Windows 7 Random Crashs

i forgot to mention this. i did try this last night but when i right click on the drive it doesn't list that option. there's nothing labeled under volume for it. the file system is blank too. and the status is healthy (recovery partition). when i right click on the drive at the bottom i get these options "convert to dynamic disk" and properties and help. is this bad?

 

Strange...

I'd suggest uninstalling/reinstalling the drive, making sure the connections are correct.

Is the drive displaying properly in BIOS?

Did the drive come pre-installed with the computer, or did you add the drive later? If you added the drive, did the drive require any installation files or procedures?

 

yeah it is strange. i tried disconnecting and reconnecting yesterday and booting up but no difference.

i'll check in bios.

i added the drive later. i don't remember if it needed any installlation files or procedures but i will look into it.

 

btw i downloaded a program by Seagate (the manufacturer of the drive) called Seagate File Recovery. it lets you recover your lost data. however when you recover it you have to transfer the files to another drive. you can't use the drive that you're recovering files from anymore then cause it might be defective. here's what this guy told me on another forum when i inquired about this program.

"The purpose of a file recovery program is to read the damaged drive and copy the recoverable files to ANOTHER physical drive. It doesn't just wave a magic wand and reinstate the damaged drive.

You will need another drive large enough to hold the files. Any attempt to write anything to the damaged drive will probably INCREASE the damage by overwriting files.

It's also NOT advisable to attempt to reuse the damaged drive. It's most likely a write-off. If the OS won't assign a drive letter, it's likely that the boot sector is damaged and that's bad news."



my reply:

"i guess i'll have to buy another internal or external drive to move the internal drive's files. i was wondering tho is there any other way to get my internal like it was with the data intact back again? or is seagate or any other file recovery my best bet? i just wanna know my options is all. also i wanted to know what you guys thought of this that i was thinking of. i was looking at the data i had saved on the internal thru the file recovery program and i can probably narrow down the stuff i wanna transfer to about 1.2 or 1.1 tb. do you think i would be better off with buying another internal to take its place or a external? i have some room on my OS drive and my externals that i can transfer some data here and there on those drives to fit everything. and then if i got the new internal i can send all the data to that drive. just asking if you guys think that's a good idea or know of a better suggestion. i have to admit having a second hard drive devoted to just stuff i downloaded did come pretty handy before this happened.

thanks in advance."



same guy's reply:

"Move all the data at once to one location. That minimizes the probability of further damage to the drive or the data. Making multiple passes to move bits of data to multiple locations just begs for increased errors on a drive that is already in bad shape.

To answer your other question, it;'s not likely that you can recover the failing drive. In any case, ask yourself if your data and your time are worth more or less than the cost of a new drive, at under a hundred bucks.

As for internal vs. external drives, I won't belabor that discussion. If you look in the "Building and upgrading" subforum, I'm sure you'll find excellent advice and discussion on that topic."

 

Everything that you quoted is possible.

It just makes no sense to me - as far as we know, the drive was working properly, all we did was disconnect two cables. Weird.

I keep hoping some of the gurus here will jump in and lend a hand - this one's confusing me.

Have you made the BIOS check yet? I'd like to see what's going on there.

You might consider burning a Linux distro real quick, booting to a live environment and see if there are any angles we can take from there.

I'd recommend booting to something like Partition Wizard and forcing the drive as a basic drive, but I'm not convinced that's the problem. MBRs and dynamic info files just don't disappear on their own.

 

hey

i don't get it either. does a disc come with a drive normally to enable usage? i have to look to see if i have one.

i haven't done the bios check yet. but can you tell me what exactly you want me to do in BIOS? like what to look for.

what's a Linux distro? is it available for free? also is partition wizard is that free too? let me know pal.

 

Most drives don't need any installation disks, unless they are SATA drives and are to be used with older operating systems. I would have thought that since you're using Windows 7, SATA support would be inherently available.

In BIOS, make sure the drive is seen and configured correctly - you might have to run an 'Auto Config' if one is available.

Linux is a free operating system - the many variations include Mint and Ubuntu. In order to use the OS, you'd download the .iso file and burn to a disk as a bootable image, from which you might be able to access the files on the backup drive.

Same with Partition Wizard or Ultimate Boot CD, both of which contain tools for manipulating drives and partitions.

 

ok i tried bios, it could see it in bios, and when i set it to boot first with the internal drive it would just show the line rectangle on a black screen like it does when booting up and then it would just stop. it would just show the rectangle line until i shut the computer down. also i looked at this video on youtube

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kCgFYNLzn18

i noticed he had the white plastic end of the cable connect to something. on mine the white plastic end isn't connecting to anything. the other end is connecting to the hard drive but not the white plastic end. could that be the reason for this problem? i don't remember if i had it connected to anything when the drive worked. do you know anything about it?

also here's the latest replies from that other forum i inquired about that seagate file recovery program:


guy 1:

"If you can use a Linux LiveCD and are comfortable with the command line, you can use ddrescue. Otherwise R-Studio is good, and I've also heard good things about Stellar Phoenix. In any case, if the drive's physically failing, you need to get the files off as quickly as possible. If it's just a case of a badly corrupted filesystem/MBR etc., you can repartition/reformat after data recovery and use the drive, though be careful before you trust your valuable irreplaceable data to it."


me:

"can you tell me how to tell if the drive is "failing"? like i said the drive shows up in device manager and disk management (tho labeled disk 0 and without a letter for the drive). in disk management it also shows the drive as having "Healthy (Recovery Partition)" status. does all that mean that it's not failing? i can't remember if i used one but i have to check if i had a disk that came with the drive to install it. maybe if it did come with a disk it might help with my problem. like i said my manufacturer is a Seagate."


guy 2:

"First get the data off onto another physical disk. THEN worry about the health of the old disk.

Do NOT attempt any "repair" of the questionable disk until you have recovered the data. The so-called "repair" may make the data unretrievable.

Your description seems to indicate that the disk is visible, but unmounted. It may be as simple as a screwed-up MBR or as fatal as a damaged boot sector. In either case, a "repair" may overwrite the FAT, making the data into just a pile of ones and zeros.

Get the data first; it's far more valuable than the drive."


me:

"ok gotcha. i'm just wondering what would be the best course of action for my situation regarding saving the data. here's the thing: i have 838 gb on my OS drive (which is also the only drive i have running as a internal). i have a external 2 tb drive that i think has 300 something gb's left. tho i could always remove some more data from to make more room. last time i checked the file recovery of the damaged drive i picked the files i absolutely needed that were on it and it came to around 1.1 or 1.2 TB. now i know that you guys said transferring to multiple drives might mess it up more but how about this: i move as much of data from the internal damaged drive to the C: drive and then copy and paste as much as i can to the external. then when i did that, transfer the rest of the data from the internal to the c drive, that should cover all the data or close to it. is that doable or do you guys know of a better way? cause my computer seems to fit only 2 hard drives at a time in the tower. so if that's doable my suggested way i can then get a new internal drive that's big enough and send all that data i backed up to the C drive and external to the new drive.

please if you know of a bettter way to take care of this data please let me know. i simply cannot afford to lose this data.

thanks in advance."


me:

"also for future reference when i actually restore stuff from the damaged drive, should i restore the metafiles folder, the folders marked "$$$Folder" (These seem to contain remnants of files i once had on the drive but now have saved on another drive of mine) and "$RECYCLE.BIN"? i saw this in the menu view for my files on file recovery."


guy 2:

Quote
i simply cannot afford to lose this data.

"You answered your own question. Wink

BUY and external drive whose sole purpose is to be a receptacle for the recovered data.

Any attempt to f*** around is just foolhardy, especially if the data is as valuable as you state.

Do NOT "swap some onto the C drive" and then "swap it off" and 'then swap some more" or any such half-a**ed plan. (Sorry, but sometimes I'm blunt.)

Buy a drive. Recover the data to it."


me:

"ok. i shall buy that kinda drive then.

gotcha about what you said on my plan. i just thought that would be doable.

but can you let me know about my other question? it's reprinted below:

"also for future reference when i actually restore stuff from the damaged drive, should i restore the metafiles folder, the folders marked "$$$Folder" (These seem to contain remnants of files i once had on the drive but now have saved on another drive of mine) and "$RECYCLE.BIN"? i saw this in the menu view for my files on file recovery."


guy 2:

"There is NO need to save files that are prepended with "$$$" or similar symbols, unless YOU created them that way (e.g. "$6MillionDollarMan" Smiley ). You're correct that they represent fragments found by the recovery program.

There is also no need to recover the Recycle Bin."

sorry if i'm making too long a post. i just thought this info would be helpful to you in helping me.

 

I didn't want you to try to boot to the drive - I just wanted to make sure the drive was configured correctly.

There should be two cables connected to the drive - one connected to the motherboard, and the other connected to the power supply.

 

Sorry - came in at wrong part- so removed.

 

hey caliban

oh ok. how would i know if it's configured correctly in bios? i'm still learning this bios stuff.

gotcha that's what i have connected.

what did you think of what was said in what i reprinted? if you read it i mean. i'm becoming desperate to get my data back. and i hope you weren't taken aback by the fact that i inquired about the problem in another forum. i just wanted to get another opinion is all. hope that's ok pal.

 

No problem with the other opinions - we need all the help we can get.

As far as BIOS, I just wanted to make sure the system reads the drive at that level - if BIOS recognizes the drive and is showing all pertinent information about the drive, then it should be connected correctly.

I do agree with the opinion that it might be best to try to transfer the data to another drive before any further steps are taken. Many partitioning programs promise that the data will be protected, but that's not always the case.

It really blows my mind that the backup drive is not being recognized by Windows. I can't see where we did anything in our reinstall procedure that would have caused any problems (that's why we disconnected the drive in the first place - to prevent any carryover from the format). I still feel like we're missing something, and I keep hoping that someone here at MG will chime in with a quick solution.

Meanwhile, you might start considering an external drive and enclosure from which you could transfer the data from the backup drive.

 

Hi again guys,

Sorry to read there's still problems after a clean start

Could you post the contents of, or attach, the Windows/setuperr.log please, it may give clues as to what was happening during the 'slow' Windows installation.

Re Windows drivers - 7 does not install the latest or best drivers, it only installs for basic (eg. up to 'Aero') functionality. I would update the drivers for the motherboard chipset, graphics card and network adapter as a minimum.

Re the Logitech hotkey driver (and other 3rd-party software for things like printers, etc.), the Logitech Desktop software used to be a real PITA, sometimes having a knock-on effect way beyond anything it should logically affect, I'd uninstall all software that isn't vital, like web/printing toolbars, etc..

You have a 2TB external drive, yes? Have you connected this yet? Did it auto-install any software, drivers, virtual CD/DVD drive ... ?

On to the internal data backup drive that's not being recognised by Windows - was it bought new? Has it ever been used in an external enclosure?

"status is healthy (recovery partition)" makes me think that the drive has been used with some 3rd-party backup software (or it's not new and was an original boot disk in a different PC), is that the case?

 

hi satrow and caliban

i am so sorry for not getting back to you guys sooner. i got tied up with holiday stuff and sorting out my newly formatted computer. then i kept forgetting to come back here to reply to let you know what was up with my computer as of now. i'm happy to report that my computer seems to be running fine again. i bought two hard drives for christmas, a internal and a external. used them to recover my data and back it up. i shall report back here if i need any more help. like i said everything's going good so far so i should be fine for now. again my apologies for not reporting back here sooner.

take care guys.

 

Good to hear that you're up and running again

 

Same here - thanks for the feedback, and good luck to you. :major