I'm surprised I got it to work at all.

EDIT: I can't seem to select this as the answer, so if a mod could, either mark this as the answer, or delete the thread. Thanks.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Solution
Status
Not open for further replies.

TRENDING THREADS

Latest posts

Moderators online

Share this page

COMPANY
RESOURCES
FOLLOW
Top Bottom