[rshaffer61]

Wow this is really strange. Lets try something else then to see if it will find the drive and data.

Use Puppy Linux Live CD to Recover Your Data:

===================
***Required Hardware***
CD Burner (CDRW) Drive,
Blank CD,
Extra Storage Device (USB Flash Drive, External Hard Drive)
===================

1. Save these files to your Desktop/Burn Your Live CD:

• Download Latest Puppy Linux ISO (i.e.: lupu-520.iso)
  Download BurnCDCC ISO Burning Software
  
  
• Open BurnCDCC with Windows Explorer
• Extract All files to a location you can remember
• Double Click BurnCDCC
• Click Browse and navigate to the Puppy Linux ISO file you just downloaded
• Open/Double Click that file
  IMPORTANT: Adjust the speed bar to CD: 4x DVD: 1x
• Click Start
• Your CD Burner Tray will open automatically
• Insert a blank CD and close the tray
• Click OK

Puppy Linux Live CD will now be created
2. Set your boot priority in the BIOS to CD-ROM first, Hard Drive Second

• Start the computer/press the power button
• Immediately start tapping the appropriate key to enter the BIOS, aka "Setup"
  (Usually shown during the "Dell" screen, or "Gateway" Screen)
• Once in the BIOS, under Advanced BIOS Options change boot priority to:
  CD-ROM 1st, Hard Drive 2nd
• Open your ROM drive and insert the disk
• Press F10 to save and exit
• Agree with "Y" to continue
• Your computer will restart and boot from the Puppy Linux Live CD
  
  

3. Recover Your Data

• Once Puppy Linux has loaded, it is actually running in your computer's Memory (RAM). You will see a fully functioning Graphical User Interface similar to what you normally call "your computer". Internet access may or may not be available depending on your machine, so it is recommended you print these instructions before beginning. Also, double clicking is not needed in Puppy. To expand, or open folders/icons, just click once. Puppy is very light on resources, so you will quickly notice it is much speedier than you are used to. This is normal. Ready? Let's get started.
  
  3a. Mount Drives
• Click the Mount Icon located at the top left of your desktop.
• A Window will open. By default, the "drive" tab will be forward/highlighted. Click on Mount for your hard drive.
• Assuming you only have one hard drive and/or partition, there may be only one selection to mount.
• USB Flash Drives usually automatically mount upon boot, but click the "usbdrv" tab and make sure it is mounted.
• If using an external hard drive for the data recovery, do this under the "drive" tab. Mount it now.

3b. Transfer Files.

• At the bottom left of your desktop a list of all hard drives/partitions, USB Drives, and Optical Drives are listed with a familiar looking hard drive icon.
• Open your old hard drive i.e. sda1
• Next, open your USB Flash Drive or External Drive. i.e. sdc or sdb1
• If you open the wrong drive, simply X out at the top right corner of the window that opens. (Just like in Windows)
• From your old hard drive, drag and drop whatever files/folders you wish to transfer to your USB Drive's Window.

For The Novice: The common path to your pictures, music, video, and documents folders is: Documents and Settings >> All Users (or each idividual name of each user. CHECK All Names!) >> Documents >> You will now see My Music, My Pictures, and My Videos.

Remember to only click once! No double clicking! Once you drag and drop your first folder, you will notice a small menu will appear giving you the option to move or copy. Choose COPY each time you drag and drop.

YOU ARE DONE!!! Simply click Menu >> Mouse Over Shutdown >> Reboot/Turn Off Computer. Be sure to plug your USB Drive into another working windows machine to verify all data is there and transferred without corruption. Congratulations!





If you're doing this to recovery from a virus or malware infection, (or even if you're not), DO NOT copy executable files (.exe, .scr. etc...) if any of these files are infected you could be copying the corruption over to any new device/computer. just copy documents, pictures, music, or videos.

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Can I do this with Ubuntu? I already have Ubuntu on my pendrive.

[Miss_Guided]

Can I do this with Ubuntu? I already have Ubuntu on my pendrive.

[rshaffer61]

Yep you should be able to do it with any Linux live cd or in your case a pen drive as long as your system will boot to the pen drive.

[Miss_Guided]

Well, the problem still persists... I've managed to grab some files from the drive using Ubuntu, but I guess
I will have to try to reinstall Windows or something. I was hoping to resolve the issue without having to do that...
Thank you so much for your help, rshaffer61. I really do appreciate it. I will likely reinstall... Do you think that
the machine will work properly after reinstalling O/S?

[rshaffer61]

Did you get all the files you needed or are there still files you need to get?

[Miss_Guided]

Well, my boss was hoping I could use this Active @ Undelete on it to recover any deleted files from the computer...
But if it's absolutely impossible to do this, then there's not much more I can do. It's not the end of the world if
I don't recover the deleted files... Just would've been nice. Really though, it's becoming such a problem to do this.
More trouble than it's worth.

[rshaffer61]

OK so this laptop in reality has never been used by you since your boss gave it to you to backup files correct?
You turned it on and no boot. After checking you found the drive was not even connected and once you connected it you got the NTLDR missing prompt correct?

So going with this have you tried to set the bios back to default settings?
There should be someplace on the first bios screen that says Load Defaults or something like that.
If that doesn't work and hopefully the factory settings partition or Recovery Partition hasn't been erased you can get the laptop back to factory defaults by doing the below instructions.


Toshiba:

To access the recovery partition do the following...

Power off the laptop.
Hold down the 0 (zero) key and turn the laptop on. Keep holding down the zero key until the TOSHIBA logo appears.
Start tapping the zero key repeatedly at this point.
Stop if the unit beeps or when the TOSHIBA logo disappears.
The screen should flash HDD RECOVERY MODE for a second and then it will load the Toshiba recovery program right from the hard drive.
Note that this erases all data, and reloads all factory default software.

[Miss_Guided]

That is correct. I did try to load defaults in the bios when you had suggested it a while back, but again, this did nothing. I still got the NTLDR missing upon boot. Thank you for your help. I will do the recovery.

[rshaffer61]

Please let me know how the recovery goes and if the system then works correctly.
You will need to get all updates for the OS and Drivers once the recovery is done as everything will be like it was when the system was new however long ago that was.
Just be ready for lots of updates.

[rshaffer61]

Are you still having problems with your issue?
It has been 26 days since your last response and I was wondering if the issue has been resolved?
If so can you explain how it was resolved so others may be able to fix it if they have the same issue.
If not please let us know and we can continue with helping you to resolve the issue.

[Miss_Guided]

Sorry about the break. I was away from work for a while. The laptop never was repaired. I tried to do a recovery. After putting in the first disc and making the appropriate selections for restoring it back to "out of box" state, it died.

[rshaffer61]

I'm sorry to hear that. Were you able to save any of your data or take it to a shop for repair?

[Macboatmaster]

Miss_Guided
The same computer, I think as this thread you started on 11 October
http://www.geekstogo...own-hard-error/

in fact the day of your post 23 on here.

In view of the above, we may I presume consider the thread with the link to it as complete.


rshaffer61
As you see appropriate of course.

[Miss_Guided]

rshaffer61: Thank you again for your time and efforts to help me. Unfortunately I was only able to recover some of the data that was required. A little is better than nothing.

Macboatmaster: I just replied to the other thread "Actually, that was a different machine and I did not know that the problems actually were the same problem. My apologies. I did not intentionally separate anything. Again... Sorry for my ignorance."

To the both of you: Sorry for the trouble.

[rshaffer61]

No trouble and I wanted to make sure you got the data you needed.
Has anything been done with the hard drive since the system died as you may still be able to save data.