Bust laptop

Ah yeah, I see the service is 97 quid at pc world. But Im not too sure whether they can tell me before I shell out the money whether they can get the data back.

try this

Re-boot machine and hit F2 to bring up System Set-Up.
Press the "Caps Lock" key, the "Scroll Lock" key, and the "Num Lock" key.
Press the "Alt" and "E" keys to clear NVRAM. You'll hear a beep.
Press "Alt" and "F" to re-set to factory defaults.
Press "Alt" and to exit system set up and re-boot.
The BIOS will read the hardware configuration at boot and everything should be normal.

if this dont work please tell me the model your dell is.

voodoomagick Wrote:try this

Re-boot machine and hit F2 to bring up System Set-Up.
Press the "Caps Lock" key, the "Scroll Lock" key, and the "Num Lock" key.
Press the "Alt" and "E" keys to clear NVRAM. You'll hear a beep.
Press "Alt" and "F" to re-set to factory defaults.
Press "Alt" and to exit system set up and re-boot.
The BIOS will read the hardware configuration at boot and everything should be normal.

if this dont work please tell me the model your dell is.

Im really not sure about doing that. I dont want to do anything myself that might make the problem even worse, however I can tell you the laptop is a dell inspiron 1721

emmajanefan Wrote:You want to look for DiskWarrior
Which is very good. Restores files and cleans up any other problems

Ah ha! We have a Mac user
DiskWarrior is Mac only and is for directory structure repairs only anyway, it wouldn't help with a failed drive

Voodoomagick, not wise to give out information like this to people unfamiliar with PCs without knowing specifics. 9 times out of 10 it'll have no effect and on the other 1 it's likely to cause extra problems. Resetting BIOS and clearing NVRAM should be left to the support people as they have a better understanding on if resetting these might cause other problems.

Besides I still think the most likely problem is a failed drive or the power to it.

Im really quite confused about which company/person to possibly use to try and recover the data.

Ive had on track data recovery quoting me over £800 depending on the type of hard drive but a local computer place say they can have a go for £60. I previously mentioned pc world's service is £97.

For a start I don't even know if there is actually any data to recover. Im at a bit of a loss at what to do.

I'd be surprised if a local company would have any type of set-up able to pull it off a failed drive. I suggest you perhaps ask them to do it on the remit that there is no, or minimal fee if the drive is dead and they can't retrieve the data

Yup, Ontrack price seems about right. You've got to remember these companies are mainly built around corporate clients where the client can put a very definite cost to losing the data. Not only that but you're paying for a specialist lab to work their magic on it.

PC World will attempt to retrieve for the price quoted but if they can't due to the state of the drive they have an optional service to take it through their own third party lab much like Ontrack and with presumably similar costs (although I'd expect them to be cheaper than Ontrack)

I feel for ya man. I recently lost an External hard drive with 320GB of stuff on it. I decided then that it's time to finally invest in Raid 5. The sad thing is that the hdd was still just in warranty but there's no way in hell I was sending it back with close to 200GB of porn on it lol!

As soon as I can find enough space and find some silica gel, it's going in the freezer. Fingers crossed that'll work.

Sorry! I guess I should have known my Mac would have gotten me in trouble someday...

Anadin Wrote:I feel for ya man. I recently lost an External hard drive with 320GB of stuff on it. I decided then that it's time to finally invest in Raid 5. The sad thing is that the hdd was still just in warranty but there's no way in hell I was sending it back with close to 200GB of porn on it lol!

As soon as I can find enough space and find some silica gel, it's going in the freezer. Fingers crossed that'll work.

What do you mean about the silica gel and the freezer?

I too am wary about the porn I have on it lol. Although Im willing to have a little bit of a red face if it means getting everything back. I took it into pc world this morning for the tech guys to have a look at, they're getting back to me on monday.

Also a member of the forum, rholden4817 has offered to have a look for free. His website is: http://www.inspired-it.net

jack29g Wrote:What do you mean about the silica gel and the freezer?

I too am wary about the porn I have on it lol. Although Im willing to have a little bit of a red face if it means getting everything back. I took it into pc world this morning for the tech guys to have a look at, they're getting back to me on monday.

Also a member of the forum, rholden4817 has offered to have a look for free. His website is: http://www.inspired-it.net

It is supposedly possible as a last resort to freeze your hard drive and while it's still very cold, you might possibly retrieve some information. My hard drive is clicking so apparently that usually means the heads are starting to make actual contact with the platters. The theory goes that freezing the hard drive forces the metal to contract enough so that, temporarily at least, there's no contact between the heads and the platters and data can be read from the HDD.

Obviously there's a problem with condensation when freezing them so I need silica gel as it absorbs moisture and a nice airtight bag.

I'm not too hopeful it'll work and in doing this I'll probably finish off the drive once and for all but I'm unwilling to spend money on data retrieval so this my only option. Wouldn't recommend it though.