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Recovering Data From Hard Drive, Please Help
This is the situation. I have a friend who has a computer with
Windows 98. Win 98 had crashed and can not start in Windows or Windows Safe Mode. Windows starts but there are no icons and there is no mouse support. Can't do anything. So I start in the DOS prompt and I hook up my Zip USB drive and use the Iomega Guest software which is used to run a Zip Drive in DOS mode but the Zip drive is not being recognized therefore there is no assignment of the drive. The Zip Drive is good because I use it in Windows on a good computer and also I downloaded the right Guest version for my drive as well. I am able to boot to the C drive and it is accessable. If I can only get the Zip drive to work then I can recover her data. She has data that needs to be recovered and the Zip would be perfect if I can get it to work. I can see the data by doing the DIR command but can not get the Zip drive to work. Besides the Zip drive to you have any tips other than a floppy disk to copy data off her hard drive? Yes the hard drive is good and the data directories are still in tact but I need to get some sort of device that works in DOS to get the data off. I don't think those USB key chain hard drives will do the trick because they need to work in Windows and Windows won't run right. I thought of reinstalling Windows over the old Windows and that should not wipe out her data then it we can get back into Windows but I rather just recover the data before I actually reinstall Windows. Thanks, James |
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why don't you remove her hard drive and conect to your computer as a
slAve then just COPY THE DATA YOU NEED. |
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James Lynx wrote:
(brews boy) wrote: why don't you remove her hard drive and conect to your computer as a slAve then just COPY THE DATA YOU NEED. That's a good idea but I forgot to mention it's a laptop computer and I don't know if that's possible to with another laptop or even a desktop computer. I do not know if this will be useful considering your last post was three days ago. Hopefully you have already recovered the data. Based on what you have stated, data recovery is a simple process, depending on your handiness and willingness to learn a few new things. You should be able to recover this data but my information is three days old. There are IDE adapters you can purchase at a computer supply store that will allow you to connect a laptop hard drive to the IDE cable in your desktop machine. Of course, this assumes you have the ability to remove the hard drive from the laptop. Not always a simple maneuver. The laptop producer should have manual(s) available on the web. Look under "product support" on that company's website. There may be a manual describing how to remove the harddrive. Just be careful since you are working with someone else's machine. In such a situation, I may not be doing you a favor by telling you how to accomplish this task. An important thing to remember, whenever you go inside a computer, whether it is a laptop or a desktop, is to be cautious of static electricity. Any static electricity can harm the electronics inside the computer. On a desktop, it is best to touch a metal part of the case before touching any of the electronics inside. Try not to work while standing on carpet or wearing a heavy sweater. Also, always unplug your desktop machine before opening it up. Similarly, always remove the battery from a laptop before opening up the laptop. I will not be held liable for any damage that may be caused by any mistakes. I am providing you what information I can in good faith without any harmful intention. You need to go to a computer supply store and purchase an adapter that will connect your laptop hard drive to your desktop IDE cable. You also need to obtain a jumper that will fit the laptop hard drive. Laptop hard drive jumpers need to be smaller, in height, than standard hard drive jumpers, otherwise the adapter to the desktop IDE cable will not connect properly over the jumper. This all assumes you have IDE hard drives and not SCSI. I doubt you have SCSI, if you do not know what it is, then you do not have it. You would then have standard IDE hard drive(s). So, you need to remove the hard drive from the laptop without breaking anything in the process. Then open your machine and install the laptop hard drive. You will need to review and understand jumper settings on the hard drives. You may need to change your desktop hard drive from "single" to "master" and then place the jumper on the laptop hard drive in the "slave" position. This is if they are on the same IDE cable. You may have a cdrom as a slave on the same cable as your (main?) hard drive. You would probably want to disconnect the cdrom and any other hard drives you may have installed, so you do not make any mistakes with your data or your friend's data. Once the hard drives are set up properly and you reboot your desktop computer, you should be able to see the files on the laptop hard drive. Probably on drive d: if you only have your hard drive and the laptop hard drive connected. If you can see the files, it should be a simple copying of the necessary files that will finish the job. You can then replace the laptop hard drive and reinstall the os on the laptop. Possibly using a "recovery cd" provided by the laptop's manufacturer or whatever method you have available. If you cannot see the files you need to recover, you may wish to try a data recovery program. I have had success with GetDataBack from http://www.runtime.org/ They provide data recovery software for both fat and ntfs filesystems. There are numerous data recovery programs available. Other people may recommend different. You can also see what is available by doing a Google search for "data recover software" or "data recovery". This should help. If you are lost or confused you can either forge ahead on your own and learn in the process, hoping nothing goes wrong, or you can ask a knowledgable technician to do the work for you. The data recovery is possible as long as the hard drive is not physically broken. Good Luck, Scott |
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Scott Nightlinger wrote in message gy.com...
James Lynx wrote: (brews boy) wrote: why don't you remove her hard drive and conect to your computer as a slAve then just COPY THE DATA YOU NEED. That's a good idea but I forgot to mention it's a laptop computer and I don't know if that's possible to with another laptop or even a desktop computer. I do not know if this will be useful considering your last post was three days ago. Hopefully you have already recovered the data. Based on what you have stated, data recovery is a simple process, depending on your handiness and willingness to learn a few new things. You should be able to recover this data but my information is three days old. There are IDE adapters you can purchase at a computer supply store that will allow you to connect a laptop hard drive to the IDE cable in your desktop machine. Of course, this assumes you have the ability to remove the hard drive from the laptop. Not always a simple maneuver. The laptop producer should have manual(s) available on the web. Look under "product support" on that company's website. There may be a manual describing how to remove the harddrive. Just be careful since you are working with someone else's machine. In such a situation, I may not be doing you a favor by telling you how to accomplish this task. An important thing to remember, whenever you go inside a computer, whether it is a laptop or a desktop, is to be cautious of static electricity. Any static electricity can harm the electronics inside the computer. On a desktop, it is best to touch a metal part of the case before touching any of the electronics inside. Try not to work while standing on carpet or wearing a heavy sweater. Also, always unplug your desktop machine before opening it up. Similarly, always remove the battery from a laptop before opening up the laptop. I will not be held liable for any damage that may be caused by any mistakes. I am providing you what information I can in good faith without any harmful intention. You need to go to a computer supply store and purchase an adapter that will connect your laptop hard drive to your desktop IDE cable. You also need to obtain a jumper that will fit the laptop hard drive. Laptop hard drive jumpers need to be smaller, in height, than standard hard drive jumpers, otherwise the adapter to the desktop IDE cable will not connect properly over the jumper. This all assumes you have IDE hard drives and not SCSI. I doubt you have SCSI, if you do not know what it is, then you do not have it. You would then have standard IDE hard drive(s). So, you need to remove the hard drive from the laptop without breaking anything in the process. Then open your machine and install the laptop hard drive. You will need to review and understand jumper settings on the hard drives. You may need to change your desktop hard drive from "single" to "master" and then place the jumper on the laptop hard drive in the "slave" position. This is if they are on the same IDE cable. You may have a cdrom as a slave on the same cable as your (main?) hard drive. You would probably want to disconnect the cdrom and any other hard drives you may have installed, so you do not make any mistakes with your data or your friend's data. Once the hard drives are set up properly and you reboot your desktop computer, you should be able to see the files on the laptop hard drive. Probably on drive d: if you only have your hard drive and the laptop hard drive connected. If you can see the files, it should be a simple copying of the necessary files that will finish the job. You can then replace the laptop hard drive and reinstall the os on the laptop. Possibly using a "recovery cd" provided by the laptop's manufacturer or whatever method you have available. If you cannot see the files you need to recover, you may wish to try a data recovery program. I have had success with GetDataBack from http://www.runtime.org/ They provide data recovery software for both fat and ntfs filesystems. There are numerous data recovery programs available. Other people may recommend different. You can also see what is available by doing a Google search for "data recover software" or "data recovery". This should help. If you are lost or confused you can either forge ahead on your own and learn in the process, hoping nothing goes wrong, or you can ask a knowledgable technician to do the work for you. The data recovery is possible as long as the hard drive is not physically broken. Good Luck, Scott Hi i have found this information very helpfull, i know someone who has been having the same problem. |
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