Please help(urgent)......possibly crashed HDD

[GeekyBoy]

Today, while I was using Opera to surf the internet, the system suddenly freezed. After waiting in vain for 5 minutes for the computer to respond, I pressed the reset switch. To my surprise, the BIOS did not detect the HDD in POST !!!! The booting process was stuck at the POST screen and after a minute or so an error message asked me to enter a bootable device!!!

So I left the PC off for about 5.5 hours. When I started it again, it booted normally and went to the desktop- bout after 10-15 mins of running a BSOD appeared showing

KERNEL_DATA_INPAGE ERROR
STOP 0x0000007A(0xe1781b48, 0xc000000e,0xbf960c0e,0x18d64860)

win32k.sys Address BF960c0e at bf800000, DateStamp 47e0e106

And thereafter when I restart, it does not bootup(shows the same problem as before)

What could this be? Can I recover my data from the drive ?

 

[pimpom]

Loose or defective data/power connectors can cause those symptoms. Before trying diagnostic and recovery processes, I suggest you change the IDE cable (it's PATA, isn't it ?). AND check if the HD power supply connector is firmly attached. Check each pin individually, not just the Molex conn as a whole. Push and pull each of the four wires and see if they feel a bit loose - while power is off, of course.

I assume your HDD is at least a few years old, and the Molex pins can gradually become loose from repeated heating and cooling over the years. If they are loose, try another connector if there's a spare one.

If that does not work, don't keep trying to boot repeatedly. If your hard disk is really on its way out, repeated starts and stops can hasten its death and place all your data beyond the reach of home recovery.

 

[acewin]

+1 for what pimpom said, HDD would not have crshed, there would be a connection failure, if there would have been a problem due to OS there would have been bad-sector, but its not that, internally wires would have got loosen. check and recheck the IDE cables and power supply cables.

 

[GeekyBoy]

Tried all your tips, but to no avail. My HDD is 5 yrs old. I'll be buying a 250GB Hdd tomorrow. So guys, can you please post some tips to get me back my data ??? Its very urgent !!!!

 

[pimpom]

OK. this is what I suggest then.
Buy the new hard disk. Remove the old one and put in in the 'fridge, but not in the freezer compartment. Pack it in a waterproof wrapping such as the new hard disk's anti-static bag to keep out moisture. Keep it in the fridge for at least an hour.

Install your OS in the new HDD. Have a spare IDE cable and power supply connector ready. Take out the old drive, make it the Slave drive and connect it.

Turn on the computer and see if the old drive works. If it does, quickly transfer your important data to the new one. This is not guaranteed to work, but it may.

 

[acewin]

again +1 for pimpom, windows is good enough on its own without any other recovery software. and most posibly as what you say this should work. unless and untill your old HDD which you are putting as slave does not causes a problem to affect your whole booting.
So do not format the new HDD with old one intact as slave.

 

[GeekyBoy]

I got a seagate ST3250310AS 7200.10 250GB HDD ad installed XP on it today.

I tried connecting my crashed HDD(without putting in in da fridge) as a slave. It was detected and I was using a data recovery software to revover the files from it. But in the middle of the process, somehow the harddisk disappeared from the list of drives, so I couldn't complete the recovery process.

Why will the HDD work if its kept in a fridge ?

 

[acewin]

do not do the process one at a time, do partwise, this may happen, and if the HDD is really screwed, in few trials it would not be any readable. Happened to my HDD, had crashed due to power supply. I was using it as boxed external, the power cable got out due to push on the wire from my legs. I got only 2 read tries on the third nothing was happening, tried formatting the HDD but it was already a dead piece.

 

[pimpom]

I got a seagate ST3250310AS 7200.10 250GB HDD ad installed XP on it today.

I tried connecting my crashed HDD(without putting in in da fridge) as a slave. It was detected and I was using a data recovery software to revover the files from it. But in the middle of the process, somehow the harddisk disappeared from the list of drives, so I couldn't complete the recovery process.

Why will the HDD work if its kept in a fridge ?

Electronic devices and circuits are sensitive to heat. A solder point, a transistor inside an IC, diode, resistor, etc. may be on the verge of failing. It may just be OK when it's cold, but fail when it has warmed up.

All the symptoms you described indicate such a defect. Repeated attempts may make things worse and worse until it fails permanently. This is why I asked you not to make repeated attempts to boot up with the defective HDD.

Don't try anymore without cooling it. Put it in the fridge and give it time to get cold. Get everything else ready, then quickly connect the old HDD and boot up with the other HDD. It will also help to have a table fan blowing on it.

It will be best if you have only the OS in the new HDD as that will ensure a quick boot-up.

Before you take it out of the fridge, make a mental priority list of the data you want to recover and copy those first.

And do you really need a recovery software ? Couldn't you just copy them to the new drive ? Scanning with recovery software introduces another delay that should be avoided if possible.

 

[GeekyBoy]

Electronic devices and circuits are sensitive to heat. A solder point, a transistor inside an IC, diode, resistor, etc. may be on the verge of failing. It may just be OK when it's cold, but fail when it has warmed up.

All the symptoms you described indicate such a defect. Repeated attempts may make things worse and worse until it fails permanently. This is why I asked you not to make repeated attempts to boot up with the defective HDD.

Don't try anymore without cooling it. Put it in the fridge and give it time to get cold. Get everything else ready, then quickly connect the old HDD and boot up with the other HDD. It will also help to have a table fan blowing on it.

It will be best if you have only the OS in the new HDD as that will ensure a quick boot-up.

Before you take it out of the fridge, make a mental priority list of the data you want to recover and copy those first.

And do you really need a recovery software ? Couldn't you just copy them to the new drive ? Scanning with recovery software introduces another delay that should be avoided if possible.

Ok I'll try the freezer thing.
And I've already tried copying them to the new drive but when I try to access the folders, all I get is the "Disk Not Formatted.Format Now?" dialog box.

 

[Rockstar11]

try
Handy Recovery.
*www.handyrecovery.com/

 

[pimpom]

Ok I'll try the freezer thing.

Not the freezer, only the normal cold compartment. It should be cooled, not frozen.

As for recovery software, PC Inspector is one of the best free tools -
*download.pcinspector.de/pci_filerecovery.exe

 

[GeekyBoy]

Thanks so much guys, the fridge method worked like a charm.
I put the HDD in the freezer at 12 midnight. 11AM in the morning I attached the HDD, and to my surprise, wthere was no clang clang sound heard at the beginning and my PC had no prob recognising the device. I tried accesing the device using my computer and it worked. I quickly backuped my important data before it failed 15 mins later.

I have kept it in the fridge again to see if I can recover more data or not !!!!

Thank you to all of you who helped me to recover my data and I owe a lot to you all.

 

[pimpom]

Great. It's nice to know you could save your most valuable data. It is also satisfying to know that we could be of help.

 

[narangz]

Thanks for the excellent tip, pimpom.

@GeekyBoy- So you kept the HDD in freezer the whole night or did you kept it in fridge as suggested by pimpom.

 

[GeekyBoy]

Actually, I kept in the cooling compartment(not the deep fridge) even before I saw pimpom's post! So, it's nice to know I did the right thing !