How to read data from a faulty HDD

[petko131]

Hi,
I have a WD400BD(40GB-1st image) HDD for my OS. Currently, this is the only hard drive in my PC that is connected.
I also have a WD1600AAJS(160GB-2nd image) HDD witch is faulty. It is from my old PC and i really need to regain some important data. I tried to install Windows XP in order to run it separately, but the installation fails.

It doesn't have bad sectors, but for some reason i can't boot up with both drives connected simultaneously. Windows 7 freezes @ the starting screen (3rd image) and stays like that until I restart.
On my motherboard i have 4 SATA II ports- 40GB is connected to port #2 (#1 doesn't recognize it :shock: ).
I also have 4 sata cables, and i tried replacing them (suspecting on a bad cable ) but nothing changes...

Any type of help will be gladly appreciated!

 

[fireberd]

Is the "bad" drive detected in the BIOS?

As the good drive is not detected in slot 1 suggests a problem on the motherboard or BIOS. Reinstall the ASUS provided Intel motherboard chipset drivers and see if that helps.

Will Windows boot to Safe Mode with the "bad" drive connected? If you can get it booted to safe mode you can copy off what data you need, assuming the drive is not totally bad. However, as Windows will not boot with the drive connected suggests there is more wrong with the drive and you may not be able to recover the data.

This is a good lesson on why backups to a separate media is needed - not for IF its ever needed but for WHEN its needed.

 

[bassfisher6522]

As fireberd pointed out with the chipset driver, have you checked on the rest of your drivers to make sure that all are updated. Sometimes a BIOS update will help with these types of issues.

 

[petko131]

Tried what you guys said, but no result... I can't start safe mode.
At first, BIOS recognized the 160 GB drive I exited it, and windows started loading (again only to the picture shown in my previous post). When i restarted and entered BIOS again, the 160 drive disapeard :shock:

After i disconnected the 160 drive and booted up again, Windows demanded to start system repair (witch i did). Still no access to the files...

~Is there any possibility to save the drive and use it regularly, if we manage to repair it ?

 

[bassfisher6522]

Does the faulty drive have a OS installed on it? As you stated in your original post that you tried to reinstall XP and it failed, which leads me to believe that with it being faulty and a bad install that it really messed up the drive.

Will the bad drive boot up if its the only drive plug in?

 

[petko131]

I tried to boot from the bad HDD with win XP, but if failed. Now windows XP setup is running only with that drive connected, but it is going really slow half an hour for the 1st step of installation...

 

[pjhutch]

Do you have a external HD case which you can insert it into, so that you can boot from your PC and then you can connect the drive afterwards. You can get one for about £15 from PC World
Otherwise it is a visit to those HD Recovery professionals...
e.g. http://www.fields-data-recovery.co.uk/

 

[petko131]

DAMN Installation failed!!! fore some reason, the computer restarted but it didn't continue the setup.... No message was displayed, nothing... seem like it's totally dead :shock:

 

[petko131]

Do you have a external HD case which you can insert it into, so that you can boot from your PC and then you can connect the drive afterwards. You can get one for about £15 from PC World
Otherwise it is a visit to those HD Recovery professionals...
e.g. Fields Data Recovery - USB, RAID & Hard Disk Drive Repair and Data Recovery

Don't have it, but I will either have to buy that or a new HDD and say good buy to the data...

 

[petko131]

Is there any other way to enter the disk data?


As mentioned before, i tried to boot with safe mode, but to be honest, I didn' even get to the screen were you choose waether to start windows normaly or start safe mode even though i pressed F8 to enter the boot menu...

Maybe i can try instaling Linux... any other suggestions ?

P.s. I'm on my mobile so i can't do anything at the moment...

 

[petko131]

I have checked my BIOS drivers in system informations, and it says my current driver is 1101 from 5/18/2009. So then i went to the Asus manufactures site and searched for P5N-D BIOS Drivers
I selected my OS and downloaded the "newest" version- 1401 as a .zip file. I extracted the archive and a 1401.BIN file came out.
I don't know how to install this now, and some help would be good


p.s. I've reduced the OC on my CPU in order to keep it safe

 

[pjhutch]

You need to create a DOS Boot disk (See Bootdisk.Com) and download and copy the Phoenix Award BIOS flash tool version 1.34 from the same ASUS site and the BIN file and run the exe tool with the bin file to update the BIOS.

 

[petko131]

I updated my BIOS to the latest version (1401), and then again tried to boot with the faulty drive.
At first the mobo screen appeared reaaalllyyy fast! (3 times faster then usual), and there was no BEEEP from the mobo. Then i hit DEL to enter setup (it took 20 sec to enter bios - 5 times longer then usual). Bios sees the 160 bad drive and every thing appears normal. Then I hit ESC and selected Windows7 for my os (I have a dual boot-but when I choose the other system it wont boot with it -complicated).

Again the boot was stuck on the Windows loading screen, but i noticed the front panel LED light (HDD light) was blinking on every 2-3 seconds- that wasn't the case before.

After removing the bad drive windows booted up normal...

 

[Kaktussoft]

Can you boot form win7 install DVD, win7 system repair disk? Or advanced boot options (where you see safe mode) and select repair my computer. So you see this


Select command prompt there:

diskpart
list  disk

Is bad disk listed? Is the number 0,1,2 or ....?

 

[petko131]

No i can't
Every time i try the boot gets stuck @ the windows loading screen-even if i boot from system disk (In BIOS i set the DVD drive for 1st boot device).

I also tried to run safe mode, safe mode with networking and safe mode with command prompt. No use, every time it gets stuck on the driver loading screen (I left it for 20 min.).
Also tried out this tutorial but neither does option 1 or 2 work for me...
What should i do next?

 

[Kaktussoft]

No i can't
Every time i try the boot gets stuck @ the windows loading screen-even if i boot from system disk (In BIOS i set the DVD drive for 1st boot device).

I also tried to run safe mode, safe mode with networking and safe mode with command prompt. No use, every time it gets stuck on the driver loading screen (I left it for 20 min.).
Also tried out this tutorial but neither does option 1 or 2 work for me...
What should i do next?

Even boot from win7 install disk/win7 repair disk freeze at same point?

 

[petko131]

No i can't
Every time i try the boot gets stuck @ the windows loading screen-even if i boot from system disk (In BIOS i set the DVD drive for 1st boot device).

I also tried to run safe mode, safe mode with networking and safe mode with command prompt. No use, every time it gets stuck on the driver loading screen (I left it for 20 min.).
Also tried out this tutorial but neither does option 1 or 2 work for me...
What should i do next?

Even boot from win7 install disk/win7 repair disk freeze at same point?

Yes

 

[Kaktussoft]

No i can't
Every time i try the boot gets stuck @ the windows loading screen-even if i boot from system disk (In BIOS i set the DVD drive for 1st boot device).

I also tried to run safe mode, safe mode with networking and safe mode with command prompt. No use, every time it gets stuck on the driver loading screen (I left it for 20 min.).
Also tried out this tutorial but neither does option 1 or 2 work for me...
What should i do next?

Even boot from win7 install disk/win7 repair disk freeze at same point?

Yes

Win7 and windows boot disks check for disks and partitions on startup. But if my memory is fine... you tried to install winxp on that bad harddisk... correct? That winxp install CD booted fine?

 

[pscowboy]

I'm late to this party, but I'd like to ask a stupid question.

Why can't you put the suspect hd into an external enclosure - then plug it in after you reach the desktop? Don't try to boot with both connected.

 

[petko131]

Even boot from win7 install disk/win7 repair disk freeze at same point?

Yes

Win7 and windows boot disks check for disks and partitions on startup. But if my memory is fine... you tried to install winxp on that bad harddisk... correct? That winxp install CD booted fine?

correct! I did try to install XP on the bad drive, but it failed to install @ 2/3 of the setup. After that fail i put the HDD to side, and yesterday, after 2 months i tried again to do the same(in both cases the bad drive was only connected). This time, the setup failed @1/3 of installation process, and there was no BSOD or any message saying why the setup failed, just a restart and it didn't continue installing.
I was thinking about Ubuntu Linux. maybe to install it to he bad drive, pick up data to a Flash memory and try to format it... What do you say for that idea? Would it work?
p.s. I would have to download a pirate version of linux, because i don't know anyone who has it, and i can't buy it anywhere...