HDD I/O error

[Sam334]

Friend's Vista computer went boom.

1) Attempted startup recovery, but there are no OS's listed when asked to choose one to fix. I can't connect to the drive through the command prompt either.

2) Connected it to my system as a secondary drive. I see it listed under Explorer and hardware manager, but the system hangs when I try to access it and ultimately gives me a hard drive is "inaccessible due to an I/O error." Can't access it when I boot into safe mode either.

3) Can't chkdsk either through my Windows install with his drive as secondary.

What other options do I have? Can I try ordering one of these? http://www.amazon.com/Diablotek-EN35...000737&sr=8-12

He needs some docs and photos saved. I guess in the meantime I can order him a new HDD and install Windows 7 on it, but it would be great if I could save his data!

Thanks for any help and suggestions.

 

[Dahak]

if you cannot access it from adding it as a secondary drive like you did in 2) option 3) wont do anything different.

You could try to run the hdd makers diagnostics to see if it can do a repair to access the data, if not you would have to use a data recovery software to see it it can read the drive.

If not possible it could be all gone

 

[C1]

You could try "SpinRight". I understand that it practically can do miracles.
http://www.grc.com/default.htm

Here is a source of free recovery utilities to try:
http://www.raymond.cc/blog/archives/2008/01/24/top-10-free-data-recovery-software/

Good luck

 

[Sam334]

You could try "SpinRight". I understand that it practically can do miracles.
http://www.grc.com/default.htm

Here is a source of free recovery utilities to try:
http://www.raymond.cc/blog/archives/2008/01/24/top-10-free-data-recovery-software/

Good luck

Thanks for the links. Went ahead and purchased SpinRite. Seems good to have for the future, too. Will go ahead and take it for a....spin. Nyuck nyuck ::cough:: ::

 

[paul878]

SpinRite takes a LONG LONG time to run, especially if the drive have many bad sectors.

 

[Sam334]

SpinRite take a LONG LONG time to run, especially if the drive have many bad sectors.

Yikes, just found that out when I started it last night. This is pretty much my last option, correct?

 

[MtnMan]

Yikes, just found that out when I started it last night. This is pretty much my last option, correct?

If Spinrite can't do it, the only other option is really expensive data recovery companies, but we're talking serious $$$.

Spinrite does work, I've used it a number of times to recover data, but sometimes drives are beyond even that because it is an actual hardware issue, not just data that has been trashed.

 

[paul878]

http://www.gillware.com/ is really cheap for data recovery, but they are very busy so don't expect them to stay on the phone sweet talk you. We have used them in the past and they get the job done every time for around 500.

 

[Sam334]

Replacement HDD arrived today and started the process.

Estimated time is 1,618 hours?!?! Is that for real?

Edit: size is 500 GB

 

[C1]

So what happened after using the SpinRight? Was SpinRight useful or worth the price? How much were you able to recover?

 

[paul878]

Replacement HDD arrived today and started the process.

Estimated time is 1,618 hours?!?! Is that for real?

Edit: size is 500 GB

SpinRite can only deal with media defect, if you have a damage head there is nothing any software data recovery program can do. Now if you data is that important to you, it is best to stop now before you cause more damage to the drive.

 

[MtnMan]

Replacement HDD arrived today and started the process.

Estimated time is 1,618 hours?!?! Is that for real?

Edit: size is 500 GB

What process did you start?