Help Please! HDD Death Imminent

[Mr.Mike]

Hi All,

A new client of mine called me to find out why their computer crashed. When I got there, I had an unresponsive HP a365d (2003). During POST it was all but frozen at the F1 setup/F10 recovery screen. Windows XP SP2 OS would not boot. Although he had purchased a WD 1Tb external drive for backing up his data, he did not set it up correctly and no data was saved.

I have slaved the unbootable Samsung SV1203N (120Gb) HDD FAT32 to my bench machine. Two partitions are shown; a "recovery" partition (HP - Recovery) of 5 Gb (E:/) and an "Unreadable" partition (F:/). Both partitions are shown in Win7 "My Computer" though F:/ shows no volume. Win7 wants to format F:/ so it can be used, but that of course will destroy the data that needs to be recovered. Catch 22.

I ran HUtil (Samsung factory app) off of the UBCD (5.0.3) and it tons reads errors in sectors it tested. Tried to run GetDataBAck for FAT, but the HDD (either partition) was not recognized by the program.

Now I wonder if anyone here might have some other suggestions about what to do next. I could run Puppy Linux from DVD, but am not sure what program would help reconstruct/rescue the data the client needs.

This is a tough one, as the client states that he has crucial business files (.pdf, .cad, etc.) he needs to launch production for his invention that assists the disabled people with cannot grip tools and such to work.

I would welcome any suggestions you may have.

Cheers

 

[14049752]

This is a tough one, as the client states that he has crucial business files

Don't take offense to this...but if this is "crucial business" data...you should send it to someone that knows what they're doing now. Talk to the customer, get a realistic gauge on how important this data is, then if it's worth it to him advise that he send it to a data recovery specialist.

If it's not worth what that costs, then proceed with the dozen or so answers you get from Technibble until the drive gives up the ghost.


Also, please note: There is no reason to double post a question.

 

[shamrin]

Don't take offense to this...but if this is "crucial business" data...you should send it to someone that knows what they're doing now. Talk to the customer, get a realistic gauge on how important this data is, then if it's worth it to him advise that he send it to a data recovery specialist.

If it's not worth what that costs, then proceed with the dozen or so answers you get from Technibble until the drive gives up the ghost.


Also, please note: There is no reason to double post a question.

This is sage advice.

 

[Mr.Mike]

No offense taken 14049752! Thanks to both you and Shamrin I am now using Testdisk 6.12 as suggested for a similiar problem in the forum last March. If this doesn't help, I'll be looking for a Pro Service for Recovery. Can you recommend any in the U.S. West?

 

[gazza]

Do not do anything with the drive! If the data is critical to his business then direct him to send it of to a professional recovery center. Running these tools can cause more damage!

 

[shamrin]

Do not do anything with the drive! If the data is critical to his business then direct him to send it of to a professional recovery center. Running these tools can cause more damage!

Just for clarity and helpfulness here, the proper procedure with a failing disk is DO NOTHING until you have a talk with the client about the options. Any activity you perform on the disk could lessen or eliminate any possibility of getting the customer's data from the drive.

I generally simplify it that there are 2 levels of drive recovery. The highest level requires a clean room and very expensive equipment, "it's going to cost $1000 if you have to go this route." At this point you can judge whether you or the professional drive savers are going to be the customer's last resort. If it's you, knock yourself out, if the data is important enough for the customer to consider shelling out a grand, then I am very very conservative with what I do, usually no more that mounting it in Linux and see if I can grab their files.

 

[wimwauters]

#0 do not run hardware tests on faulty hard disks if you want the data back

#1 make an image (aka binary duplicate) fo the data/system partition, or even the whole hard disk. My favourite tool for this is ddrescue.

#2 try FAT32 and NTFS recovery tools. My favourite tools are DFsee and the NTFS driver in OpenBSD.

#3 teach your client how to copy files and how to check the copied files. Yes, it's stupid simple, but for them 'backing up' is the deepest blackest magic or requires the ancient skills of a high-druid.

P.S. Make sure they don't end burning you for being a witch

 

[NETWizz]

Just send it to Knoll Ontrack. He won't mind given his $1,000,000 invention is on there.

 

[Mr.Mike]

Not sure what you mean NETWizz. Did you mean Kroll Ontrack?

 

[Vicenarian]

Not sure what you mean NETWizz. Did you mean Kroll Ontrack?

No, he probably meant Knorr

 

[Mr.Mike]

#0 do not run hardware tests on faulty hard disks if you want the data back

#1 make an image (aka binary duplicate) fo the data/system partition, or even the whole hard disk. My favourite tool for this is ddrescue.

#2 try FAT32 and NTFS recovery tools. My favourite tools are DFsee and the NTFS driver in OpenBSD.

#3 teach your client how to copy files and how to check the copied files. Yes, it's stupid simple, but for them 'backing up' is the deepest blackest magic or requires the ancient skills of a high-druid.

P.S. Make sure they don't end burning you for being a witch

Sound advice very much appreciated wimwauters! I appreciate your good humor as well

I am downloading ddrescue now and will try it out. Do you have any specific suggestions on what to run from that program?

 

[ProTech Support]

Just a heads up, I merged both threads. Please do not double post, thanks!

 

[Mr.Mike]

Just a heads up, I merged both threads. Please do not double post, thanks!

Thanks for merging them.