Long story short, my laptop HD was damaged physically from a sudden power off. Now Windows XP Pro starts loading, then BSOD for lass than a second, then automatic restart. The option to boot from safe mode doesn't work either. Basically, I have no access to Windows. I'm trying out "PE Builder" to try to access some files pre-Windows boot. I have the paid program "GetDataBack NTFS" already and I'm trying to work with that too. The key thing is I have no Windows access whatsoever. Can you guys recommend anything to allow me to try to recover some files before junking the drive?

All my music is backed up thank god, but I made a really great megamix just last night that I'd really like to save!

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Click the link below to stream all of my mixes past and present. New mixes go up about once a month. Enjoy!

www.mixcloud.com/jluger

you are fucked. sorry.

lol

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Click the link below to stream all of my mixes past and present. New mixes go up about once a month. Enjoy!

www.mixcloud.com/jluger

you can always get a notebook to IDE adapter. you can get them really cheap off ebay:

i don't know if this would work, but trying never hurts. lol. load your windows xp cd, and have it go to "recovery mode". you will be sent to the dos screen. do a 'fixboot' command, and it will fix your master boot record. that could work.

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I appreciate some of the suggestions guys. Gonna try the fixboot one. And I've read about the adapter poster as well. I ended up using the "GetDataBack" program along with this freeware program called "PE Builder" to actually access my HD off of a Boot CD and then I was able to transfer any file off it to my external 2 GB flash drive. All in all, it worked out great! I would say, don't forget about these programs if you're ever in my situation. I'm gonna try and reformat now and see if that does anything, so I'll know once and for all if the HD, physically, is screwed.


Thanks again guys.

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Click the link below to stream all of my mixes past and present. New mixes go up about once a month. Enjoy!

www.mixcloud.com/jluger

I had that exact issue about 3 weeks ago. I ended up just formatting the drive and reinstalling XP. That fixed the problem. It was just the biggest pain in the ass reinstalling everything

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Originally posted by _Nut_ I had that exact issue about 3 weeks ago. I ended up just formatting the drive and reinstalling XP. That fixed the problem. It was just the biggest pain in the ass reinstalling everything

Yeah I hear y. Honestly I didn't expect it to work. I'm kinda surprised the Dell Tech Support guy didn't at least recommend reformatting though. I was better off on my own.

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Click the link below to stream all of my mixes past and present. New mixes go up about once a month. Enjoy!

www.mixcloud.com/jluger

I would have suggested taking the drive out, putting it into an enclosure and accessing it through another computer.

I had to the exact same problem for a laptop I was fixing for somebody else. Broke out my enclosure and had access to the drive in no time.

I guess it's not the right choice for most, because it involves taking apart the laptop, so if you are not comfortable with that, then yes a software method would be welcome.

Dealing with this situation is part of what I do for a living. Trying the USB adapter mentioned above is the first thing I usually try since if that works, its the fastest way to get your data off. If that does not work, try using a boot CD similar to the one you are using. My personal favorite is the Ultimate Boot CD. Once booted, you have a number of options at your disposal. You can run recovery tools, my favorite being Easy Recovery Pro, then dump them to a connected USB drive or the network or even burn to a CD. If you don't have access to this CD, you can also use ERD Commander 2005 which does the same type of thing but is very limited compared to the UBCD. (Thinking more about it, I could just upload the UBCD ISO for you if you'd like just let me know)

If all else fails, your last option is the freezer method. There has been a lot of success with this method. Just do a Google for freezing a hard drive. Basically, you freeze your HD in a plastic bag for 8 or more hours, then try recovery. Sounds ridiculous, but the articles speak for themselves.

In the end, if you simply cannot live without the data, there are recovery companies but you are going to pay a high price. When I do recoveries I deal with Ontrack.com and their price for getting back data is usually around $2400 bucks. They have a high success rate and only 1 time have I seen them unable to recover data. This price is usually out of the question for the average person but when dealing with executives and some having 5 years of critcal data lost, its a small price to pay.

Good luck!

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Originally posted by miamitranceman Long story short, my laptop HD was damaged physically from a sudden power off. Now Windows XP Pro starts loading, then BSOD for lass than a second, then automatic restart. The option to boot from safe mode doesn't work either. Basically, I have no access to Windows. I'm trying out "PE Builder" to try to access some files pre-Windows boot. I have the paid program "GetDataBack NTFS" already and I'm trying to work with that too. The key thing is I have no Windows access whatsoever. Can you guys recommend anything to allow me to try to recover some files before junking the drive? All my music is backed up thank god, but I made a really great megamix just last night that I'd really like to save!

Get a copy of BartPE, then boot up windows from the BartPE cd, get it all of onto an external usb drive.

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Originally posted by DJ Mikey Mike Social outcasts are often of the opinion that they must have a drink before being able to loosen up with their inhibitions, thus being able to have a good time. There's a word that sums up this sort of behaviour, and that word is 'reject.'

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Originally posted by _Ocean_Drive_ Get a copy of BartPE, then boot up windows from the BartPE cd, get it all of onto an external usb drive.

That's EXACTLY what I did after doing some research online. Amazing free program I think everyone should download "just in case".

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Click the link below to stream all of my mixes past and present. New mixes go up about once a month. Enjoy!

www.mixcloud.com/jluger