Hi my laptop crashed today and it says "operational system not found" so I googled it and seems like my hard drive is destroyed either by mechanical reasons or by virus. So my question is can I still recover the data that was saved in the recovery drive ( d drive) ? I have saved all of my photos there and I really don't want to lose them. Any tech saavy peope...do you know of that's possible? Thanks in advance.
You could extract all the data by backing up your hard drive on an external HD, but for that you would have to go to like a Best Buy because there is special equipment. I had this happen once and my hard drive was gone and I lost all my files and stuff but now I make sure to back up everyone once and a while. Sorry for this happening, it does suck
So do u mean I can? I don't think I backed up on the external HD... But my dad said that I could recover the stuff I saved on d drive but since the hardware is destroyed, i kind of feel like that's not possible anyways thanks for your input.
All the data ever saved on a hard-drive is there. The way data is stored ensures that. It isn't just an empty space where magical data elfs go, all the data is stored magnetically. That is why people such as police can get information from hard drives that have been wiped clean or destroyed. Now, assuming it was a virus, all your data is probably still on it. However, that would mean the virus is too. So if you took all the data off, you'd just be putting the virus into the new hard drive. If something went wrong and the harddrive is actually broken, if something damaged the method of storing data, your data could very well be gone forever. Now to get the data off, I say just go to a store somewhere that does it (use google to find one) and ask them to see if it can. And if you find more than one place, go to more than one place and get the best price. Some people (aka GeekSquad) rip you off. They tried charging me 200 dollars to install an OS, when that wasn't even the problem. I just asked the to fix the hinge on the laptop. :|
Thanks for the advice. I should probably try to do as you said, and try to recover stuff (hopefully). Some photos saved in that laptop are priceless to me bc they're like from family trips and prom and such so...
Many times in the cases of "hard drive problems", the drive is mechanically fine, but there was data corruption for one reason or another. In the case of data corruption, no special hardware is normally required. A recovery environment can be run from a CD, and the data recovered that way. Sometimes all that's needed is to repair the error and the system will function normally. Since the disk is mechanically fine, after recovering data, and running a cautionary test, the disk can be reused without concern. If necessary the operating system can be reloaded using the DVDs the computer begged and pleaded with you to burn off. Since you're probably not comfortable doing it yourself, have a computer store look at it. I would avoid Best Buy, but instead look at a local mom & pop operation. I wouldn't spend over $100 for such a service. If the disk is mechanically damaged, recovery can be expensive with no promise of success. Signs of a mechanical failure include "clicking", or problems / lack of spin up. Some amateur solutions exist, but it's very risky as it may end up destroying the data you are trying to save. Always always always backup your data. For irreplaceable data (like photos), I store them on my Hard drive, an external hard drive, and as I have enough photos, onto DVD-Rs.
You're 'D' drive has data, and the C drive went kaput? If so just take the D drive out, plug it into someone elses computer and transfer the data to a pendrive.
Generally speaking, when that happens the hard drive is physically fine, just a small amount of corrupt data in the wrong place (like somewhere in the operating system files, by the sound of yours). If you can get your hands on a USB to SATA (or IDE, depending on age) adapter then chances are you can get almost all of the data back from the drive. and to Lady Gaga (sadly not actually her ), not all the data ever saved on an HD remains there, if that were true then there would be no such thing as running out of space. Once it's saved over or properly (as in zeroed out) erased, it's gone for good.
^the only way of completely erasing something that i know off is changing file system to something and back (example; from NTFS to FAT to NTFS) They can tell what data was by the 1s and 0s on the HD.
just deleting a file isn't enough, hence zeroing it out, which replaces everything with zeroes. even changing file system won't necessarily totally wipe everything out. There are utilities which will replace free space with zeroes on a hard disk.
Or you can put it thought a strong magnetic field and that will totally scramble the data on it. Thats the main reason to keep magnets away from PCs!
That sucks. This happened to me. I probably should have tried the SATA to USB adaptor. I never did. Because plugging in my HDD it didn't even make noise really when turned on so I assumed it's mechanical not corrupt data but maybeee. Anyways, sorry that happened. It can probably be recovered but it is expensive and they can see everything on it so if you ever use tor................................. Anyway, the few methods I've read about to fix it include dropping it (to get the spinner back in place), freezing it (somehow decompresses or something making the drive work until it heats back up - enough time to allow you to retrieve important data. Be careful of condensation.) SATA to USB (if you're using a SATA hdd, I forget what the other kind is.), and thats about it. Don't try any of those though if you want to have a pro look at it. The above can be used as a "might as well" last resort thing if you wish....
