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Has anyone had success in recovering data from a failed hard drive ? Any recommended programmes available online to do it ?
Hard drive data recovery
- Thread starter Ihavenojob
- Start date
Does the drive still spin? You should be able to hear it. If you can hear a regular click noise, rather than a spinning noise you have big problems.
Was it the main drive in a PC that will no longer boot properly? If yes, you can download a "live" copy of Linux, eg Ubuntu and run that that from the RAM to read the hard drive.
Alternatively, you will need to place the drive in a second desktop PC or purchase an external caddy and connect that to a second PC. Be warned- things get really messy if the drive was encrypted. If it was, you are unlikely to get any data from it unless you have a friend that work for the NSA.
Best case scenario, the boot sector is effed up, that can be fixed by using the Windows recovery console.
Either way, if you are not confident about using the recovery console correctly, you can find free software that will enable you to clone the drive first.
Was it the main drive in a PC that will no longer boot properly? If yes, you can download a "live" copy of Linux, eg Ubuntu and run that that from the RAM to read the hard drive.
Alternatively, you will need to place the drive in a second desktop PC or purchase an external caddy and connect that to a second PC. Be warned- things get really messy if the drive was encrypted. If it was, you are unlikely to get any data from it unless you have a friend that work for the NSA.
Best case scenario, the boot sector is effed up, that can be fixed by using the Windows recovery console.
Either way, if you are not confident about using the recovery console correctly, you can find free software that will enable you to clone the drive first.
A few times i have had success , using EASUS full version , and also from a few SD cards, but also quite often not been able to, as mentioned if the harddrive is clicking a lot.
Sometimes putting the drive in a freezer (in a plastic bag) can help , but you need to be ready to plug in and copy any data
Sometimes putting the drive in a freezer (in a plastic bag) can help , but you need to be ready to plug in and copy any data
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The drive doesn't click, it just won't load windows. I've knocked up another pc with old bits, so I'll get a mount for the old drive and try to use the easus software. Got all my photos and music on it, which is what I want to try and retrieve.
