Calgarypuck Forums - The Unofficial Calgary Flames Fan Community - View Single Post - Repairing or recovering files from a damaged hard drive

Daradon · 07-29-2011, 07:07 PM

Thought I'd come to the CP braintrust for this problem.

I have a damaged hard drive from an old computer. The computer lost power during a windows update and after that, I was no longer able to start it up. It was running Windows XP and the loading bar that you get when you start up the computer would just keep going and going in a stop/go fashion.

Fast forward to the present. I have purchased a new computer and wanted to transfer some of the files from the old drive to the new computer. I go out and buy a hard drive dock. However, the drive seems to be damaged significantly as I cannot just go in and find the files. In fact, the dock/software does not recognize the old drive.

I'm am not completely without talent, and I find some freeware that specializes in recovery, and was able to get into the drive. It does appear that my data is more or less in tact. However, all the files are numbered, not named, and searching through them in that fashion would take a thousand monkeys at a thousand keyboards. As well, since the software is freeware, it did not give me the option of actually recovering anything, just searching the drive.

I talked to a few people about this and they say it may just be a partition problem, and there are software suites out there that handle that. There are also software packs just for recovery and not repair. I have been warned that if I try a repair, it is possible to screw things up even worse than they are now.

It is really just the data that is important to me. I have several novels in progress on the drive totaling thousands of pages, plus 8 years or so worth of pics that I would like to get back. So recovery over repair is fine with me. My question is, does anyone know how to go about this and can they recommend any software? Free would be great, as I have heard that may be possible, but I am willing to spend some money.

I know there are people who do this, but I don't really want to shell out 500 bucks. If it comes to that I will, but I'm pretty sure I can handle it myself. With your help of course...

07-29-2011, 07:07 PM	#1
Daradon Has lived the dream! Join Date: Apr 2004 Location: Where I lay my head is home... Exp:	Repairing or recovering files from a damaged hard drive Thought I'd come to the CP braintrust for this problem. I have a damaged hard drive from an old computer. The computer lost power during a windows update and after that, I was no longer able to start it up. It was running Windows XP and the loading bar that you get when you start up the computer would just keep going and going in a stop/go fashion. Fast forward to the present. I have purchased a new computer and wanted to transfer some of the files from the old drive to the new computer. I go out and buy a hard drive dock. However, the drive seems to be damaged significantly as I cannot just go in and find the files. In fact, the dock/software does not recognize the old drive. I'm am not completely without talent, and I find some freeware that specializes in recovery, and was able to get into the drive. It does appear that my data is more or less in tact. However, all the files are numbered, not named, and searching through them in that fashion would take a thousand monkeys at a thousand keyboards. As well, since the software is freeware, it did not give me the option of actually recovering anything, just searching the drive. I talked to a few people about this and they say it may just be a partition problem, and there are software suites out there that handle that. There are also software packs just for recovery and not repair. I have been warned that if I try a repair, it is possible to screw things up even worse than they are now. It is really just the data that is important to me. I have several novels in progress on the drive totaling thousands of pages, plus 8 years or so worth of pics that I would like to get back. So recovery over repair is fine with me. My question is, does anyone know how to go about this and can they recommend any software? Free would be great, as I have heard that may be possible, but I am willing to spend some money. I know there are people who do this, but I don't really want to shell out 500 bucks. If it comes to that I will, but I'm pretty sure I can handle it myself. With your help of course...