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DPChallenge Forums >> Hardware and Software >> Laptop dead?? :(
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 12/29/2006 10:46:25 AM · #1
OK so im working on my laptop editing photos, and all the sudden it crashes. Then when I turn it on it says it doesnt recognize the system. So I take the hard drive out and when i take it out i hear sounds like a rattle (I guess something is loose inside?).. Is there any hope on getting the work back??? any recomendations??

12/29/2006 10:48:52 AM · #2
If you took it to a computer store, they would probably say the HD was dead.. And if that is the case, there isn't much of a chance...

The computer store probably has a USB laptop HD enclosure to where they can hook it up to their desktops and run recovery software..

At least, that's what I used to do at a computer store I worked at..
 12/29/2006 10:51:03 AM · #3
Talk to these folks
 12/29/2006 10:53:17 AM · #4
ok thanks.. Im out of the country for a month so I guess I have to wait.. grrr I didnt back up any of my recent images :(
 12/29/2006 11:00:42 AM · #5
Just be careful of some of those recovery services as some will charge you an arm and a leg as most feel your data is priceless to you and will charge you accordingly...

-dave
 12/29/2006 11:12:59 AM · #6
Is it an IBM? We had a ton of these go bad at work. The hard drives were defective, and parts would break loose roughly 2 years after purchase. All of a sudden, the drive would start making grinding noises. When that happened, it wasn't pretty.
 12/29/2006 11:15:19 AM · #7
Originally posted by Nobody:
Is it an IBM? We had a ton of these go bad at work. The hard drives were defective, and parts would break loose roughly 2 years after purchase. All of a sudden, the drive would start making grinding noises. When that happened, it wasn't pretty.


No its a compaq, I think its like 3yrs old
 12/29/2006 11:22:31 AM · #8
This may sound crazy but it actually worked for me a few times. Part of my job is computer support and I have been doing it for 11 years now.

Put the hard drive in a plastic air tight bag and place in freezer for at least an hour. Take it out and immediately attach to computer and try restarting at least 10 times before you give up. Be careful that you don't leave it on too long as condensation can occur and that may cause other problems.

Sometimes i take the drive in my hand and spin it hard to try and loosen the platter. One time I was desperate and spanked the back of the hard drive, I heard something give and I got the hard drive back.

If something broke off, there is probably not much of a chance, and these are last resort kinds of things, but sometimes you will try anything to get the data back!!

PM me if you need more help.

Good luck!
 12/29/2006 11:25:46 AM · #9
Originally posted by robinssong:
This may sound crazy but it actually worked for me a few times. Part of my job is computer support and I have been doing it for 11 years now.

Put the hard drive in a plastic air tight bag and place in freezer for at least an hour. Take it out and immediately attach to computer and try restarting at least 10 times before you give up. Be careful that you don't leave it on too long as condensation can occur and that may cause other problems.

Sometimes i take the drive in my hand and spin it hard to try and loosen the platter. One time I was desperate and spanked the back of the hard drive, I heard something give and I got the hard drive back.

If something broke off, there is probably not much of a chance, and these are last resort kinds of things, but sometimes you will try anything to get the data back!!

PM me if you need more help.

Good luck!


Thanks! I´ll definetly try it!
 12/29/2006 12:01:24 PM · #10
Computer Bob says that laptop hard drives tend to make a little rattle noise so what you are hearing could be a normal sound. He also said putting it in the freezer doesn't work as well on these newer hard drives. Can you give him a better idea of how far it boots up and exactly what error message you get at the stopping point? He said it could simply be a corrupt operating system.

He also said that you can go buy a $20 laptop to pc USB adaptor kit to recover the data from the laptop hard drive and move it to a pc. XP will pick up the hard drive and allow you to copy the information over without any additional software.
 12/29/2006 02:42:18 PM · #11
Originally posted by mystopia:
Computer Bob says that laptop hard drives tend to make a little rattle noise so what you are hearing could be a normal sound. He also said putting it in the freezer doesn't work as well on these newer hard drives. Can you give him a better idea of how far it boots up and exactly what error message you get at the stopping point? He said it could simply be a corrupt operating system.

He also said that you can go buy a $20 laptop to pc USB adaptor kit to recover the data from the laptop hard drive and move it to a pc. XP will pick up the hard drive and allow you to copy the information over without any additional software.


These are good tips also. If you can get into the system's BIOS Setup you can check if it's being detected by system. On a Compaq it would be something like "press f2 to enter setup" If it detects the hard drive there then *maybe* the OS is at fault. If it's not detecting it there, desperate measures may be needed. :)

It can be devastating to loose all your data like this and I hope this has a happy ending for you. You are such a great photographer!

Robin
 12/29/2006 02:45:48 PM · #12
Sometimes if a hard drive has been hot for a while and then cools, it will refuse to start spinning. A gentle "nudge" (read whack!) will do the trick :-)
 12/29/2006 02:50:25 PM · #13
Go get a copy of ERD commander and boot from cd. Your HDD may still have data on it and have lost the boot sector.Before I did anything drastic try booting from another drive to recognize it.
 12/29/2006 03:13:10 PM · #14
If none of those work, I do hdd recovery. You could send it to me and I'll do my best to recover what I can. Just send me a PM if you're interested.
 12/29/2006 03:14:25 PM · #15
Originally posted by fotomann_forever:
Sometimes if a hard drive has been hot for a while and then cools, it will refuse to start spinning. A gentle "nudge" (read whack!) will do the trick :-)


What is the best size tool to use (read::HAMMER)
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