Best way to recover files

Discussion in 'Hardware' started by ESnyder, Feb 9, 2007.

  1. ESnyder

    ESnyder Private E-2

    My Dell Latitude began giving me write-failure messages. Whenever I attempted to run a scan, e.g. chkdsk or a virus scan, it blue screened with a Hard Error message. Finally, I bought an external drive to do a backup. Unfortnately, I got the bluescreen on the backup attempt and upon all attempts to boot thereafter. I called dell, we ran a diagnostic which indicated a bad drive, and they sent me a new drive. As I have tons of important info on the old drive, I am attempting to recover as much as possible.

    I have installed the new drive in my Latitde and it works fine. I have also placed the old drive in a USB drive enclosure.

    I'm wondering what the best way to proceed is. Should I attempt to boot from an XP CD and re-install XP on the broken drive?

    If I connect the old drive and attempt to read files from it, how do I prevent infections of my new drive?

    Should I use data-recovery software? Which ones are recommended?

    I'd be happy to answer any requests for further information. Many thanks.
     
  2. Yargwel

    Yargwel MajorGeek

    Install the original drive as a slave to the new drive and see if you can then access the files.
     
  3. ESnyder

    ESnyder Private E-2

    I suspect that the behavior was caused by some sort of malware. If I copy files from the old drive, shouldn't I worry about infecting the new drive?
     
  4. Yargwel

    Yargwel MajorGeek

    If you connect the old drive you can run Ad-aware and check that drive as well by using the custom settings. You can also get your virus checker to do the same.
     
  5. ESnyder

    ESnyder Private E-2

    I tried just to connect the old drive through a USB port. The drive was designated D: by the OS - but when I attempted to open it I received the following message:

    D:\ is not accessible.

    The file or directory is corrupted and unreadable.

    I'm researching how to set-up a master-slave relationship with the hardware that I have, but I think I may need new hardware. Is that still worth trying?
     
  6. Yargwel

    Yargwel MajorGeek

    Well it depends on how deperate you are to recover your data. If you are absolutely desperate then you can pay specialized companies to recover your data. But if you would just like to get your data back if you can then yes keep trying. ;)
     
  7. ESnyder

    ESnyder Private E-2

    Thanks for the help, Yargwel.

    Dell wants the old disk back in the next 5 days, so I can't really send it off to data recovery, even if expense were not an issue (it is). Also, my access to electronic pieces is limited so I'm trying to minimize my need for new hardware, although I will certainly obtain what is necessary.

    Here is my hardware:

    1 - Laptop w/internal HD
    1 - Old, corrupt HD converted to external USB drive with Adaptec enclosure
    1 - Blank external USB hard drive.
    1 - USB cable type A-to-miniB
    1 - USB cable that came with the Adaptec enclosure. It is type A-to-miniB, but also has an extra type A connected to the first type A. It might be described as A-to-A-to-miniB.

    I *think* that what I have is insufficient to set up a master-slave relationship with the old HD. Is this correct?

    I *think* what I need is a new cable, one that daisy-chains the two external HDs (USB type B) and then connects them to the USB type A on the computer. Would this work?
     
    Last edited: Feb 9, 2007

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