Saving my files on an unbootable laptop

[hotsauce615]

My laptop went dead the other day and just keeps restarting over and over. It goes to a blue screen for a split second when windows is loading and then restarts. The rescue disk i have erases EVERYTHING. I don't want to lose what I have because I have audio production work I haven't backed up. I'm stumped as to what to do. Any advice??

[MyMindIsGoing]

I would remove the hard drive and inserting it to another computer and backing up what needs backing up. Then reinstall the laptop.

[Enigma]

I just went through a similar situation. When you put the disk into another computer, CheckDisk might try to run and repair things but it will ask you if you want to skip it...I let it run and I lost the whole drive because it found some unreadable sectors. There were 4 unreadable sectors and somehow the disk was then unformatted. So, I would say skip it at first and see if you can access the data. BTW, what caused it? Mine happened after a thunderstorm. The power went out and shut off the computer and messed stuff up.

[JoePro]

[ QUOTE ]
I would remove the hard drive and inserting it to another computer and backing up what needs backing up. Then reinstall the laptop.

[/ QUOTE ]

Very good suggestion.

If you can't do this, you can try booting with ERD Commander (http://www.winternals.com/products/repairandrecovery/erdcommander2002.asp) . From there you'll be able to copy files to a network (if you have one, that is).

[CORed]

FYI, if fixing 4 unreadable sectors trashed your file system, most likely the 4 sectors were critical sectors -- FAT (of MFT if NTFS), root directory, boot sector or MBR. If so, the disk probably wasn't salvageable without serious wizardry anyway. However, it's not a bad idea to try to read the disk without repairing the file system first.

[CORed]

Have you tried booting to safe mode? It might be possible to retrieve files (or even fix whatever is making it blue screen and reboot) if you can get it to boot to safe mode. Hit F8 repeatedly while it's booting, and you should get a menu with safe mode as an option. Also, there is a setting to disable the automatic reboot on a blue screen error. I don't remember exactly how to change that. It may not help much if it's blue-screening during boot up, though.

[Spota]

Sasser virus?

[Cerril]

Just so you know, you may be SOL. The best I was able to do to a drive once I got there was to hook it up to another computer and try to get at the files with various disk recovery utilities. I got about half of the stuff but I lost a bunch of my files and all my hand history junk.

[Andrew G. N.]

Because laptop drives are smaller than those in desktops, you'll need an adapter. This is the one I use, although there are others: SABRENT SBT-UI235 USB 2.0 to IDE ADAPTER

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16812156001

Basically, it allows you to plug a hardrive (notebook or desktop size) into any computer with a USB port. Also, you can just use one part of it and hook the drive directly to an IDE cable in a desktop computer. Most computer stores won't carry this, although I know Fry's Electronics stocks similar solutions, but you may have to mail-order.

Since your drive still attempts to boot into Windows, I expect that the drive is still going to work for you and that Windows on another computer will be able to access your files. However, if your laptop was failing before ever trying to start Windows (resulting in a message on the screen about a damaged hard drive), this solution would probably result in another computer complaing that the drive is damaged or unformatted. In that case, you'd need special software to read and recover the raw data still available.

[MyMindIsGoing]

The fysical size of the hard drive wont matter at all. You are not going to mount the drive just run it for a few minutes.

[Andrew G. N.]

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The fysical size of the hard drive wont matter at all. You are not going to mount the drive just run it for a few minutes.

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I agree that he won't have to screw the drive in to place permenately, and that physical size doesn't matter. But the IDE connector/pin size does matter. Unless he is going to plug it into another laptop, which also won't be able to read it?

My laptop, a Toshiba Qosmio, has two hard drives, so I could plug it in as a slave easily. But on how many notebooks will that be the case? Less than 1%.

So, we're talking about him needing to plug it in as a slave to a desktop's C: drive, or even as a secondary master, swapping it out for his desktop's CD drive. Which, since his laptop's drive is already set to be a master device, would be the easiest choice - unless/until he finds out that he needs to boot with a DOS boot-CD to rescue his data.

A 2.5" laptop hard drive has a different connector than a 3.5" desktop hard drive. Without having an adapter to allow the IDE cable in the desktop to plug into the laptop's hard drive, there is no reason to even open up the case. The plug won't fit, is what I'm trying to say.

[MyMindIsGoing]

Yes I know, I just wrote it so he wont buy a "kit" when all you need is that litte converter for the ide cable. Alot cheaper. If he buys a regular (non usb) converter it will also be alot faster to transfer.

[Andrew G. N.]

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Yes I know, I just wrote it so he wont buy a "kit" when all you need is that litte converter for the ide cable. Alot cheaper. If he buys a regular (non usb) converter it will also be alot faster to transfer.

[/ QUOTE ]

Oh, okay. The way I read it, I thought you were saying he didn't need anything additional, whatsoever.

The thing is, even if he can find just that part, it will still cost nearly as much:

http://www.connectworld.net/cgi-bin/iec/L1064

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=244974&CatId=412

And, by getting the kit, he won't even have to open his desktop. Just plug in to any computer's USB port.

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1225711&CatId=1204

http://www.byterunner.com/byterunner/product_name=USB20-IDE/user-id=/password=/exchange=/exact_match=exact

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=6786005634&category=41 993

http://www.imagestore.us/product.asp?pf_id=HY-USB20-IDE&dept_id=42-002

[MyMindIsGoing]

I see. I only looked around in Swedish shops though. The cheap alternative was less than $10 and a whole "kit" was $30. But the USB device might be a good alternative if you don't wanna open the other computer up.