Computer says noooo...

[Kymberly_S]

Hello..

I have a desktop that for some reason just stopped working (not my husbands or any of the others I have talked about here.. at least I don't think so anyway)

I tried all the troubleshooting ideas from other computer posts I have received in this forum for the other computers.. (don't worry.. won't let husband near it lol)

A black screen would come up with the selection of: go to last known configuration.. Safe mode.. etc.. nothing worked. Not hitting F8.. nothing.

Soooo. I have slaved it up the the only desktop that is functioning in the household and the computer has picked it up but when I go into 'My Computer' and click on the icon.. A window appears saying the hard drive is not formatted and do I want to format it now.. Of course I don't because it is/was formatted and worked fine in the other computer.. until it stopped working one day..

There are a lot of family photos and videos on here that I don't want lost..

What should I do??

 

[Flyordie]

Thats usually a kernel error... bad HDD might of caused it... you sure your husband hasn't hit this PC either?

Anyway... Reinstall the OS on that drive, see if it works. (wait for others to post and issue their opinion first though, I could be wrong as there are so many failure points on a PC)

Fly

 

[Kymberly_S]

If I reinstall the OS on the HDD.. won't that delete all the data that I am trying to retrieve?

 

[sneekypeet]

yes it will, i believe you want to ask members for recovery software options...freeware Im assuming, but I have not used any so please wait for better answers before writing a new OS to that drive.

 

[Nosada]

I have absolutely nothing to add to this thread except:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WOdjCb4LwQY&NR=1

Coincidence? I think not!

 

[Lazzer408]

yes it will, i believe you want to ask members for recovery software options...freeware Im assuming, but I have not used any so please wait for better answers before writing a new OS to that drive.

You can choose to repair the installation if Windows setup detects it.

 

[Kymberly_S]

ok.. I'm a little confused (doesn't take much).

I wouldn't have thought I needed recovery software as there was nothing wrong with the HDD until the computer stopped working?

When this has happened in the past (a couple of times over the past 10 years, not necessarily the same computer) I have slaved up the hard drive to another computer, sent all data to an external memory, re installed os and then transferred all data back.. no worries.

So, I have slaved up the hard drive but the desk top computer I have it slaved up to is saying the disk needs formatting? How could it need formatting if it is formatted and it has all our family stuff on it? Photos, videos etc?

Usually when I do this the computer picks it up as another drive and I am able to view and retrieve all data no worries.

Thanks

 

[Kymberly_S]

I have absolutely nothing to add to this thread except:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WOdjCb4LwQY&NR=1

Coincidence? I think not!

lol... I love this show!

If I choose to repair the installation if Windows setup detects it, do you mean put the hard drive back in the original computer?

(hope I am not confusing too many people.. but, can you please read the post above also)

 

[Kymberly_S]

I wonder if my questions have become confusing so I am going to attempt to clear it up in this post.

Thank you all for hanging in there with me.

I have a cheap desktop that my son and daughter were using. It is not the coolest, but it was functional and had all their photos and videos on it. They also had access to the net so all was hunky dory.

One day my son (adult) started the computer but it didn't load. It just went to the black screen where options are listed for the user to choose.
last known working configuration
safe mode
etc etc

I chose each one, none worked, only returning to the black screen with the selections.

I also tried F8 and that didn't work.

I have had a few computers to fix of late so this one was on the waiting list although my son is growing impatient for his hundreds of photos.

So, as I couldn't get it to kick over.. I slaved it up to my desktop (the only working desktop in the house) in my office.

This desktop (working one in my office) has had a few HDD slaved up to retrieve data and has been successful as it recognizes the slaved HDD as an extra drive and I have been able to view the data and transfer it to an external and then re load the orig OS and THEN put the data back.

However, when I slaved up the HDD from the desktop that wouldn't kick over, to the desktop in my office, a window appeared that said something like, 'this disk is not formatted, would you like to format it now'? Of course I selected NO.

Can anyone tell me why the computer is reading it this way?
What can I do to 'view' the data?
Am I able to retrieve through cmd prompt?

I don't want to reformat the HDD as then my son and daughter will loose all their photos, videos etc.

Both cords are plugged into the back of the HDD.

Sorry if I haven't been clear in previous posts.

I really am looking forward to getting this computer fixed, then my husbands desktop and then my life will hopefully return back to some kind of normal.

Appreciate your on going support and patience. Thank you.

 

[_Zod_]

The partition is messed up. You are going to have to get your hands on some recovery software. Leave the drive where it is now in the good machine. Install the recovery software and let it scan the bad drive. You can try iRecover http://www.diydatarecovery.nl/ for starters.

 

[Deleted member 3]

You might want to consider reading the guidelines, Little Britain quotes are not decent thread titles.

 

[Deleted member 67555]

do you have a different Operating system on the PC your connecting it to...
Like is the pc your connecting it to NTFS and your old computer was FAT32

 

[Kymberly_S]

You might want to consider reading the guidelines, Little Britain quotes are not decent thread titles.

Thowwy... It kind of did say no... like, no matter what I tried Didn't mean to break any rules, was just trying to stay light hearted in a frustrating situation. Please don't think I don't take you all seriously. I really do appreciate all the help and the time you have taken to answer my posts, a lot.

Hi Zod.. I am so afraid of loosing my kids stuff hey.. Have you done this before with a hard drive?


Hi jmcslob.. I guess I need to put the hard drive in the right computer to find out huh?
If they do differ... what does that mean?

Thanks

 

[_Zod_]

Sometimes recovery works, sometimes not so much. Since the drive is visible to the BIOS and OS of the working system there is achance you can recover some files. What operating system is installed in the working machine the bad drive is connected to and what OS is on the bad drive? Windows XP, 2k, Vista etc?

It sounds to me like a corrupted partition table. Sometimes this is repairable, sometimes it isn't. So I still recommend using some kind of recovery software to try and at least get a copy of the data before attempting any type of repair.

 

[troyrae360]

If I were you I'd make a Linux Ubuntu Bootable cd then see if you can see the data on the hd.
If that dosnt work id look at trying to recreate the partition if that dosnt work
You will need to format the harddrive and run O&O over it, I will bring back all the files but not filenames eg 002.jpg would be a photo file but you would have to open it to see what photo

 

[newtekie1]

First thing I would try is putting it back in the original computer, then booting to the XP disc, and pushing R when prompted to get to the recovery mode.

This should bring you to a command prompt. Then run a Chkdsk /f on the drive and let it run and fix anything it finds. Hopefully, this will recovery the lost sectors, and allow you to boot the drive.

The other option is to leave it connected to the computer you have running, and running chkdsk [drive letter] /f from a command prompt there.

It sounds like there is curroption in the partition somewhere, meaning the drive is probably on its way to death.