HD error, crash, and now lost.

[Alderune]

A week ago, my computer randomly rebooted on me. With a flash of a blue screen, I knew it couldn't be good. I video recorded the crash (happened every time I loaded Windows XP) because it was so fast, but i got it. It was an 'unmountable_boot_volume'. Needless to say, bad stuff.

Upon doing /chkdsk /r and what not, I was able to get past the error and move on. Well it happened again, and again I was able to get past it. The repairs via /chkdsk or even the error check while in windows that requires a reboot to run, would freeze my computer at around 67% or at some point in Stage 4.

This last time, BIOS will no longer even read my master HD (with my windows installation). I have a slave HD w/o windows on it. So now I'm up a creek without a paddle. I have a new HD sitting right here. I've got a few questions:

1) Are there easy ways to diagnose the HD problem and see if it is just a basic mechanical function that's off or if it is damage to the actual thing w/o opening it up?

2) Is there an 'easy' way to recover the data?

3) How far 'gone' does a HD have to be to not be able to the data from it?

4) If i get the HD going again, is there an easy way to transfer everything (copy, Image, etc) on that HD to the next? They're the same make, but difference size.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

 

[jay_pc]

Next time this happens, I would jump on repairing the MBR, that's likely what caused the issue, which then bled out into the FAT, due to frequent reboots and crashes. I would try slaving your drive in another machine and see if it shows up. If so, copy that which you need off it. If not, there is not much of an "easy" way to recover data. you can rebuild the FAT from scratch IF you can get it to show up again. If not, you're likely SOL. Good luck!

 

[SomeJoe7777]

Your hard drive is going bad. It may still be readable.

Install it as a second drive in another machine, and try GetDataBack for NTFS. There is a downloadable demo version that will show you if it can recover anything and what it could recover, and at that point you can buy it and recover your files.

If that doesn't do it, there are some other data recovery programs that you might try. Some other posters may post their recommended solutions.

Beyond that, you would need to send the drive to a data recovery service to have the data recovered.