retrieve hard drive

AmarilloFats

HEy.

I have a dell inspiron 9400..Having problems with it at the moment...

I need to recover HD before i restore windows

I can :
1. try to do it myself...I don't know how atm - but with google etc!!??
2. I can pay this crowd http://www.ontrack.com/desktop/


Any suggestions!???

vir7ual

when you say recover do you just mean get your stuff off the drive or do you mean the hard drive is gone.

If all you want to do is backup your stuff off the hard drive, you can get an external caddy for 2.5" drives which will work or you can get a cable to go from the ide of the 3.5" drive in a desktop to connect to the 2.5" drive of the laptop, then simply copy your stuff onto dvd or something.

If you're hard drive is gone, as in wont power up or knocking, unless its really valuable information, id cut my losses, recovering data is expensive, i wouldnt suggest doing it myself as these companies have access to clean rooms to remove the platters,

You can often get away with just changing the pcb board on the hard drive but unless you have a spare one lying around i wouldnt go down that route. I hope its only to backup the data not that the hard drive is gone.

DublinDilbert

if the HD is running as vir7ual you can just get an external USB case for it... komplett has one for about €24, also PC world has them for about the same... they are quite handy to have.. if you are looking for a cady you'll need one to suit a 2.5'' disk.

I presume the disk is IDE? its usually easier to find an external housing for these..

AmarilloFats

the HD is fine(afaik) but I have a windows problem and I can't start windows in safe mode or otherwise.
computers unlimited will attempt to recover the stuff from my hd for about 100€.. but it costs 100 whether they succeed

Dell will not help me recover my data but will help me blitz the machine to original settings


So if my HD is ok (and I've no reason to think other wise) the external usb case should do the trick!?

Tom Dunne

You can do a repair install of Windows - I've done it before in similar circumstances and it worked a treat.

All my data/documents were fine too.

vir7ual

€100 euro for a 5min job. The caddy is your best option. Take the hard drive out of the laptop, fit to the caddy, plug it into a desktop and it shows up as a removable drive, copy your stuff onto dvd or what ever you want. If you dont want to buy a caddy, give me a shout and i'll help you get your stuff off.

Tom Dunne

vir7ual wrote:

The caddy is your best option. Take the hard drive out of the laptop, fit to the caddy, plug it into a desktop and it shows up as a removable drive, copy your stuff onto dvd or what ever you want. If you dont want to buy a caddy, give me a shout and i'll help you get your stuff off.

Is it? Opening a laptop and removing a component is easier than inserting the Windows CD and doing a repair install?

I wouldn't think so.

AmarilloFats

Thanks for help.
So the repair install seems like the best option..
Dell don't supply disks>>> mmm Im sure i'll find one. Will I encounter any licensing issues?

vir7ual

Hey Tom, If someone selects the wrong option when reinstalling the windows, then everything is gone, removing the hard drive from the dell is 1 screw and the hard drive slides out. Its just a safer option if someone wants to keep their stuff.
Just be careful reinstalling windows. if it does over write everything, then you just lost everything.
its up to what ever you want to do yourself, personally i always back up everything before i install anything, if something goes wrong you have something to go back to

Tom Dunne

vir7ual wrote:

Hey Tom, If someone selects the wrong option when reinstalling the windows, then everything is gone, removing the hard drive from the dell is 1 screw and the hard drive slides out. Its just a safer option if someone wants to keep their stuff.
Just be careful reinstalling windows. if it does over write everything, then you just lost everything.
its up to what ever you want to do yourself, personally i always back up everything before i install anything, if something goes wrong you have something to go back to

I agree you have to be very careful, but it is relatively straight forward. Personally, I think for someone not used to dismantling a computer/laptop, the repair option is easier.

Dell don't supply disks>>> mmm Im sure i'll find one. Will I encounter any licensing issues?

Of course, now I realise the repair option may not work after all.

If you don't have recovery disks, there is usually a hidden disk partition that you can do the recovery from. You have to press some key when the BIOS screen appears. I am not so sure you can do a repair install from this partition.

Can anyone verify if you can/can not do a repair install from a Dell hidden partition?