I restarted my PC...and it won't come back on.

[Mr. Casual]

...I think my Hard drive is messed up.

I'm on another PC right now. Yesterday I restarted my PC after doing a disk cleanup. Now I guess its stuck in "endless reboot" (Something I read on the net, but thats what its doing...) I put in the Vista CD to repair the issue, and it DIDN'T EVEN DETECT THE OS!:DOH: It asks to load drivers, and I can access a few files, but I don't know which files are which. None of which are from the C: drive.

I tried the repair option, but it said something was wrong with the Hard drive. I don't get it! It was working FINE before...FINE!:-( Well, there was an issue about disk defragging not working correctly.

In the menu where it asked me to detect the OS, it did have an option to load drivers for the Hard drive, but I don't think it came with a CD. If it did, I can't find it, but thats something I surely would have kept. Its a 150 gig Raptor, BTW.

If I really do need to replace it (and I hope its still under warranty even though I no longer own the box...) is there any possible way to get files off a broken one? Thats the main reason I didn't format it yet.

What I really need is:

1. A driver for a 150 gig Raptor or something that tells me what it looks like or where it is (it might be on my mobo CD, I don't know) in hopes that that can get it to magically find my OS so it can be repaired at startup
2. Some way to get files off my hard drive onto a backup one, if step 1 doesn't work
3. Or possibly some other method of fixing my problem.

If I wasn't clear enough or gave enough info I'll take some pictures I guess. I've also tried going into safe mode, and that doesn't seem to help, either.:banghead: It didn't work, I mean. Cant even get into Safe mode...

This is like the 3rd major problem I've had with this PC, and most of them were hard drive related.:shrug:

Thanks

[port187]

recovery of data from a broken hdd depends on how broken it is as in how hard it will be to get anything back.
there are many tools out there that let you recover quite some data from hdds even after a format.
but what you would need to do first is place that broken hdd in some working system (or install xp or vista on some old hdd on your current pc) and shoot all the recovery tools you can find on the sucker.
with a little luck somewhat % of the files on the disc are still recoverable.

[Taemos]

If you have a spare external hard drive or server you can back up to, a Linux live-CD should pick up your files. If not, that's probably when you should start looking at the hard drive tools port187 is suggesting.

I'm not saying Western Digital hard drives are bad all of the time, but in my experience they aren't the greatest. Where I work we have a "Hard drive Chart O' Failure," and Western Digital is in the lead by at least 10 marks (had 16 or 17 at my last count, probably up to 24 or so by now).

I'm having the same problem with someone's Dell Vostro right now.. it's driving me nuts. It's a Fujitsu hard drive that has passed a few hard drive scans, although someone apparently got it to fail. Fun stuff....

[PhreQuencYViii]

You don't need drivers for your hard drive....Vista has SATA shit already built in. Reformat. Did you have all the correct drivers for other stuff before? Not from the CD either, those are usually out of date.

In the future put all your stuff in two partitions/hard drives...OS on one, stuff and games on another....then you won't lose shit.

So whats it doing when it goes to load Windows? It just reboots? What does it say? Did you get some funky virus or something?

[SilverBull]

Depending on how valuable these files are, you might want to contact a data recovery company. Of course that's going to be VERY expensive; on the other hand, a professional might be able to completely recover discs that your computer doesn't even recognize anymore (if its a "simple" error like a defect drive controller PCB). If you even remotely consider to do this, disconnect your drive RIGHT NOW, as any further access might damage it even more.

If you want to go the homebrew route instead, here are some ideas:

Probably a dumb question, but anyway: does your drive show any sign of life, and does your PC recognize the drive? That is, if you boot the machine, do you hear whether the drive motor spins up? If you start another Windows/Linux/whatever with the drive connected, does it show up? If not, the controller might be faulty (either the one on the mainboard or on the drive).
I'm asking this because, in a system with multiple HDDs, it might very well be the case that one doesn't see whether a single partition or even an entire drive is missing; especially if there are many drive letters and they are mixed up when booting a recovery CD.

Is your CMOS/RTC battery healthy? If not, your BIOS settings might reset itself, which might even change the disc controller's ID reported to the OS (if something like SATA/AHCI mode was changed). I don't know whether this presents a problem to Vista, but at least with XP you couldn't change the controller (or connect the boot drive to one with a different hardware ID) without reinstalling the system (well, you could, but that's a different story).

Finally, if your drive is recognized (and you have enough storage space on another one), make a sector-wise copy (e.g. with dd/ddrescue) before trying to start any other recovery program or reboot Windows. This way, even if the recovery program destroys the file system, you will be able to try another one from the same point onwards.

[Alchy]

Commiserations, Casual. Might be time to enjoy the peace of mind that comes with RAID.

I'm not saying Western Digital hard drives are bad all of the time, but in my experience they aren't the greatest. Where I work we have a "Hard drive Chart O' Failure," and Western Digital is in the lead by at least 10 marks (had 16 or 17 at my last count, probably up to 24 or so by now).

That's likely just a dodgy batch, we've had them for other brands. I've heard every single HDD brand being touted as alternately the best and the worst by now, by different people at different times, and honestly I'm not sure there's anything more than the luck of the draw behind it these days.

[port187]

Maybe its only the bootsector, so firstly I would test the drive in another pc (to make it easy an external usb casing) and see if you can access it from windows/linux whatever.
if you actually see windows booting up then resetting itself maybe the drive is fine and your windows installation is just corrupt.

[3do]

If its booting up the HDD but then restarting before it get to windows then i don't think its the actual HDD but the windows installation is whats wrong.

As before try it in another computer and try get access to it. do you get any error or that as it may be a clue to whats wrong if you do.

You may need to re-install windows so if you can once you know that windows needs re-installed then try and back up you files using another comp.

[Mr. Casual]

Well, this is what it does.

I turn it on. It goes through the whole regular startup stuff, it goes to the Windows loading screen, then for like half a second the screen goes blue. I don't have time to notice whats on this blue screen, it has some text on it though. I bet taking a picture of it might help...I don't know, and then it restarts and does the whole thing over again.

I'm going to try putting the HD in another PC to see if that helps.

BTW, I have a 550 watt PSU. Could that somehow not be powerful enough? I mean its worked before...earlier I was thinking of upgrading my Video Card to a 9800 GTX. Also, would another HD just for Windows...would it be better if it was faster? I was thinking of getting a little 50 gig one for that, because Vista uses up about 30 gigs of Space.

[PhreQuencYViii]

Well, this is what it does.

I turn it on. It goes through the whole regular startup stuff, it goes to the Windows loading screen, then for like half a second the screen goes blue. I don't have time to notice whats on this blue screen, it has some text on it though. I bet taking a picture of it might help...I don't know, and then it restarts and does the whole thing over again.

Sounds like corrupt Windows, or RAM problems, or, possibly, the hards drive. Reformat and see what happens if you can. You could use another HD to boot into Windows or Linux and get your shit.

BTW, I have a 550 watt PSU. Could that somehow not be powerful enough? I mean its worked before...earlier I was thinking of upgrading my Video Card to a 9800 GTX. Also, would another HD just for Windows...would it be better if it was faster? I was thinking of getting a little 50 gig one for that, because Vista uses up about 30 gigs of Space.

550 is fine. I have the same system and used to use a 500 watt. A 9800GTX isn't going to give a huge gain over your 8800 btw.

And Vista shouldn't be using 30GB of space. I have Vista on a 36GB raptor and it's got 16GB free.

I think your windows just got fucked up.

[madhatter256]

First, hook up the HDD to a working PC and see if you can get your data off of it. If you can, do so immediately.

When you're done with that, get WD Diagnostic tools from WDs website and put it on a CDR or floppy (whichever you have) and run a full diagnostic on the HDD. If it passes all the test, write zeros to the HDD and simply reinstall.

Most likely you corrupted some files.

Get an ISO of Ultimate Boot Disc (this has WD diagnostic tools and RAM test programs). Run the memtest 86+ program it as and see if your RAM passes all the test in one pass. Bad RAM can cause delayed crashes and corrupt file when you least expect them.

[graciano1337]

[Mr. Casual]

I think my hard drive is whats really messed up. I've been having issues with it for the last 2 installs of Vista.

BTW, how do I get a replacement under the warranty? Anything I need to have, like a receipt or whatever? Or should my newegg account have all of that stuff?

I'm probably going to go there and get another hard drive for Vista. BTW, could someone link me a good HD just for having an OS on it and nothing else? Does the speed of the HD that the OS is on make a difference? 10,000 RPM is the difference between $50 and $150, but I may just get the slower 7500 RPM anyway.

Oh, and about the 9800GTX, the version I'm getting is tons better compared to my 8800 GT. I mainly want to get that, because PhreQuency was right...my FPS rate is a lot worse in newer games with my new resolution.:lol:

[Alchy]

Reformat

Woah there. Get the important data off it first. Then do a lfull scandisk/low level test on it and see if it's behaving like it should

[madhatter256]

WD 640gig HDD are below $100 and perform just as good as a $300 Raptor drive due to it having only two 320gig platters.

I'd suggest you RMA the drive through Western Digital. All you need is the drive (it's serial number) and an error code when you run the complete diagnostic test that shows it is failing. They'll replace it with either the same drive or one of equal value and line (like another raptor drive).

But please check the RAM first.

[Alchy]

Memtest86 for the memory testing. I would be surprised if the $100 640gb drive would outperform the 10k RPM WD drive, though - any links to benchmarks on this, madhatter?

[Mr. Casual]

Ugh. I'm about to go on a PC smashing conniption fit.

The PC I was on earlier is an old piece of shit, I can't even get my old HD connected to it because it lacks the proper cords and a place to hook them up. Plus I restarted it as well AND ITS NOT COMING ON. God. That one usually comes on after leaving it off though. But still.

I think I'm just going to take it to a repair place, and ask them to see if they can get my information back before reformatting, and to do the tests on my RAM and Hard drive while its there.

This whole ordeal is giving me a major migraine.:banghead:

[Alchy]

Don't ask a shop to recover the data, they'll rape your wallet, and they won't do anything you're not capable of doing yourself. If it's showing the Windows logo at boot then the HDD isn't totally fucked, you just need to get it into a PC that isn't acting up and get what you want off it. Burn off a Memtest86 CD while you're at it, and stick that in your PC, with the CD drive set as first boot.

Honestly, if PC repair places are like they are in the UK, you'll end up spending half as much as a new baseline PC just on having them check it over and recover your files.

[Mr. Casual]

It doesn't show the Vista logo itself, it just goes to the loading screen and says "windows is loading" etc and then it blue screens and restarts.

The only person I know who could put my HD in their PC to get the files off would be AWS, but he's hundreds of miles away, and I'm not sure when he'd be able to come home, and it would be a bit much for him to come down here to just help with that, with gas prices these days.

I guess I'm going to simply reformat it myself and just live without my files. I've got some of it on CDs and stuff as well. I'd lose saved game data, but I'm not too worried about that stuff. IM GOING TO LOSE ALL MY PORN! Well, all kidding aside, I'm going to hate losing my Spore Creatures, but then again in retrospect Spore was only fun in the editors, and SecuROM messed up my game saves.

[Alchy]

Get yourself a live linux distro (puppy, ubuntu, whatever) and see what it can see on the disc. Honestly, if you're just using them for data recovery, you don't need to know anything about linux at all. Your PC shop will probably charge you a couple of dollars to burn one of these off, so long as it isn't a PC World or whatever.

Alternatively you could check out one of the shadier XP-live CDs, like HawkPE. Fantastically useful disc, but probably quite illegal. It comes with a linux distro on it as well (Slackware), and a bunch of HDD recovery tools.