please help asap

[ad_rach]

sorry this is in the wrong category but i wanted to get it read.i am trying to fix a friend's computer.when about to boot windows it says something along the lines of couldn't find boot record.so coz it's fairly new i decided to install windows again from scratch.anyway i have connected his hard drive to my comp to try to salvage the stuff he wants to keep off it.i am running win xp pro and usually when i connect up other hds i can access them straight away. this one, however, does not show up in 'my computer' even though it says 'this device is working properly in device manager'.any idea what's goin on or what's wrong with his comp?
His- duron 1100, 256sdram, 20gig piece of s**t hd
mine- xp2000, 512ddr,yadda yadda yadda.
any help is much appreciated

no matter how hard you try, you can't polish a turd. :]

 

[LED]

His partition data is gone. If you want to recover it in windows, repartition so windows sees it, then use "recover" software of choice. It'd be easier to recover in a non-windows enviroment though. That way you don't have to add a partition which increases the risk of further damage/loss to disk. I'm no expert in data recovery, so a google search may be more helpful than my post. I do know (or pretty sure anyway)windows needs to see a partion, and a recognizable format (NTFS, FAT) or else it wont read it. Then again there could be some serious surface damage, or other physical damage, like bad heads.....If that's the case, RMA, or trash the drive.

[-peep-].

 

[ad_rach]

thanks.i'll try that but i think it's probably a fault.i built the system for him but it was on a very tight budget (i built it for free but he still couldn't afford decent components-<£200).basically the hard drive is probably just s**t.still under warranty though so i might as well return it.Problem for me is that i can build computers but i'm usually at a loss when it comes to fixing them.

no matter how hard you try, you can't polish a turd. :]