Another disk failure question

JayC5

Is it possible to take out a failed hard-drive and repair it using a HDD docking station and another working machine? - if so what software would do this? An accidental shutdown has caused vista home premium to crash, can't boot it even in safe mode (keeps stalling at crcdisk.sys)

I've no recovery disc and the partition recovery isn't working, states that there is none present... any ideas folks as this is driving me nuts.

Viper_JB

You won't be able to repair it but you might be able to get some of your data off of it, heard some people try putting the disk into a fridge before hand for a bit I cannot confirm that this works or not but if the disk is already feiced then there's not much to lose tbh.

JayC5

Viper_JB wrote: »

You won't be able to repair it but you might be able to get some of your data off of it, heard some people try putting the disk into a fridge before hand for a bit I cannot confirm that this works or not but if the disk is already feiced then there's not much to lose tbh.

Cheers, yeah I got the data backed up using hirens bootcd but I have no way of reinstalling/recovering vista as I don't have a physical disc and the recovery option isn't working....

The laptop was bought in the state over a year ago also so contacting the supplier isn't an option either.

Any ideas?

Cuddlesworth

Viper_JB wrote: »

You won't be able to repair it but you might be able to get some of your data off of it, heard some people try putting the disk into a fridge before hand for a bit I cannot confirm that this works or not but if the disk is already feiced then there's not much to lose tbh.

Bad advice tbh, that only works on certain drive problems(related to the head) for a very limited period of time and can cause way more damage if not done properly.

JayC5 wrote: »

Cheers, yeah I got the data backed up using hirens bootcd but I have no way of reinstalling/recovering vista as I don't have a physical disc and the recovery option isn't working....

The laptop was bought in the state over a year ago also so contacting the supplier isn't an option either.

Any ideas?

The OS key should be located on the laptop somewhere. You can buy another drive, acquire a OS disk from somebody else or online(make sure its the same type) and install it.

Is it a particular model and whats the OS? HP and dell laptops with XP and Vista don't require a cd key if used with a OEM disk.

Saruman

I fail to see why everyone is assuming his drive is fecked? He has said nothing to indicate this is actually the case. To me it sounds like windows has become corrupt.

Sticking the drive in to an external caddy and plugging in to another computer you should be able to copy your data off it and then wipe it.

This is also true if the drive is in fact fecked as long as it is mountable. You should be able to get some of the data off.

JayC5 unless the drive is making very odd noises, chances are it is perfectly fine and you just have a corrupt windows install. Sometimes doing a repair install of windows will even sort it without any data loss.

Cuddlesworth

Saruman wrote: »

I fail to see why everyone is assuming his drive is fecked? He has said nothing to indicate this is actually the case. To me it sounds like windows has become corrupt.

If the recovery partition has become corrupt then its a valid assumption that the drive is going.

Saruman wrote: »

Sticking the drive in to an external caddy and plugging in to another computer you should be able to copy your data off it and then wipe it.

This is also true if the drive is in fact fecked as long as it is mountable. You should be able to get some of the data off.

He already recovered the data.