Retriving Data !! URGENT>

[tehrobzorz]

hey all, ive been here a few times and have built plenty of computers but nothing this strange has happend so far. ill straight into it.

a couple of days ago, i was buildin a comp for a friend. now, his one was better than my by heaps ( core2 e6600, 8800gts, 22" ws) so, i thought, might as well give his 22" a go on my computer. now, after i did this, windows hasnt ever started again properly. at first, it would only hang on the desktop where you can see the mouse, move the mouse but no start menu comes up/ desktop. the only way back then was to use task manager to start programs.

then, after i switched back to my old 17", it would load into the welcome screen.. and do nothing. 2 days after that, it mysteriously comes back to windows where you can see your desktop, but the res is stil 1680-1050 for some reason. you can move the mouse for 5 seconds after startup then windows freezes.

now, i thought merh.. might as well format. okay, so i then try to format but the first time it wasnt succsessful, so i restarted via the power restart button, tried again. this time, while it was copying the windows installation files, it would always stop at 92%. i thought my windows disk was dead or wateveer, so i copied a new one ( from an image on my other comp) and used that but that also stopped at 92%. now, i thought it must be the dvd drive. swaped it out and tried again. same thing. then i tried vista and guess waht, the setup doesnt even load. it just freezes just before you see the loading screen.

so then i tried backing up the rest of my files on this computer:

e6600
8800gts 320mb
seagate 160gb sata and 200gb ide
gigabyte ds4
2gb kingston 667

but guess waht? it doesnt work. during startup after the bios screen, it will just stay black. if i disconnect my old windows disk ( 250gb) it wil load into vista/xp etc..but somtimes it wont and it will come up with a message like :

NTLDR not found

press CTRL+ALT+DEL to restart.

after this i went back to my computer and tried installing windows on my backup drive ( 320gb seagate) but windows says i have to convert it to dynamic or somthing which i take it, needs formatting. so then i try with only my 250gb drive. everything loads until you get to the screen after you press [enter]installing xp [r] repair for recovery console [esc] to cancel setup.
after you press enter, it would normally come up with the EULA where you press F8 etc.. and it continues from there. BUT it doesnt come up. after about 3minutes, the BSOD COMES UP. IT says somthing about ntfsd not working properly and here i have ( i think ) a currupted hard drive. the 320gb is still fine im sure, its just taht i cant get my files from it! in xp i have to convert it to basic, but ill lose ALL OF MY BACKUP FILES. in vista it says [REACTIVATE]. im not sure about waht that does so ill try it unless you guys have much much better suggestions. [/b]

so my main concern is that i get my 320gb working. i dnt care about anything else. i need those files T_T

PLEASE HELP MEEE !! I NEEED TO SEND THIS COMPUTER AWAY SOON AND THEN ILL BE COMP-LESS

 

[amuehl1]

When you tried his monitor on your computer, did you set the resolution to one that your old monitor can't display? Have you tried booting in safe mode on your comp, and changing the resolution? If that doesn't work boot into safe mode then uninstall your video drivers, then reinstall.

I tend to get the NTLDR not found message when I screw with my boot-up sequence. I assume you checked that in the BIOS? My mobo will reset settings automatically if the system gets FUBAR'ed, and since we both have Gigabytes...

 

[tehrobzorz]

nono but thats all over now, and no i couldnt reset the res back to my old one cause the mouse would always freeze etc. ..

the problem is, i have a 320gb disk full of data and i need it. bad.

and also, if there is a way to convert a dynamic disk to basic without losing data that would be best.

 

[g-paw]

Your best bet is to put the 320 in another computer as a data drive and backup all your data to another drive, then you can try what ever you want, including RMAing the drive, because your data is safe

 

[tehrobzorz]

see te problem is that windows wont recognise the drive. it doesnt show in my computer and the only way to know its there is to check via disk management, where it says "unreadable". since its a dynamic disk, im guesing it requires the previous ( now gone ) windows to use/open it. ive tried sata>usb connections etc so im hoping you guys have other solutions for me.

has anyone got exp with windows vista? it says i can reactivate but iuno waht it does.

also, if you could somehow turn that dynamic into a basic it should then in turn be viewable in explorer no?

ill be gone for 2 days so ill leave it to you guys to ponder and solve it

PLEASEEEEE

 

[aziraphale]

Just get yourself the KNOPPIX bootable CD. http://www.knoppix.org

Boot with this one and set up a samba server. Like this you can recover any files over your LAN. If KNOPPIX doesn't recognize your HD it's either a BIOS problem or some defective hardware. Have you tried switching ports and cables?

 

[tehrobzorz]

cables ports computers the lot. so since i switched comps i dnt think its a bios problem. ill try that program and thanks for your reply.

 

[tehrobzorz]

uhh.. its like 700mb?

and also, i know its not a hardware problem since the program i found on seagates website works but i need to buy it [ omGOSH $130 ] but its simply just to much for me so im looking for other solutions.


care to tell me how this software works? i dnt wanna spend 2 days dling this if i cant work it.

 

[aziraphale]

It is a boot CD. You start it as if it were the Windows install CD. And after a few moments a complete system pops up with everything you need. You've got a graphical interface with browser and all the things you could imagine. From there you can share your HD's on your network via samba server. Find out your ip and look for it with another machine in your network. voila you're done. You could also burn CD's and DVD's from the KNOPPIX desktop. It's really simple and very well documented. I use it mainly as a recovery tool once Windows decides it's time to quit.

 

[Sevren]

If you have access to another hard drive of same size or more, I'd try imaging the drive first. Once you know your data is safely backuped, I'd try reactivating the drive in Vista. I've reactivated RAID drives before in Windows 2003 after one of the drives failed, and never lost data.

Even if that doesn't work, you've still got your original image. You can use True Image or Ghost to create your image.

 

[tehrobzorz]

can those software see the harddisk but? most programs ive tried cant see it because windows cant see it.

 

[aziraphale]

Just go ahead and try it; doesn't cost anything after all. But you really made sure the BIOS sees the disk, right?

 

[mkaibear]

When you say "now, i thought merh.. might as well format."

What did you format? Which drive and what partition on that drive did you format?

 

[tehrobzorz]

yes both computers the biso sees it and windows only recognises the disk as unreadable but it was.

http://services.seagate.com/diysoftware.aspx

that i think is the only solution so far but a whopping $ 130 just turns me off especially in USD.!


ill have to send this comp away soon so anything im open too. time is actually an issue now. anyone know where i can find a ( i know i know ==) illegit copy of that software? i need it so bad!

 

[tehrobzorz]

the entire 250gb but now it doesnt even boot up =(

 

[mkaibear]

Right. It's possible you've corrupted the Master Boot Record.

I'm going to concur with the others who've suggested using Linux. Download a copy of Knoppix, burn it to CD, and then boot the computer with the CD in the drive.

Once it's booted to desktop (shouldn't take too long!) try to access the disk. It should show up at least in Linux. With a little luck you will be able to pull the data off it.

You will need to have another hard drive of at least the same size available.

 

[tehrobzorz]

okay thanks.. ill give that a goo as soon as i can that 700mb file


couldnt i use normal linux?

 

[Eru]

correct me if i'm wrong, but i assume
a) you have two disks. the 250 gb OS disk and a 320 gb data disk.
b) the 320 gb disk is a dynamic disk which you're having trouble reading.

throretically it should work if you just plug in the disk into any windows xp sp2 machine. i have had external usb dynamic disk which worked fine (320 gb ide seagate). is your windows updated to sp2?
if it doesn't work, one of the problems could just be the rights assigned to the user. log in as administrator and give you ownership of the drive.
i assume it should be readable now, unless something drastic has happened.
i suggest you don't try to change the dynamic disk to basic disk, it tends to screw up big time.

all the best!

 

[mkaibear]

Knoppix *is* normal Linux.

 

[tehrobzorz]

thats what i thought but it just wont work.. it says unreadable in disk management so im guessing its unreadable to all "users"?


@ makibear : ooh right thanks.. i thought it would be waaaaaay smaller rofl.. [ <100mbs :roll: ]


kk ill try that admin thing and if it works.. you deserve a cookie


im off to bed after this! school tmrw =(

 

[tehrobzorz]

nup it ddnt work.. ill try posting screen shots of what it looks like.

im pretty sure its because of the fact that its dynamic that it needed the previous windows to see it? i know for a fact its readable as i said before when i used that program i could actually start recovering files but since its demo only, only files that were 64kb or smaller could be recovered.

im gonna get linux now, hopefully that will work D:


THANKS FOR YOUR ADVICE GUYS YOUVE BEEN TREMENDOUS SUPPORT FOR THIS LIL KID =D [ although more would be appreciated]



off to bed i go.

 

[Eru]

it's supposed to be accessible in xp sp2. is your version updated to sp2?
btw, i assumed your xp version is professional. xp home doesn't like dynamic disks.

i guess knoppix is the safest then. please do keep us posted.

 

[tehrobzorz]

everyone ive found a solution.

for future reference i hope that this will all benefit you etc =]

Ontrack Easy Recovery Pro

you can find it on torrents and it really helps bring your files back =]

sorry i ddnt go the linux track, i really ddnt have the time to download 700mb.

i really want to thank you all for your support and responses for my problem. hope this will show others who read this to prevent such catastrophe in future.


[i could really bllame this on windows for scrwing with us, but then again, if not windows.. who else? i wish with os' and there was more choice. [[eg, you fav brand of chips]] but hey, monopoly right?]

[edit] yes its sp2.. always sp2.

 

[tehrobzorz]

oh also, ill use vista to "reactivate the disk" to see waht happens okay?

 

[Eru]

may the force be with you!