Hard Drive Failure

[securenym]

So the hard drive on my computer finally died.

My computer would take forever to boot up and then would lock up after a few minutes.

I was able to connect my hard drive to another computer and run the western digital diagnostic tool.

I received the error code 213

Data Address Mark (DAM) 2-9. Several instances of information on data positioning and location could not be found. Drive should be replaced.

 

So I bought a new hard drive and installed it and am now downloading my games and mods, but that is going to take me weeks.  I know I should have backed up all of them, but I don't have the spare hard drives to use right now.  Luckily I had created the restore, driver and several backup CD's

I tried to copy files from my old hard drive to my new one, but it keeps stalling out and when I click on the hard drive in explorer it says that it is 0 size and won't let me connect.  I have to reboot to connect to it again.  Is there any sort of program that anyone knows of that would allow me to copy any of the bigger files.  I've been looking at various ones, but I am really not sure what I am looking for.

I figure If i can copy over some of my larger files it will take me a lot less time to get fallout and Skyrim up and running again.

Thanks for your help

Securenym

[Userper]

I don't know about any programs that would help, if anything is recoverable you will need something like this

Hard drive dock

 

I've had a lot of success recovering data with these sort of tools, so they're generally worth the money.

Although From the sounds of things, I wouldn't count on recovering much data, it sounds like your HD has had a critical falure

anyway good luck!

[AnnaFly]

Greetings.

 

 Yes there is something you can do if your drive still works time to time , depends of the hardware ( mother board ) and type of the Hard drive it is .  

 

Depends also of the operating system used there ...

 

If you still have an "older " computer you can run " slowly"  ( in simple DMA mode if possible - set this in your Bios  ) to not stress your damaged hard drive , try to recover  " brut " files with UBCD or UBCD for Windows ...

 

Firstly you need to be sure the parameters of your drive are correct , if not it's dangerous to try to access them because the FAT ( Fat 32 or NTFS) will be corrupted and in this case your drive ( or some partitions ) will look as " emplty " ... and this time is already too late to recover something without an appropriate program.

 

About UBCD : you must create a Bootable CD/DVd and boot with this one of course ; it run under UNIX variant operating System, but with a graphical interface, you will not be disappointed by this one .

 

Of course you need a second drive ( or USB ley ? ) where with a little help of " Miss "  luck  you would be able to copy some folder ( maybe not all ) ... but be carefull , if UBCD can access to some informations , don't stress your damaged Hard drive . try it twice or more but let your drive rest a moment ... time to time . 

 

Do you understand what i wrote ? Sorry i'm not an english user and i don't use any " translator " ... but can if necessary ( not sure it 'll be a good idea ... ) .

 

Be carefull when you download something from the Web ... keep your AntiVirus update first.

 

http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/

 

If your Master boot record is damaged too , ask for help at Microsoft Answer ... there is a solution to try to repair it or to recover some informations too .

 

I 'll check my older posts at Microsoft ( TechNet or Answer ,i don't remember ) i already help someoen in your situation by the past ...and with success.

 

Cheers.

 

NB : the " user's manual "  is in the same page , readit first.

 

PS : the docking station work well and are very usefull , some model allow you ( i have one ) to duplicate a whole Hard disc without the need of any operating system , so no need to "run" your PC to use it.

 

But in your case it's a bad idea , you don't need to stress your damaged material ....

 

 

PPS : this tool is " free of charges " of course.

 

PPPS: if for some particular reasons you need to create another account with "Administrator rights " or simply rename , change the pasword etc of one specific account there is a solution ( for XP or W7 i can help you but not for W8/W8-1 or W10 because i don' have the two last Microsoft operating systems ...yet ) .

 

You need to tdo this once again with an " Unix"  solution , via an USB key or CD/DVd boot disk ( maybe also with some older Floppy disk, but honestly i never tried with them , most of the time the latest PCs don't have anymore that kind of hardware ) ... you can also ask for this in Microsoft Answer ( or TechNet ? ) forum ... but i suppose you understand you need to " justify" why you want to do such a thing ... logic, isn't it ?

 

NB ; i'm not a " hacker nor something like that " i was just a " helperess "  at Microsoft TechNet ( and Answers when these two different sites were only one " platform " ...) ... by the past ( 2008-2011 ) .

 

I'm no more " active " there for personnal reeasons but maybe i 'll come back there soon.

[securenym]

downloading ubcd now.  thank you.  I'm looking at all the tools that come with it. wow!

Thank you.

Securenym