filkertom: (Default)
[personal profile] filkertom
So, I went to CompUSA and got a hard drive and two USB 2.0 hard drive cases. Plastic -- there's some aluminum in there, but they still get hot, dammit -- but they work, and the hard drive was deeply on sale, so I ended up spending a large hunk less than I feared.

I put the old hard drive into one of the cases, and the system recognized it as functioning properly, but it needs to be formatted, would you like to do that now? (That would be "no", Pat.)

Went a-Googling for "hard disk recovery software". First thing that came up was something called Stellar Phoenix. Downloaded the demo, which said it would read what it could -- and damn if it read pretty much every file I'd had on that drive. Recreated the directory tree completely, didn't seem to be missing anything.

It seemed a bit pricey, so I tried to call 'em for some more info. The tollfree didn't work. Not promising. So I checked out most of the rest of the other programs on that first Google page.

Only one of them could even find the drive, and that one -- like two of the three others -- crashed badly.

Upshot: I need the stuff on that drive -- it's, like, most of the last five albums. I was trying to finish the config (which I now have been forced to finish today) so that I could more easily back everything up. And now, I'm waiting for Stellar Info Systems to recognize that I've paid them for this software, and send me a license key. I'll let you know how it works out.

(no subject)

Date: 2005-07-18 08:16 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] ericthemage.livejournal.com
You could try Unstoppable Copier. It's free, and I'm using it currently to get some mp3s off of an older CD. Works for hard drives too.

(no subject)

Date: 2005-07-18 08:34 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] filkertom.livejournal.com
Unfortunately, it (like a few of the other programs) just wanted to format it. Nope nope nope.

(no subject)

Date: 2005-07-18 08:22 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] popefelix.livejournal.com
Well, if it will help any, we have "And They Say I've Got Talent," "Badgers and Gophers and Squirrels, Oh My," "Digital Acoustic Compilation," "Plugged," and "Live at GAFilk" in electronic form, and we can send them to you any way you like. I'm pretty sure we have the physical CDs for everything except Live at GAFilk, so I can always make FLACs and send them to you.

(no subject)

Date: 2005-07-18 08:32 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] filkertom.livejournal.com
Oh, I've got physical CDs. What I don't have are the Acid Pro and SuperJam and Band in a Box arrangement files, the vocals, and the mixes -- and that includes The Last Hero On Earth and what I've done on Sounds Familiar. So, you see, I need that.

I've been doing some backing up to CD-R, but I wanted to have a hard drive back-up as well, and I basically am taking precisely the steps I would've in about three weeks, just not as I would've wanted.

(no subject)

Date: 2005-07-18 10:29 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] popefelix.livejournal.com
Ah, I see.

(no subject)

Date: 2005-07-18 08:25 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] ericthemage.livejournal.com
Maybe Raw Copy would work too.

(no subject)

Date: 2005-07-18 08:35 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] filkertom.livejournal.com
That one's also giving me trouble. Sigh. Thanks, though.

(no subject)

Date: 2005-07-18 08:51 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] denali1.livejournal.com
Were these drives formatted in FAT32 or NTFS?

(no subject)

Date: 2005-07-18 09:18 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] denali1.livejournal.com
Does the Disk Management applet in control panel still see the drive as NTFS or does it describe the drive as "Foreign"?

(no subject)

Date: 2005-07-18 09:24 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] denali1.livejournal.com
Whoops, forgot... They changed it from Foreign to Unreadable in XP... So, the question should be does it show as NTFS in Disk Management or as Unreadable.

(no subject)

Date: 2005-07-18 09:33 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] filkertom.livejournal.com
In Device Manager, it says the drive is functioning properly... but, every time I try to access it in any way, even just by opening My Computer, the system asks me if I'd like to format it now. I have a recently cacked hard drive I used as a baseline comparison, one that the system does not recognize as good, useful, or salvagable in any way, and this is different.

(no subject)

Date: 2005-07-18 10:06 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] denali1.livejournal.com
Sorry, I sometimes have a hard time expressing myself. Let me try this a different way, if you don't mind indulging my curiousity.

Click Start, click Run, type compmgmt.msc, and then click OK.

In the console tree, click Disk Management. The Disk Management window appears. Your disks and volumes appear in a graphical view and list view.

Now, Disk management can have one of about 17 differnt statuses, ranging from Online to such oddball statuses as Healthy (At Risk), Foreign and my own personal favorite, Failed.

Device Manager only looks at the driver software and the controller/drive interface. Disk Management actually looks at the drive data itself, including the master boot record, bootstrap, partition table, etc. Just from what you've said, it sounds like you've lost a decent portion of the master boot record but have managed to keep a significant portion, if not all, of the master file table.

(no subject)

Date: 2005-07-18 11:14 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] filkertom.livejournal.com
Interestingly enough, it says Healthy (Active). I believe you're right about the boot record being shot but the file table being intact -- the directory tree was pretty much everything I could remember being on the drive.

(no subject)

Date: 2005-07-19 12:21 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] ericthemage.livejournal.com
If that's true, maybe the Ultimate Boot CD has a tool you can use to fix it.

(no subject)

Date: 2005-07-19 12:28 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] denali1.livejournal.com
*tugs on beard* Well, sounds to me like the top half of the master boot record, which has the boot strap code, is scrambled.

What concerns me is XP wants to format the drive, but yet Disk Management shows the partition as healthy...

When you boot the system with just this drive and hold down F8 as it gets ready to boot, does it give you access to the boot control menu?

(no subject)

Date: 2005-07-19 01:16 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] filkertom.livejournal.com
Only to choose what device to boot from. I couldn't find a way to boot into Safe Mode from the XP disk.

(no subject)

Date: 2005-07-19 01:33 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] denali1.livejournal.com
Ah yes, thats your motherboard talking. You were just a little too quick on the F8. :) It takes a little practice, but if you can catch it just after you get the list of devices and then press F8, you should get the menu which has Safe mode.

(no subject)

Date: 2005-07-18 10:49 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] sarekofvulcan.livejournal.com
Just out of curiosity, what happens if you boot off a Linux LiveCD and mount that drive?

(no subject)

Date: 2005-07-18 11:14 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] filkertom.livejournal.com
Dunno. Haven't got a Linux LiveCD. I've never used Linux. Tonight is not the night for me to begin the experiment. :)

(no subject)

Date: 2005-07-18 11:43 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] sarekofvulcan.livejournal.com
I've just heard stories of Linux occasionally being smarter about reading NTFS than Windows. :-)

It won't help with this case, but if you go to http://shipit.ubuntu.com/, they'll send you multiple free copies of their Linux distro. Along with the install disk, they send a LiveCD, which lets you boot into Linux without making any changes to your hard drive. It runs off a RAM disk and doesn't even mount your HD unless you specifically tell it to.

I've been playing with this a bit: I think the next step is to install it using Virtual PC, so I can actually have stuff stick around after I reboot. :-)

(no subject)

Date: 2005-07-18 11:23 pm (UTC)
metalfatigue: A capybara looking over the edge of his swimming pool (Default)
From: [personal profile] metalfatigue
Have you tried SpinRite? I love that thing.

(no subject)

Date: 2005-07-19 03:23 am (UTC)
poltr1: (Default)
From: [personal profile] poltr1
I'm a fan (and happy customer) of Runtime Software's GetDataBack and DiskExplorer. They have versions for FATx and NTFS. You can read the clusters for free, but to recover the files, you'll need to pony up the $.

hard drive...

Date: 2005-07-19 03:33 pm (UTC)
From: [personal profile] hms42
Tom - Thanks for the software recommendation. I will have to look into adding that to my toolbag.

As for the replacement drive... What brand did you grab? The only one these days with anything of a real warrantee has been tending to be Seagate who gives you 5 years. (Everyone else is 1 year or less and you can pay for longer on a few of them.)

Harold

Re: hard drive...

Date: 2005-07-19 04:55 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] filkertom.livejournal.com
Maxtor DiamongPlus 9 200 GB -- the shelf sticker said $129.99 at CompUSA, but it rang up for $79.99. Such a deal. :)

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