Hard Drive Data Recovery

This post will surely prove to be very helpful

I recently had an issue where once I turned on my computer or re-booted it, it would take over 5 minutes before it would even START to load Windows. I was told that this was likely an indication that the hard disk was about to fail.

I replaced it, and restored my OS and data from an image backup I made before the disk swap. But I still had the same issue.

Then someone asked if I had added any USB devices lately. That brought to mind that I had recently bought a new Cannon printer. I didn't know if the dates of the boot problem exactly matched when I installed the printer, but it was in the same general time frame.

I unplugged the printer, and it booted in a very normal and timely manner. It appears that the printer has enough intelligence built into it that it appeared to be another bootable USB drive, and the computer was trying to boot from it. After a period of time without being able to "boot" from the printer, it would go onto the next bootable device, which was my C: drive, where it would finally find Windows, and continue the boot process successfully.

I had to go into the BIOS and turn off Legacy USB support, and all works fine for now.

So Bob's comments to look at other external factors is right on the mark.

David

Bob, I enjoy your articles, have investigated many of your tips, and used several - thanks! Here's one for you: For the temporary recovery of a file or files (until the whole drive can be rescued), one can download a "live" CD of the Knoppix OS (one flavor of Linux - horror of horrors!), boot from the CD, navigate to the target file, and copy it off to a USB, secondary CD or up into the Cloud (Internet access and browser is available within Knoppix).

This process is not entirely intuitive to a hard-line Windows user, but simple enough with a little guidance and/or a short tutorial. A rehearsal should make it plain how this works. An interim solution for the spreadsheet that's due yesterday when you discover your drive's toast at 5 A.M. on your way out the door to catch the bus. It works very well for manipulating non-system Windows files. Check it out: http://www.knopper.net/knoppix/index-en.html

Thanks and Regards, keep up the good work,

Stephen Earle

Bob, I also enjoy your articles and appreciate what you do for us; thank you!

I experienced hard drive failures until I purchased SpinRite v. 6.0 from Gibson Research [http://www.grc.com]. SpinRite helped me several times to recover all of my hard drive data. One of the 'biggest bang for the buck' pieces of software I could buy.

Best,

Jay

Thank you for your articles. I look forward to reading them and the educational info they contain. I wish I had of been on board to learning more about my computer and taking preventative measures before I lost everything on my hard drive. When my computer failed to boot and I was faced with only a black screen, I took it to a technician for repair I was told that when they tried to recover my data, "it was unrecognizable" as a computer or anything else that could be read. Since I purchased (for the first time ever) extended warranty, I was given a new hard drive and hope for a future full of back up files, etc! I hope someone else can learn from my naive assumption that MY computer was indestructible too.

Bob, I'm surprized you didn't mention Steve Gibson's excellent program 'SpinRite,' which can often recover seemingly dead hard drives. Also may be run on functioning drives to preclude failures. Go to www.grc.com for more info.

Bob my system dosent go into safemode, it logs off the user as sooon as it it shows the desktop screen, and i really need to get the data in it, pls i need help, anyone please email me on kenennafrank@yahoo.com please thank you...i will be waiting

I have recovered a lot of "dead" hard drives and follow a lot of Bob's techniques. Here are a couple of my additional procedures:
1) Use a Linux Live CD to see if you can access the file system and copy important folders and files before proceeding with more destructive processes.
2) Use HDD Re-generator ($$$) to rebuild the hard drive. It creates a bootable CD as one of its features.
3) If all else fails, try putting the hard drive in the freezer for a couple or hours and then install it and work quickly. You may have to repeat this to recover a lot of data.
4) Check ebay and the internet for replacement circuit boards for your specific hard drive. A lot of failures are caused by power problems in the attached circuit board.

I've recovered lots of peoples data by adding the bad drive as a data drive in a known running computer. After I put the drive in I'll run a virus scan on it. Then I'll copy files to an extrenal hard drive. I've even use this method when the techs told me the drive was dead.

I was at least able get the pictures and important files off of it.

Freeze it!

If your drive is 'toast', you can sometimes - SOMETIMES - get it to work long enough to recover SOME data from it. Remove the drive, wrap it in a dry towel, and put it in the freezer. Leave it there for a couple of hours, and then plug it in. No guarantees, but I've had several drives that have "failed" in which freezing them bought me just enough time to recover some valuable data.

And Murphy's Law says that a hard drive is most likely to fail when backups have NOT been done, so you can prevent failures by doing backups, right?

I have a failed drive. I'd like a second opinion. I received the following report from company x. The drive was simply dropped. I think this is BS. comments?
thanks
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Thank you for choosing as us as your data retrieval provider, our engineers have recently updated your case and have requested that you are updated. As the last update was that our engineers have handed your case off to our senior retrieval specialists for further efforts in recovering your media. Our senior retrieval specialists have spent several hours attempting to retrieve the data, however they seem to have exhausted their efforts in the retrieval process and have concluded the recovery as unsuccessful. While all physical issues within your media had been bypassed, our senior retrieval specialists cannot keep the drive in an operable stable state to finish a successful, full clone of the volume. The components within the media had been swapped and replaced many times, only to perish when the copy process is resumed. Some clone copies of your drive were retrieved, however they are not full, and hold what our industry calls 'rubbish files'. The senior recovery specialists cannot determine the cause of the constant failure of swapped components, however it may be surface damage on the platters of the media that is at the microscopic level, and unfortunately there has yet to an established method for repairing damage on a such a small scale. These cases are extremely rare, and we assure you that our team of engineers had done everything in their power to retrieve the data. At this point, you may choose to either have the drive sent back to you at your current billing address, or we may securely dispose of the drive through our NSA certified hardware.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Why do you think they're not telling the truth? What would be their motivation? Dropping a drive can do a lot of damage. Why not have them send it back, and try another recovery service?