My Worst Computer Loss Ever

[BOBK]

I am not a computer expert, but I've been tinkering with them from early on.  

My first loss happened when my first 386's HDD (which I "upgraded" to a 486DX) took a crap, and I lost my first attempt at a book on UFOs.

Even then, had I needed to, I could have probably used another computer to retrieve what I needed, but I had made enough back-ups of my notes, that I was able to continue working on the "upgraded" computer.

But yesterday, something absolutely horrible happened.

The HDD on my newest, 64 Bit, gaming computer, built for me by brother, bit the dust without warning.  I started up WC3, and the first screen just sat there, frozen.  On my other computer, running WIN2000, I would just CntlAltDel one time, and I could close out and start over.  This ones running XP Home, but though not as stable, the same thing should work here...but no.

Nothing worked.  I had no choice but to shut 'er down.

The next boot contained the message telling me there was no boot sector, and could I please enable a HDD woth a valid Boot Sector in it?

Windows won't even repair or install, as it just loops to the set-up screen each restart.  I wrote a new boot sector...reformatted....repartitioned...nothing.  In all my years, I have never had such a devistating crash before.  Needless to say, I lost some precious memories, and even some very important information that had not yet been backed up.

Although AVG isn't the most highly recommended Anti Virus software, this particular computer was utilizing it for the time being.  It could have had something to do with it, but as far as the other software programs, such as WebRoot, ZoneAlarm, etc., they are just fine.  And even with AVG running, I had used it for years, on my other computers, and it always did me fine, even catching a bug that my brother's Norton AntiVirus missed.  But that was a while ago, and I'm running Norton on everything else.  It just so happens that I wasn't in a hurry, because that computer doesn't go online very often, never utilizes email programs...only auto-updating features of certain games, and Windows itself.

To re-peat, this computer hardly EVER went on-line, so I guess I just didn't rearm it properly, early eneough...and have paid the price!:yikes:

[MindlessOath]

hdd's are not what they used to be.  in fact, you have to be picky choosey.  you dont want anything from samsumg, fijitsu, or segate.  i work with laptops and these drives when they go bad, they go REALLY bad... laptop hdd's are differnt than destop ones, but when you buy one of these stright from best buy and its bad off the shelf, then you know you just got ripped off (happens so many times).

what kind of hdd was it? size name specs etc.  

if ya want to run some tests on it, or even try and recover sectors try "spinrite" - burn it to a cd mabe it will fit on a floppy. i havent got a link right now, but if you search "theplatoon forums" i think you MIGHT find a link i posted a short while back (ya a few months).  you can see the smart values of the hdd and even scan it for bad sectors possibly even repairing them.

[Autoload]

You can recover the data off the drive. (yes even after the format are repartioning)  Your precious memories and data are really still on the disk.
 
I suggest using GetDataBack as I have had many successes with this software
 

[BOBK]

Thank you both for your replies, it means alot to me.

I'll let you know how it goes.

P.S.

     Auto-      I'm running GetDataBack for NTFS right now, but won't be able to do much of anything until I get home
                   tonight, but, for information purposes I will note what happens and report.

Thanks again for the assist!

[Lazerblade]

I have a WD 250GB hard drive that somehow got converted from NTFS to RAW. Any chance of recovery before I reformat it and start over?

[Ronin]

Sorry you're having problems with your drives, Bob.  But, as has been mentioned, hard drive brands do make a difference.  There are three brands I will buy: Maxtor, Seagate and Hitachi (formerly IBM).

I have had lots of problems with Western Digital drives.  I have bought four Fujitsu drives and none lasted more than three months.  They were cheap.  I got what I paid for.

I used to have problems with Seagate drives about 15 years ago.  But their QC is, IMHO, second to none.  They put out a quality product.  They can be somewhat fragile, though, and may not be ideally suited for laptops.

Maxtor used to have the worst rep in the business.  I recall once buying a case of 10 of them (540MB SCSI drives) and having to return 7 of them for replacements.  It was probably five years before I tried another Maxtor drive.

IBM made great drives but the fiasco with their 120GB Deskstar drives stopped me from buying any more of their drives until it was established that that drive model was just poorly designed.  The subsequent sale of IBM's hard drive division to Hitachi and the outstanding record they have had since then has brought me back to the IBM camp.

But my favorite hard drive brand would still have to be Maxtor.  They are inexpensive, fast, reliable and quiet (for the most part).  The DiamondMax line is a great line of hard drives.

Second brand on my list is Seagate.  They cost a little more.  But they make very fast drives generally.

Hitachi is third on the list.  Their drives cost about the same as Seagate drives but are not as fast.

But I will buy any of the three brands above given the right circumstances and feel confident that the drive won't let me down with a premature death.

One other thing.  If you have problems with your systems it is imperative that you make sure that you have good clean power.  Hooking your PC to an SPS (Standby Power Supply) or a UPS (Uninteruptable Power Supply) will do a lot to smooth out wall power.  It's also important that you have a quality power supply in your PC.  Low voltage or power levels and poor noise filtration can cause all sorts of problems with your PC.

Sorry to sound so opinionated for a forum noob, but I've been working on computers for about 25 years. I figure my experience must be worth something.  Of course, free advice is worth just what you paid for it. :wink:

[BOBK]

I appreciate all information, and I thank you for taking time to mention it.

I think I was attacked because of the way it tried to tell me to update my Anti-Virus Software.  Then it just froze and it never returned to me.

The computer is back up and running, on the other "identical" hard drive, but I am wary.

After the Holidays, I think i will gut it, and rebuild it myself.

Thanks again to all.