Hard disk crash please help

Hi:

Something sent a power surge through our house today and the main circuit
breaker flipped, cutting off power to my computer.

Catastrophe. The drive won't boot. Windows just doesn't see it. Even the
"dir" command DOS (which I accessed through the repair recovery console)
gives me an error that says the "directory cannot be enumerated."

Running the Windows XP CD, I'm told that there's no system there and the
drive needs to be reformatted to install it anew.

I know the data is still there. I downloaded a program called "getdataback"
and as far as I can tell, I did not lose a single user file. The preview
function works and every file I looked at seems to be fine. All I have to do
is send in $79 and the program will copy the data over, hopefully in usable
form.

But it's a holiday weekend, and if I cannot ressurect the system itself, I
will lose days reconfiguring a new system. I cannot afford this. The preview
system won't read the "identity" files from Outlook Express, so I cannot
access critical emails.

I'm in pretty deep trouble.

Please please ... is there anyway to revive this drive? How bad can the
damage be?

Need a miracle wrote:

> Hi:
>
> Something sent a power surge through our house today and the main circuit
> breaker flipped, cutting off power to my computer.
>
> Catastrophe. The drive won't boot. Windows just doesn't see it. Even the
> "dir" command DOS (which I accessed through the repair recovery console)
> gives me an error that says the "directory cannot be enumerated."
>
> Running the Windows XP CD, I'm told that there's no system there and the
> drive needs to be reformatted to install it anew.
>
> I know the data is still there. I downloaded a program called
> "getdataback" and as far as I can tell, I did not lose a single user file.
> The preview function works and every file I looked at seems to be fine.
> All I have to do is send in $79 and the program will copy the data over,
> hopefully in usable form.
>
> But it's a holiday weekend, and if I cannot ressurect the system itself, I
> will lose days reconfiguring a new system. I cannot afford this. The
> preview system won't read the "identity" files from Outlook Express, so I
> cannot access critical emails.
>
> I'm in pretty deep trouble.
>
> Please please ... is there anyway to revive this drive? How bad can the
> damage be?

Probably there is no way to get back to a working system without
reinstalling Windows but it would be extremely foolish to play around with
the file system without having your data backed up elsewhere. Get your data
with the data recovery program. Then you can mess about with partition
tables if you really know what you're doing. Or do a clean install of
Windows, etc.

After you get things sorted, here are some suggestions to help deal with
catastrophes like this in future (and Something Awful Will Always Happen):

1. Purchase an Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS). This is not the same
thing as a "surge protector" (which usually does nothing). For a single
computer (not a server) the Belkin 550's are nice. A decent UPS is going to
cost around $60 USD.

2. Purchase an external hard drive and an imaging program. I prefer Acronis
True Image. Image your system and do incremental backups so you can get
back to a working system in minutes instead of a whole day.

Malke
--
MS-MVP
Elephant Boy Computers - Don't Panic!
FAQ - http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/#FAQ

Thanks for your reply. I can get my files I suppose, but losing the entire
configuration and all the software will cost me a lot more than a day.

Windows says it won't install on the drive unless I reformat it.

Checkdisk says "one or more unrecoverable errors."



Richard

"Malke" wrote:

> Need a miracle wrote:
>
> > Hi:
> >
> > Something sent a power surge through our house today and the main circuit
> > breaker flipped, cutting off power to my computer.
> >
> > Catastrophe. The drive won't boot. Windows just doesn't see it. Even the
> > "dir" command DOS (which I accessed through the repair recovery console)
> > gives me an error that says the "directory cannot be enumerated."
> >
> > Running the Windows XP CD, I'm told that there's no system there and the
> > drive needs to be reformatted to install it anew.
> >
> > I know the data is still there. I downloaded a program called
> > "getdataback" and as far as I can tell, I did not lose a single user file.
> > The preview function works and every file I looked at seems to be fine.
> > All I have to do is send in $79 and the program will copy the data over,
> > hopefully in usable form.
> >
> > But it's a holiday weekend, and if I cannot ressurect the system itself, I
> > will lose days reconfiguring a new system. I cannot afford this. The
> > preview system won't read the "identity" files from Outlook Express, so I
> > cannot access critical emails.
> >
> > I'm in pretty deep trouble.
> >
> > Please please ... is there anyway to revive this drive? How bad can the
> > damage be?
>
> Probably there is no way to get back to a working system without
> reinstalling Windows but it would be extremely foolish to play around with
> the file system without having your data backed up elsewhere. Get your data
> with the data recovery program. Then you can mess about with partition
> tables if you really know what you're doing. Or do a clean install of
> Windows, etc.
>
> After you get things sorted, here are some suggestions to help deal with
> catastrophes like this in future (and Something Awful Will Always Happen):
>
> 1. Purchase an Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS). This is not the same
> thing as a "surge protector" (which usually does nothing). For a single
> computer (not a server) the Belkin 550's are nice. A decent UPS is going to
> cost around $60 USD.
>
> 2. Purchase an external hard drive and an imaging program. I prefer Acronis
> True Image. Image your system and do incremental backups so you can get
> back to a working system in minutes instead of a whole day.
>
> Malke
> --
> MS-MVP
> Elephant Boy Computers - Don't Panic!
> FAQ - http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/#FAQ
>
>

Need a miracle wrote:

> Thanks for your reply. I can get my files I suppose, but losing the entire
> configuration and all the software will cost me a lot more than a day.
>
> Windows says it won't install on the drive unless I reformat it.
>
> Checkdisk says "one or more unrecoverable errors."

Well, you've got your answer. It isn't the one you wanted. Because you had a
power surge, I'd add hardware testing to the mix. Get your data wth a
recovery program, do a drive diagnostic (thorough) with a utility
downloaded from the drive mftr., and only if the drive tests good do a
clean install of Windows. If a clean install/setup is going to cost you a
lot more than day, all the more reason to buy that external hard drive and
imaging software and image the system after you've got it the way you want
it.

Malke
--
MS-MVP
Elephant Boy Computers - Don't Panic!
FAQ - http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/#FAQ

Need a miracle wrote:
> Hi:
>
> Something sent a power surge through our house today and the main circuit
> breaker flipped, cutting off power to my computer.
>
> Catastrophe. The drive won't boot. Windows just doesn't see it. Even the
> "dir" command DOS (which I accessed through the repair recovery console)
> gives me an error that says the "directory cannot be enumerated."
>
> Running the Windows XP CD, I'm told that there's no system there and the
> drive needs to be reformatted to install it anew.
>
> I know the data is still there. I downloaded a program called "getdataback"
> and as far as I can tell, I did not lose a single user file. The preview
> function works and every file I looked at seems to be fine. All I have to do
> is send in $79 and the program will copy the data over, hopefully in usable
> form.
>
> But it's a holiday weekend, and if I cannot ressurect the system itself, I
> will lose days reconfiguring a new system. I cannot afford this. The preview
> system won't read the "identity" files from Outlook Express, so I cannot
> access critical emails.
>
> I'm in pretty deep trouble.
>
> Please please ... is there anyway to revive this drive? How bad can the
> damage be?
>

You need resources, to safely attempt a recovery. For example, a spare drive
to either use for an exact backup of the bad disk, or a spare drive as a
place for the recovery program to put its data. You also need something
to boot the computer with, implying another bootable drive.

The reason for making a sector by sector backup of the original disk,
is in case you are using an "in-place" recovery or restoration tool.
Or, if you suspect imminent mechanical failure of the drive (hear
clicking as the drive tries to find track zero). For example, the
following tool does stuff "in-place", and before I used a tool
like this, I would copy the entire disk to a second disk. If
you read the second link, I think you can see there is room to
make serious mistakes.

http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/TestDisk
http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/TestDisk_Step_By_Step

If you purchase a blank drive, then go to the new disk drive
manufacturer's web site, they have utilities for copying the
data. Or, in the event that the utilities only accept valid
partitions, you could use the Linux "dd" command, to copy one
disk, sector by sector, to a second disk. A Linux LiveCD, such
as Knoppix (knopper.net) or Ubuntu (ubuntu.com) could be used
for that. They are a 700MB download, and require burning a CD
with the ISO9660 file you download. You'd want the new
drive to be the same size, or a little bit bigger, to
copy over the data.

I advise making a backup of the drive, as I had
a bad experience years ago doing recovery. I was using an
"in-place" tool, to recover a disk. The utility claimed to
copy the "good directory information", over the bad information,
as the file system of the computer I was working on, was known to
have duplicate structures. (This was not a Windows based PC,
but a proprietary computer.) But the program copied the
bad structure over the good one, forever dooming the
information on the disk. I learned from that experience,
to always make an image backup, before going further, in
case an "in-place" tool makes a mistake. A utility which
attempts to copy files from a bad disk to a good disk, doesn't
run the same level of risk, but also won't do as good a job
(as not all files will be recovered).

If the data has any value, you can afford to wait until after
the holiday. And have someone skilled at recovery, handle it.

Paul

First, sorry I posted my appeal in two sections (I also asked for help in the
"general" XP discussion thread.

And ....Test Disk has recovered ALL my data.

The only question remaining is whether I ask it to use the backup boot
partition it found, or to rebuild the boot partition.

Anyway let's close this discussion on this thread --- I'lll check the one on
XP general from now on.

Thank You Thank You.


"Paul" wrote:

> Need a miracle wrote:
> > Hi:
> >
> > Something sent a power surge through our house today and the main circuit
> > breaker flipped, cutting off power to my computer.
> >
> > Catastrophe. The drive won't boot. Windows just doesn't see it. Even the
> > "dir" command DOS (which I accessed through the repair recovery console)
> > gives me an error that says the "directory cannot be enumerated."
> >
> > Running the Windows XP CD, I'm told that there's no system there and the
> > drive needs to be reformatted to install it anew.
> >
> > I know the data is still there. I downloaded a program called "getdataback"
> > and as far as I can tell, I did not lose a single user file. The preview
> > function works and every file I looked at seems to be fine. All I have to do
> > is send in $79 and the program will copy the data over, hopefully in usable
> > form.
> >
> > But it's a holiday weekend, and if I cannot ressurect the system itself, I
> > will lose days reconfiguring a new system. I cannot afford this. The preview
> > system won't read the "identity" files from Outlook Express, so I cannot
> > access critical emails.
> >
> > I'm in pretty deep trouble.
> >
> > Please please ... is there anyway to revive this drive? How bad can the
> > damage be?
> >
>
> You need resources, to safely attempt a recovery. For example, a spare drive
> to either use for an exact backup of the bad disk, or a spare drive as a
> place for the recovery program to put its data. You also need something
> to boot the computer with, implying another bootable drive.
>
> The reason for making a sector by sector backup of the original disk,
> is in case you are using an "in-place" recovery or restoration tool.
> Or, if you suspect imminent mechanical failure of the drive (hear
> clicking as the drive tries to find track zero). For example, the
> following tool does stuff "in-place", and before I used a tool
> like this, I would copy the entire disk to a second disk. If
> you read the second link, I think you can see there is room to
> make serious mistakes.
>
> http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/TestDisk
> http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/TestDisk_Step_By_Step
>
> If you purchase a blank drive, then go to the new disk drive
> manufacturer's web site, they have utilities for copying the
> data. Or, in the event that the utilities only accept valid
> partitions, you could use the Linux "dd" command, to copy one
> disk, sector by sector, to a second disk. A Linux LiveCD, such
> as Knoppix (knopper.net) or Ubuntu (ubuntu.com) could be used
> for that. They are a 700MB download, and require burning a CD
> with the ISO9660 file you download. You'd want the new
> drive to be the same size, or a little bit bigger, to
> copy over the data.
>
> I advise making a backup of the drive, as I had
> a bad experience years ago doing recovery. I was using an
> "in-place" tool, to recover a disk. The utility claimed to
> copy the "good directory information", over the bad information,
> as the file system of the computer I was working on, was known to
> have duplicate structures. (This was not a Windows based PC,
> but a proprietary computer.) But the program copied the
> bad structure over the good one, forever dooming the
> information on the disk. I learned from that experience,
> to always make an image backup, before going further, in
> case an "in-place" tool makes a mistake. A utility which
> attempts to copy files from a bad disk to a good disk, doesn't
> run the same level of risk, but also won't do as good a job
> (as not all files will be recovered).
>
> If the data has any value, you can afford to wait until after
> the holiday. And have someone skilled at recovery, handle it.
>
> Paul
>

Thanks to testdisk, my problems is 100% solved. Four hours ago I had a disk
windows said was corrupted beyond repair.

Now I'm booting off of it. No reinstallation. All my data safe and backed up.

testdisk is HIGHLY RECOMMENDED and absolutely free.


"Need a miracle" wrote:

> Hi:
>
> Something sent a power surge through our house today and the main circuit
> breaker flipped, cutting off power to my computer.
>
> Catastrophe. The drive won't boot. Windows just doesn't see it. Even the
> "dir" command DOS (which I accessed through the repair recovery console)
> gives me an error that says the "directory cannot be enumerated."
>
> Running the Windows XP CD, I'm told that there's no system there and the
> drive needs to be reformatted to install it anew.
>
> I know the data is still there. I downloaded a program called "getdataback"
> and as far as I can tell, I did not lose a single user file. The preview
> function works and every file I looked at seems to be fine. All I have to do
> is send in $79 and the program will copy the data over, hopefully in usable
> form.
>
> But it's a holiday weekend, and if I cannot ressurect the system itself, I
> will lose days reconfiguring a new system. I cannot afford this. The preview
> system won't read the "identity" files from Outlook Express, so I cannot
> access critical emails.
>
> I'm in pretty deep trouble.
>
> Please please ... is there anyway to revive this drive? How bad can the
> damage be?
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>

Need a Miracle, how does testdisk work. If you download the file from them
and your computer is dead, how do you do it? Please help.

"Need a miracle" wrote:

> First, sorry I posted my appeal in two sections (I also asked for help in the
> "general" XP discussion thread.
>
> And ....Test Disk has recovered ALL my data.
>
> The only question remaining is whether I ask it to use the backup boot
> partition it found, or to rebuild the boot partition.
>
> Anyway let's close this discussion on this thread --- I'lll check the one on
> XP general from now on.
>
> Thank You Thank You.
>
>
> "Paul" wrote:
>
> > Need a miracle wrote:
> > > Hi:
> > >
> > > Something sent a power surge through our house today and the main circuit
> > > breaker flipped, cutting off power to my computer.
> > >
> > > Catastrophe. The drive won't boot. Windows just doesn't see it. Even the
> > > "dir" command DOS (which I accessed through the repair recovery console)
> > > gives me an error that says the "directory cannot be enumerated."
> > >
> > > Running the Windows XP CD, I'm told that there's no system there and the
> > > drive needs to be reformatted to install it anew.
> > >
> > > I know the data is still there. I downloaded a program called "getdataback"
> > > and as far as I can tell, I did not lose a single user file. The preview
> > > function works and every file I looked at seems to be fine. All I have to do
> > > is send in $79 and the program will copy the data over, hopefully in usable
> > > form.
> > >
> > > But it's a holiday weekend, and if I cannot ressurect the system itself, I
> > > will lose days reconfiguring a new system. I cannot afford this. The preview
> > > system won't read the "identity" files from Outlook Express, so I cannot
> > > access critical emails.
> > >
> > > I'm in pretty deep trouble.
> > >
> > > Please please ... is there anyway to revive this drive? How bad can the
> > > damage be?
> > >
> >
> > You need resources, to safely attempt a recovery. For example, a spare drive
> > to either use for an exact backup of the bad disk, or a spare drive as a
> > place for the recovery program to put its data. You also need something
> > to boot the computer with, implying another bootable drive.
> >
> > The reason for making a sector by sector backup of the original disk,
> > is in case you are using an "in-place" recovery or restoration tool.
> > Or, if you suspect imminent mechanical failure of the drive (hear
> > clicking as the drive tries to find track zero). For example, the
> > following tool does stuff "in-place", and before I used a tool
> > like this, I would copy the entire disk to a second disk. If
> > you read the second link, I think you can see there is room to
> > make serious mistakes.
> >
> > http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/TestDisk
> > http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/TestDisk_Step_By_Step
> >
> > If you purchase a blank drive, then go to the new disk drive
> > manufacturer's web site, they have utilities for copying the
> > data. Or, in the event that the utilities only accept valid
> > partitions, you could use the Linux "dd" command, to copy one
> > disk, sector by sector, to a second disk. A Linux LiveCD, such
> > as Knoppix (knopper.net) or Ubuntu (ubuntu.com) could be used
> > for that. They are a 700MB download, and require burning a CD
> > with the ISO9660 file you download. You'd want the new
> > drive to be the same size, or a little bit bigger, to
> > copy over the data.
> >
> > I advise making a backup of the drive, as I had
> > a bad experience years ago doing recovery. I was using an
> > "in-place" tool, to recover a disk. The utility claimed to
> > copy the "good directory information", over the bad information,
> > as the file system of the computer I was working on, was known to
> > have duplicate structures. (This was not a Windows based PC,
> > but a proprietary computer.) But the program copied the
> > bad structure over the good one, forever dooming the
> > information on the disk. I learned from that experience,
> > to always make an image backup, before going further, in
> > case an "in-place" tool makes a mistake. A utility which
> > attempts to copy files from a bad disk to a good disk, doesn't
> > run the same level of risk, but also won't do as good a job
> > (as not all files will be recovered).
> >
> > If the data has any value, you can afford to wait until after
> > the holiday. And have someone skilled at recovery, handle it.
> >
> > Paul
> >

Hi:

I had a skeletal system installed on a separate drive system. I am not sure
I would been able to download testdisk without it, But once I had it, it
seemed like the program could run outside Windows.

It was very simple, very effective, and free. A miracle.

Richard




"talk12" wrote:

> Need a Miracle, how does testdisk work. If you download the file from them
> and your computer is dead, how do you do it? Please help.
>
> "Need a miracle" wrote:
>
> > First, sorry I posted my appeal in two sections (I also asked for help in the
> > "general" XP discussion thread.
> >
> > And ....Test Disk has recovered ALL my data.
> >
> > The only question remaining is whether I ask it to use the backup boot
> > partition it found, or to rebuild the boot partition.
> >
> > Anyway let's close this discussion on this thread --- I'lll check the one on
> > XP general from now on.
> >
> > Thank You Thank You.
> >
> >
> > "Paul" wrote:
> >
> > > Need a miracle wrote:
> > > > Hi:
> > > >
> > > > Something sent a power surge through our house today and the main circuit
> > > > breaker flipped, cutting off power to my computer.
> > > >
> > > > Catastrophe. The drive won't boot. Windows just doesn't see it. Even the
> > > > "dir" command DOS (which I accessed through the repair recovery console)
> > > > gives me an error that says the "directory cannot be enumerated."
> > > >
> > > > Running the Windows XP CD, I'm told that there's no system there and the
> > > > drive needs to be reformatted to install it anew.
> > > >
> > > > I know the data is still there. I downloaded a program called "getdataback"
> > > > and as far as I can tell, I did not lose a single user file. The preview
> > > > function works and every file I looked at seems to be fine. All I have to do
> > > > is send in $79 and the program will copy the data over, hopefully in usable
> > > > form.
> > > >
> > > > But it's a holiday weekend, and if I cannot ressurect the system itself, I
> > > > will lose days reconfiguring a new system. I cannot afford this. The preview
> > > > system won't read the "identity" files from Outlook Express, so I cannot
> > > > access critical emails.
> > > >
> > > > I'm in pretty deep trouble.
> > > >
> > > > Please please ... is there anyway to revive this drive? How bad can the
> > > > damage be?
> > > >
> > >
> > > You need resources, to safely attempt a recovery. For example, a spare drive
> > > to either use for an exact backup of the bad disk, or a spare drive as a
> > > place for the recovery program to put its data. You also need something
> > > to boot the computer with, implying another bootable drive.
> > >
> > > The reason for making a sector by sector backup of the original disk,
> > > is in case you are using an "in-place" recovery or restoration tool.
> > > Or, if you suspect imminent mechanical failure of the drive (hear
> > > clicking as the drive tries to find track zero). For example, the
> > > following tool does stuff "in-place", and before I used a tool
> > > like this, I would copy the entire disk to a second disk. If
> > > you read the second link, I think you can see there is room to
> > > make serious mistakes.
> > >
> > > http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/TestDisk
> > > http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/TestDisk_Step_By_Step
> > >
> > > If you purchase a blank drive, then go to the new disk drive
> > > manufacturer's web site, they have utilities for copying the
> > > data. Or, in the event that the utilities only accept valid
> > > partitions, you could use the Linux "dd" command, to copy one
> > > disk, sector by sector, to a second disk. A Linux LiveCD, such
> > > as Knoppix (knopper.net) or Ubuntu (ubuntu.com) could be used
> > > for that. They are a 700MB download, and require burning a CD
> > > with the ISO9660 file you download. You'd want the new
> > > drive to be the same size, or a little bit bigger, to
> > > copy over the data.
> > >
> > > I advise making a backup of the drive, as I had
> > > a bad experience years ago doing recovery. I was using an
> > > "in-place" tool, to recover a disk. The utility claimed to
> > > copy the "good directory information", over the bad information,
> > > as the file system of the computer I was working on, was known to
> > > have duplicate structures. (This was not a Windows based PC,
> > > but a proprietary computer.) But the program copied the
> > > bad structure over the good one, forever dooming the
> > > information on the disk. I learned from that experience,
> > > to always make an image backup, before going further, in
> > > case an "in-place" tool makes a mistake. A utility which
> > > attempts to copy files from a bad disk to a good disk, doesn't
> > > run the same level of risk, but also won't do as good a job
> > > (as not all files will be recovered).
> > >
> > > If the data has any value, you can afford to wait until after
> > > the holiday. And have someone skilled at recovery, handle it.
> > >
> > > Paul
> > >