[jaffacake]

Okay, so I only need to be quick while it's running, but I don't need to rush right now before travelling back as long as the computer is turned off, correct?

Will running it as a slave cause further damage then? I mean, would I be safer if I just give it to a specialist to recover my data, or is it worth trying by myself first? I wouldn't want to limit my chances for recovery. If it's expensive, I'll deal with it, though I'd much prefer a cheaper route, but only if it doesn't put my data at risk more than necessary.

 

Thanks for the link! I'll order one as soon as possible. Is there something I should look for? What makes one hard drive better than another?

The SSD part confused me too. It may be a hybrid drive, but I'm not sure. When I first bought the laptop (refurbished), it had Windows 8 on it, and it was installed on the SSD partition. When I wanted to put Windows 10 on it, the 16GB weren't enough, so I tried to merge the partitions, which wasn't possible. I don't remember, but maybe that was because there are two hard drives, not sure. I ended up installing Windows 10 on the regular drive and ignoring the SSD. I was told that the system would automatically use the SSD to cache things so that it's all faster. Someone also recommended that I buy a SSD-only drive rather than a hybrid. Is that worth it?

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SSD drives are faster and more reliable. They do cost more though just to let you know. I don't know what you may want to spend so that is a major concern. The drive may boot eventually or may just die completely. Right now the errors may be the reason it won't boot. Using a data recover should not hurt the drive. In fact you could use a Linux based OS that boots to the cdrom and be able to copy your data from the hd to a flash drive or a external drive. Puppy Linux is what I recommend for beginners.

Get Puppy Linux  from my signature below...Get puppy-2.16-seamonkey-fulldrivers.iso download it and burn it to cd
..
if you don't have a burning program that will burn .ISO files get Burncdcc from my signature...it is a small FAST no frills iso burning program...

NOTE...do not put a blank cd in until burncdcc opens the tray for you
1. Start BurnCDCC
2. Browse to the ISO file you want to burn on cd/dvd ....in this case its puppy-2.16-seamonkey-fulldrivers.iso
3. Select the ISO file
4. click on Start

make sure in the bios the cd drive is the first boot device....

put the cd in the cd drive..boot your computer....puppy will boot and run totally in ram...if your hardware is is good working order you will know...
after you get it running and your at the desktop...you take the puppy linux cd out and then you can use the burner to copy all your data to cd/dvds
you can also use it to backup your data to a external usb harddrive..just have it hooked to the computer when you boot up with puppy...

==========================
quick guide for saving data...music..files on a system that will not boot using puppy Linux..


after you get to puppy desktop..
click on the drives icon...looks like a flash drive...top row..it will list all the drives connected to

your computer...

click on the red icon for the drive you want to mount...in this case its a flash drive ...puppy will

mount the drive..the drive icon turns green when its mounted...
minimize the drives mounter window..you will need it again in a few minutes..
drag the right edge of it sideways to shrink it to its narrowest size...about half the width of the screen...then drag the window to the right edge of the screen...

now click on the icon that looks like a filing cabinet (kind of yellow) on the main drive...it should
already be green..
you will see a list of all the folders on the main drive Usually your C: drive..shrink that window to
the narrowest you can..about half the width of the screen...drag that window to the left side of the screen...
at this point you should have 2 windows open on your desktop..the flash drive on the right side..
go back to the folders on the C: drive...click on the documents and settings folder...then your user
name or all users..find the folders that has your data..
drag and drop the folder with the data you want to make copies of to the flash drive window...

your options are to move ..copy ect...JUST COPY..if its to big you will have to open the folder and
drag and drop individual files until the flash drive is full...(I have a 120 GB external USB drive for
big data recovery jobs and a 4 GB flash drive for the smaller jobs)..after you get the files copied to
the flash drive...
Click on the drives mounter you minimized earlier
UNMOUNT THE FLASH DRIVE by clicking on the green icon..you will once in awhile get error messages when
unmouting the drive..ignore them..when the flash drive icon turns red again its safe to remove the
flash drive..trot on over (stroll if you want to look cool) to another computer and plug in the flash

drive and copy all the data files ( I drag and drop) to the other computer..
make sure the other computer can read them...

now delete the data on the flash drive...take it back to the misbehaving computer and plug it in

again..click on the drives icon again and repeat until you have all your data transferred to the working
system..

Thanks to happyrock

[rshaffer61]

SSD drives are faster and more reliable. They do cost more though just to let you know. I don't know what you may want to spend so that is a major concern. The drive may boot eventually or may just die completely. Right now the errors may be the reason it won't boot. Using a data recover should not hurt the drive. In fact you could use a Linux based OS that boots to the cdrom and be able to copy your data from the hd to a flash drive or a external drive. Puppy Linux is what I recommend for beginners.

Get Puppy Linux  from my signature below...Get puppy-2.16-seamonkey-fulldrivers.iso download it and burn it to cd
..
if you don't have a burning program that will burn .ISO files get Burncdcc from my signature...it is a small FAST no frills iso burning program...

NOTE...do not put a blank cd in until burncdcc opens the tray for you
1. Start BurnCDCC
2. Browse to the ISO file you want to burn on cd/dvd ....in this case its puppy-2.16-seamonkey-fulldrivers.iso
3. Select the ISO file
4. click on Start

make sure in the bios the cd drive is the first boot device....

put the cd in the cd drive..boot your computer....puppy will boot and run totally in ram...if your hardware is is good working order you will know...
after you get it running and your at the desktop...you take the puppy linux cd out and then you can use the burner to copy all your data to cd/dvds
you can also use it to backup your data to a external usb harddrive..just have it hooked to the computer when you boot up with puppy...

==========================
quick guide for saving data...music..files on a system that will not boot using puppy Linux..


after you get to puppy desktop..
click on the drives icon...looks like a flash drive...top row..it will list all the drives connected to

your computer...

click on the red icon for the drive you want to mount...in this case its a flash drive ...puppy will

mount the drive..the drive icon turns green when its mounted...
minimize the drives mounter window..you will need it again in a few minutes..
drag the right edge of it sideways to shrink it to its narrowest size...about half the width of the screen...then drag the window to the right edge of the screen...

now click on the icon that looks like a filing cabinet (kind of yellow) on the main drive...it should
already be green..
you will see a list of all the folders on the main drive Usually your C: drive..shrink that window to
the narrowest you can..about half the width of the screen...drag that window to the left side of the screen...
at this point you should have 2 windows open on your desktop..the flash drive on the right side..
go back to the folders on the C: drive...click on the documents and settings folder...then your user
name or all users..find the folders that has your data..
drag and drop the folder with the data you want to make copies of to the flash drive window...

your options are to move ..copy ect...JUST COPY..if its to big you will have to open the folder and
drag and drop individual files until the flash drive is full...(I have a 120 GB external USB drive for
big data recovery jobs and a 4 GB flash drive for the smaller jobs)..after you get the files copied to
the flash drive...
Click on the drives mounter you minimized earlier
UNMOUNT THE FLASH DRIVE by clicking on the green icon..you will once in awhile get error messages when
unmouting the drive..ignore them..when the flash drive icon turns red again its safe to remove the
flash drive..trot on over (stroll if you want to look cool) to another computer and plug in the flash

drive and copy all the data files ( I drag and drop) to the other computer..
make sure the other computer can read them...

now delete the data on the flash drive...take it back to the misbehaving computer and plug it in

again..click on the drives icon again and repeat until you have all your data transferred to the working
system..

Thanks to happyrock

[jaffacake]

Thanks, that sounds great! You're very nice! :-) I had no idea an operating system could run without a hard drive completely in RAM. The laptop doesn't have a CD-ROM drive though. Can I do the same thing with a flash drive instead of a CD?

[rshaffer61]

Yes it will work on a flash drive. I would suggest not using the laptop till you are ready to work with Puppy Linux to get your data. As long as the drive isn't mechanically dead Puppy should allow you to get the data off safely. Do you have a external drive or another flash drive that you can copy everything to?

[jaffacake]

Okay, I'll do that on Wednesday or Thursday then. I will still have to be as quick as possible then, right? I do have an external hard drive. It doesn't need to be completely empty as long as there's enough space on it though, or does it? I can't figure out which of my 3 USB ports is the one with USB 3.0 though. (I figured that I should use that one if I need to be fast, or does not not make much of a difference?)

Do I need to format the flash drive the same way I did with the bootable Windows 10 flash drive? With Fat32 and UEFI GPT?

Edited by jaffacake, 30 July 2016 - 02:21 AM.

[rshaffer61]

Yes there should be instructions for the flash drive to use. No you don't need the drive that you are using to copy the data to to be empty. By fast I mean get it done soon because there is no telling when the hard drive will completely die. If the flash is 3.0 it should be backwards compatible so it should work on 2.0 also.

[jaffacake]

Oh okay. Would you recommend that I do it before I travel back on Wednesday? I'd have to buy an external hard drive because mine is back home in the US...

Edited by jaffacake, 30 July 2016 - 06:10 AM.

[rshaffer61]

If it was me I would want to make sure my data is safe simply because right now you are dealing with a drive that could completely die at any time. I don't know if you will even be able to get anything but I would go ahead and do it now and make sure. Replacement can be done later but try now to get the data for your own peace of mind. I am hoping puppy will get you access to save your data. Let me know what happens. Remember you can copy the data but no programs can be saved unless you have the installation file you can copy over.

[jaffacake]

Hi,

I"m back in the US now, and I just tried to do this. I didn't get a chance to do it before travelling. It took me a while to get Puppy Linux to work, but then it didn't show the hard drive. It showed the smaller one, the SSD I told you about, but not the main one. Does that mean it's dead? It's still making that clicking noise... It's been making it from the very beginning as soon as I turn on the computer, and it was still making it while I was running Puppy Linux.

[rshaffer61]

Yes it sounds as if it has died now mechanically. I don't know if you want to spend the money to try and pull info off it considering the price can be very expensive. I would suggest replacement now just so you can get back up running. There is one trick that I don't recommend because it usually won't work if the drive mechanically is dead. You could put the drive in the freezer for a hour and see if it will come on again but I can tell you it won't last long even if it does. Once it warms back up it will probably stop again.