[jamboogy]

Hi there,

The computer suddenly crashed, so i rebooted the computer, and a 'disk boot failure please insert system disk' error came up. I did some research, plugged in the data cable again etc. but to no avail. I ran some boot disks and the computer simply does not detect the hard drive. Has the hard drive died? It would be a shame if it has as I have data on the hard drive I would like to recover.

Thanks for the help guys.

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Is the drive detected in the bios?

First step you need to do is to run a hd diagnostics program.
Run hard drive diagnostics: http://www.tacktech....ay.cfm?ttid=287
Make sure, you select tool, which is appropriate for the brand of your hard drive.
Depending on the program, it'll create bootable floppy, or bootable CD.
If downloaded file is of .iso type, use ImgBurn: http://www.imgburn.com/ to burn .iso file to a CD (select "Write image file to disc" option), and make the CD bootable.

NOTE. If your hard drive is made by Toshiba, try the Hitachi DFT CD Image version of the software

Thanks to Broni for the instructions

[rshaffer61]

Is the drive detected in the bios?

First step you need to do is to run a hd diagnostics program.
Run hard drive diagnostics: http://www.tacktech....ay.cfm?ttid=287
Make sure, you select tool, which is appropriate for the brand of your hard drive.
Depending on the program, it'll create bootable floppy, or bootable CD.
If downloaded file is of .iso type, use ImgBurn: http://www.imgburn.com/ to burn .iso file to a CD (select "Write image file to disc" option), and make the CD bootable.

NOTE. If your hard drive is made by Toshiba, try the Hitachi DFT CD Image version of the software

Thanks to Broni for the instructions

[jamboogy]

thanks for the reply.

i booted up the computer using the cd you told me to burn, however unfortunately it still cannot detect the hard drive, only the dvd rom and dvd rw.

[rshaffer61]

Sounds like the drive is for sure dead then. Sorry about that news but now it means you may be able to get a larger capacity drive that is faster.

[jamboogy]

Urgh, that's a shame. Just to clarify, there's no way I can recover the data is there?

Thanks for your reply.

[rshaffer61]

You can use a professional data recovery but that may cost hundreds if not thousands of dollars.
Their recovery of data is still not guaranteed to get everything you want either.

[jamboogy]

Ah okay, just wanted to check with you. Thanks a lot for your time and help. You can close the thread now

[rshaffer61]

You could try slaving the drive to another system but if the drive is not detected in the bios it is about 99.9% chance it is dead.
I'm sorry to be the bearer of bad news.

[jamboogy]

No worries. I've had this hard drive for a good while now, so it was bound to happen. It's a good thing I recently purchased a portable hard drive and backed up all my music and photos before this happened.

[rshaffer61]

It's a good thing I recently purchased a portable hard drive and backed up all my music and photos before this happened.

Good thinking that saves a lot of headaches there.
What size drive were you thinking about getting now?
The prices are so low even the 1 tb drives below 100 dollars now depending the make and model you want.

[jamboogy]

I've been thinking about it, and I think maybe it's time to get a new system entirely. I've had this PC for a good 5-6 years, so I'm thinking of getting a quieter laptop which is good on performance but not too expensive. Any ideas?

[rshaffer61]

Laptops are a different breed.
If you are looking at gaming being your main use I would not suggest a laptop. They are just not made to do heavy gaming like a pc is. With that being said what would be your primary use for the laptop?
What features do you really want in one?
What is your budget look like for one?

[jamboogy]

The main use of it would just be home use - doing work, listening to music, watching films, although I may use programs such as photoshop from time to time.

A decent sized hard drive would be preferred (around 250-350gb perhaps?) and so would an efficient processor so I will be able to run things easily.

I live in the UK; I'd be willing to spend around 700 british pounds at most. I think that's around 1,100 US dollars.

[rshaffer61]

Good specs and I found this one HERE as a starting point for you. I'm sorry but I don't know the UK equivalent of Best Buy there. If you can get me a website I will take a look for you.

[jamboogy]

Thanks a lot for the reply. I had a look at the link you gave me, and it seemed pretty great. The only thing was when I searched it on google shopping nothing came up, which was a bit odd. Anyway, I suppose the UK equivalent of bestbuy would be www.amazon.co.uk

Thanks for your help