HDD issues - chkdsk /r returns unrecoverable errors

Hey all,

Looks like my nephews HDD has gone south. It's partially accessible as Windows does start to boot, but then simply restarts. He ran chkdsk /r and /p from the recovery console but then fails at 37% complete with unrecoverable errors.

Are there any other disk scanning tools (tried Disk Check from WinUBCD, wouldn't read the drive) that don't require mounting the the drive in the OS, maybe some Linux tools, that anyone can recommend.

Its mainly about data recovery now - he has, of course, some unbacked up A level work on there that ould be nice to retrieve.

Cheers.

 

Boot from a Linux Live CD. Search this forum as there are threads on the procedure.

The Linux Live CD will boot into ram and once on the desktop [the Linux one of course]. From there, you will see the icon for your HDD and you will be able to access it.

If you connect a flash drive/external hdd, Linux will detect it no probs and then you can then copy your data.

If Linux cannot see your HDD then you likely have a HDD mechanical error.

If you feel brave after you have copied your data use GParted within Linux to scan and repair the possibly corrupt partition.

Good Luck

 

Well, he has manged to recover a lot of data by using an Unbuntu live CD. He's now going to perform some further test an low level scans to see if the bad sectors can simply be blocked. If there are too many then the drive will go in the bin.