DOH! I think the hard drive packed it in? [ Edited ]

[Fisherguy01]

Bought a re-furb HP M8530F running  VISTA-64  in Nov, 2008

Went to use the compter the other day, screen was black, nothing. Rebooted it, it got stuck at the 'starting windows' with the dcroll thing at the bottom.

After 5 minutes, shut it off, rebooted, got past the scroll thing to a black screen.

Tried booting to 'last known good", safe mode etc, nothing.

Tried doing a repair, nothng. Tried the recovery disks, nope.  Put in the "Vista Recovery" disk, but it didn't find any versions of Windows to repair,

Put in the HP Diagnostic CDand got a buncha fails, "Disk 0 linear verify" , "Disk 0 smart self test" , "Disk 0 inner/outer surface read",  "Disk 0 spin down spin up" fails, errors HD565-6, HD521-2, HD521-4 and HD535-17.

So am I right to assume my HD is toast, I can buy a sililar sized one, put it in and install Vista on it uding my recovery disks?

It was a 750g hd with 3 partitions, all our pics, email settings etc were on the D drive, hopefully I'll be able to recover them?

There also was that factory 'recovery" partitionbut I guess that part of the DH is screwed since F11 didn't work? 

Am I on the right track here?

Is there any make HD that is better than the rest?

Thanks

Will

[DavidPK]

Hi Will,

First, regarding the Hard Drive, it does look like it has failed and will need to be replaced.  An example of a suitable HDD is on the link below.

750Gb Hard Drive

When the new HDD has been installed, you can use your Recovery Discs to reinstall the operating system - they will also reinstall any of the original software that was bundled with the PC as well as re-creating the Recovery Partition.

One possible way to try and retrieve your files from a non-booting drive is to follow the process detailed in the link below.  The Ubuntu operating system CD you create can run from the CD alone ( ie it doesn't have to install on the Hard Drive ) and I've often found it to be successful in retrieving data even from a failing Hard Drive.  When you've created the CD, follow the instructions and see if you can back up your existing files. 

http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/windows-vista/use-ubuntu-live-cd-to-backup-files-from-your-dead-windo...

Regards,

DP-K

[Fisherguy01]

Thanks Dave.

Yeah, I saw other threads talking about that Ubuntu, that's mostly intended to retrieve info off a pc that's not working though isn't it?  Wpouldn't it be easier just to plug the old HD into another pc and retrieve files that way?  What's the advantage of Ubuntu?

Will

[DavidPK]

Hi Will,

The only advantage in using Ubuntu is that it appears to be a little easier on the Hard Drive when trying to access data than Windows - there's not a lot in it though but may be worth bearing in mind if you do find any difficulty in accessing the data using another Windows PC.

All the best,

DP-K

[Fisherguy01]

Ok, can you use that program while running windows?  Like if I get a new HD, install Visay, weill I be able to use Ubuntu from Windows?

Also, what should I get, Sata 2 or Sata 3 HD?   What kind is in there now?

Thanks

[DavidPK]

Hi Will,

It would probably be easier to try the Ubuntu CD now with the non-booting drive still in the PC.  Whether to get a Sata 2 or Sata 3 drive really depends on the speed of the Sata ports on your Motherboard.  However, Sata is backward compatible, so fitting a Sata 3 HDD to a Sata 2 Motherboard will work fine, just at Sata 2 speeds.

Regards,

DP-K

[Fisherguy01]

Thanks Dave.

I read through that Ubuntu link, might give it a try, put everything on my son's HD, he has lotsa space.

On thing though, at the Ubunto site they list a "recommended 32 bit" version  and a 64 bit, would I need to use the "non-recommended" 64 bit version for my 64 bit computer or?

Seeing's the HP was 3 years old, is it save to say it was SATA 2? 

Aprreciate the help, thanks 

Will

[DavidPK]

Hi Will,

The 32bit version of Ubuntu should work fine to access your personal files.

Looking at the transfer speed for the original HDD that came with your PC, which is 3.0 Gb/s, it should be Sata 2.

Good luck getting your files

Regards,

DP-K

[Fisherguy01]

THANKS DAVE! 

Got back from our 3 week fishing/camping trip on the weeknd so I've had time to tinker with this since then.

First thing I tried was putting the bad HD in an external case to try to recover my files on another computer, didn't work, got some kinda I/O error when I tried accessing them, so put it back in the original computer and tried Ubuntu and it worked perfectly, WOOHOO!  

I bought a 1 TB WD Black series HD, it was on sale and cheaper than a 750gig and the guy at the shop said I wouldn't have a problem, we'll see. 

We have 5 computers on our network, I need to find some way to back them all up, maybe it's time for one of those RAID dual HD network storage things, any suggestions?

I don't wanna go through this again.

Thanks

Will

[Fisherguy01]

Okay, put new 1 TB HD in with recovery disks, nothing, tried it with the HP diagnostics disk, nothing.

Try thge old 750 gig HD with the same disks, nothing, try the 750 with the Ubunto disk, still nothing, what am I missing? Anyone?  The Bios settings should be unchanged, right?  Why won't it boot from the disks now? 
When I power it up I get absolutley nothing on the monitor.

<EDIT>
Update, Win 7 seems to be fine now, hooray!