2 hard drives-one with return code 7

[lbirkby]

I have a Dell 8400 with Windows XP. About 2 weeks ago I was downloading the newest iTunes when it froze. I turned the computer off and when I turned it back on I was stuck with a black screen. I have since installed a new hard drive and today I was going to try to recover some data from my old drive. When I turn the old hard drive off in BIOS everything works fine but when I turn it on I see the Windows XP logo and then a blank screen. When I run the hard drive diagnostics Drive 0 (new drive) is fine but Drive 2 (old drive) displays Drive 2 ST3160023AS-Fail Return Code 7. Is there any way to recover data off of the old drive? Thanks!

 

[SomeJoe7777]

Leave the computer in the boot-up state for a LONG time (could take 20-30 minutes). XP should eventually start, even though the other hard drive has something wrong with it.

You probably will not be able to see any data on the drive even after XP is running. You can try the demo of GetDataBack for NTFS and see if it will see any files on that drive. (It will probably take overnight or more to scan the drive, make sure and give it plenty of time until it finishes.) It if finds any files, you can purchase the program at that point to recover them.

Your probability of successful recovery is low. Drives that behave like you're describing frequently have something physically wrong with them, and will probably need to go to a drive recovery lab to recover the data. If you want the greatest probability of recovering the data, then skip trying GetDataBack and go straight to a recovery service. Try Recovery Force, they will give you a free estimate.