Laptop HD - RIP?

[5aq1b]

Bit of a problem here:

Looks like me HD's nackerd on me laptop. Makes a grinding noise on bootup. Displays the Toshiba logo but then proceeds to a blank black screen with flashing cursor at top left.

BIOS only sometimes recognises the HD. There's either 'NO HD' or 'Main hard drive: 0MB' or 'Main Hard drive: 40GB' (which is the correct one).

Tried to boot from XP cd and perform repair but it's not havin it. Tried booting using Bart PE (which burns a working version of XP onto CD (for those who dont know)) but that does not show the Hard drive.

Because the BIOS sometimes shows the drive, there's a glimour of hope BUT i REALLY need some files of my drive.

Who/Where is the best person/place to take to?????????????

Only thing i can try is buy an IDE cable which will allow me to connect to me PC. Will try that tomorrow.

HEEEEEEEEEELPPPPPPPPPP
__________________

[SufferWell1396]

Yeah, and if you have them lying around, put all the nessicary files on a CD to make sure that you dont loose your files

[5aq1b]

But i'm thinking, if the drive's not being recognised on bootup, then what chance with it being recognised externally?

[SufferWell1396]

i wouldnt risk it... if you NEED files on the drive leave it alone for the night until you get your connector for your computer. If you keep expirementing your drive could end up Toast!

[Fruss Tray Ted]

Your drive is on it's way to it's grave if it has not arrived already.

If you are lucky, you can get it to boot one more time. This had better be the time it is hooked into a system as 'slave' and you can retrieve all pertinent data from it before it sinks into the 'deep six' for it's final time.

Do NOT try to boot to it again and only apply power to it when you are all set and ready to do the necessary file recovery.

Good luck.

[Wandrille]

wouldnt he be able to take it to some type of company that specializes in recovering data from hds that are in the position his is in
i know ive heard of them but i do not know any specific names

[SufferWell1396]

yeah im sure a company like that exists, but for a hefty fee im sure, probably somewhere in the hundreds...

[Paul Komski]

Definitely try it slaved to a desktop with an IDE(or USB) to 2.5" adapter and hope the fault lies with a cabling/connection problem or that you can get in one more time on a failing drive (likely I'm afraid with "grinding" noises). Recovery by the pros almost certainly will cross the $1000 mark.

[5aq1b]

OK, The 2 HD's I have in my PC are 40GB (one with OS on it) and other is 120GB (Saved docs etc). Take it i should disconnect the 120GB one and put the 2.5" HD in it's place?

Tried that and was given a message saying "no 80 conductor cable found". I am using an IDE cable on one end which has the normal 3.5" HD connection that goes to the mobo and the other which obviously goes to the 2.5" HD. Molex is on that end also.

BIOS recognises the drive. When booting up, it takes a while to detect the drive but then gives the message BOOT FAILURE, INSERT SYSTEM DISK AND RETRY.

Any hope?

[Paul Komski]

Do you have something like THIS (http://www.cablesonline.com/25hdmounkitw.html)?

What else is on the IDE cable if anything. Laptop HDDs are virtually always jumpered as Master HDDs so should be on the end of an IDE cable with nothing attached to the middle connector. Sometimes swapping it for a CD or DVD is the best approach.

You shouldn't be trying to boot to this drive. Boot to your normal HDD setup and then see if the drive can be accessed from within Windows.

[5aq1b]

Do you have something like THIS (http://www.cablesonline.com/25hdmounkitw.html)?

What else is on the IDE cable if anything. Laptop HDDs are virtually always jumpered as Master HDDs so should be on the end of an IDE cable with nothing attached to the middle connector. Sometimes swapping it for a CD or DVD is the best approach.

You shouldn't be trying to boot to this drive. Boot to your normal HDD setup and then see if the drive can be accessed from within Windows.

That's what i tried.
Second time it got to windows as i disconnected the DVD drive and placed the 2.5" HD on that IDE connector. It's the only device on that connection and is running as master. Does not get detected by Windows but am wondering why it gets detected by BIOS?

I'm using this:
http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=28724&criteria=2.5%20ide&doy=24m2

So basically I have:

IDE1: 40GB HD Primary Master & 120GB HD Secondary Slave
IDE2: 2.5" HD - Master

[Paul Komski]

Does not get detected by Windows but am wondering why it gets detected by BIOS?

Where are you looking in Windows. Just in My Computer or also in Device Manager and Disk Manager. Check the latter two in WindowsXP. You could also boot to a BiNG (in my sig) boot floppy or CD (a) to see whether it is recognised there and (b) to make image files of any partitions onto your normal pair of hard drives. Such images can be played around with later if the disk dies completely.

Sometimes a drive is seen in the BIOS but not visible in Disk Magnager and this is usually when the PCB has failed rather than there being an electromechanical failure of the drive.

[5aq1b]

Have looked in My Computer, Device Manager & Computer Management Console. Nowhere to be seen.

Is Bing similar to BartPE?

[Paul Komski]

If seen in the BIOS but in none of those locations the outlook isn't good. BiNG isn't like BartPE. BiNG is partially DOS-based, not WinXP-based, and is a boot and partition manager above all else.

The other utility to try would be the 2.5" maker's own diagnostic utility.

[5aq1b]

BTW, Thanks for your help mate. Just tried BartPE and surprise surprise, no luck. Will try Bing tomorrow. Thanks a bunch