Apparently I have the blue screen of death!

[richardchrist]

I have a dell mini inspiron 1011 running windows xp OS.
I have had this for roughly 11 months (has 30 days left on the warranty).
I turned my computer on the other day only to be confronted with the black screen explaining that windows has encountered a problem....etc and gives me the safe mode options (safe mode, with networking, with command prompt), Last known good configuration or
start windows normally.
I have tried all of the above and the eventual outcome is always the Blue Screen.
This gives the usual message and a code.

0x00....( I can get the rest of the information if needed)

I also ran a quick diagnostics check and it gave me the following code :

Error code 4400:011A

Msg SCSI_0-000_DISK_GENERIC_MULTI-CARD - Target not ready

I have tried to repair my hard drive, by putting in the OS disk that came with my computer with, but there is no repair option when I get to the partition.

I then rang dell and they have said it is a hard drive problem and want to collect the computer. I think they want to replace the hard drive thus wiping all of the information.

I was just wondering if there is anything I can do to repair this myself? If not, is there any way of extracting the data from my hard drive or saving some of the information in some way?

[gerbil]

Yes, you will lose all your data once it is in Dell's hands. And I don't have a fix for the problem. So.
There are a few ways to get data off first.
-remove the hard-drive and slave it to another computer with an adapter, copy off files.
-use a bootable cd with an OS which will allow you to copy off eg Linux.
-use a bootable cd which will allow you to image partitions [or the whole disk] to another, external drive. Partition Wizard has a downloadable iso which you burn to a cd to do just that.
Personally, I'd try the last option first, but that's cos I have a Linux phobia. It stems from the command words etc they use.... ecchh!... It saves you from dismantling your machine, which Dell may not appreciate. Or, if you do remove the drive, you can still use the install version of PW to image the disk or partitions.

[richardchrist]

Hello. Thanks for the reply.
I have a just higher than basic understanding of computers, I always try to find a remedy and fix it myself (when I say that, I mean I get one of you guys to walk me through it, a bit like teaching a monkey to do it). Even so, it makes me feel like I have achieved something.
I digress, anyway, I was wondering if you could possibly help me through the option you recommended?
I have the xp OS disk that comes with the computer, with dell printed on it, is this classed as a bootable disk?
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Bananna?

[gerbil]

Sure. Go here : http://www.partitionwizard.com/partition-wizard-bootable-cd.html
-click on Bootable CD, then in the RHS of the window at How to Get you will see the link, http://www.partitionwizard.com/download.html
-towards the bottom of that page is the Home Bootable CD download link. This tortuous path of links gives you the chance to read the site.
-download that .iso file and burn it to a cd [do not open and burn the contents, burn the iso - it is a disk image].
-use that cd to boot your sys [pressing F8 during early BIOS POST will give you the one-time boot options: choose to boot from your cd drive].
-in PW [here we will assume a partition copy]...press Copy Partition Wizard.
-first select the partition to copy; in the next step the destination space or disk [note that it must be unallocated space because you are copying a partition with all its "container" information such as size, as well as its contents].
-in the next step you can resize the destination space if you so wish by dragging the sliders [you can make a smaller partition but will not be able to make it smaller than the used size of the original]
-press Finish, and if you are happy with what you are about to do then press Apply for the process to commence.
So... summarizing...to do this you need unallocated space on a disk; if your destination disk does not already have some then with this tool you can shrink an existing partition on the destination disk to make such [with the Move/Resize tool]. Then use the copy wizard and that is almost all there is to it. You get a bit for bit copy of the original partition, but now must assign a new drive letter to it, so select the copy and press Change Drive Letter.
And now explorer should see your copied files; check them!!!
Done. Hand the sys to Dell.
[Really, you don't need to do a disk copy, although it is straightforward. Copying your partitions is all you need to do. Note that you can use this tool to copy them back to your refurbished sys].

[richardchrist]

Hello.
Having a problem with the term 'unallocated space'.
I select the partition to copy ( OS...149gb..etc) which is the larger of the two, but this is where i am confused. How do i then copy this to disk or external hard drive? I have tried to copy to both but with no success as it says it has to be unallocated.
Does the disk space or external hard drive space, I am trying to copy to, have to be larger than the partition size
Could you help me to understand this further please.
So close, yet ridiculously far, I feel.

[gerbil]

Because you are in fact copying a partition with all its associated structures [partition info, file table...] and not just its files you cannot copy it to an existing partition, it has to be to space that is free...ie. unused by another partition. That is unallocated space. You either use a new drive which you do not partition, else create it by deleting a partition or shrinking one.
As an example of the last, say you have a data partition of 200GB, but it only holds 20GB of data currrently. You can use the Resize tool to push the RHS of that partition down to leave, say, 40GB in that partition. [Pushing down the RHS saves the tool from moving much, if any, of your data to the remaining space; defragmenting that drive first makes the process easier]. After that job has completed there would then be new, unallocated space of 160GB, plenty for your partition copy.
So then you would select that as the destination for your copy job. Here, also, the pgm knows how much actual unallocated space the job requires, so in the final step of that wizard you can shrink the unallocated space to the minimum if you so wish [the tool will prevent you from making it too small!]. To resize, use the sliders, it is easier, and you do not have to be MB accurate. And don't forget as a last step to allocate the new partition a drive letter, otherwise Explorer won't show it or its contents, and you will then panic!
And that is it. You don't have to perform [apply] all the steps one by one, the pgm will allow you to sequence them into one job. Simpler for you. And probably it. After you have sorted out the data problem you can then delte, keep, resize the new partition, whatever you wish.
Good luck.

[richardchrist]

Thanks for making it a bit clearer for me. I have resized the partition and
made it as small as possible but unfortunately this leaves me with a partition with 80.63gb of used space and a capacity of 67.82 in the unallocated space. Leaving me with not enough unallocated space to copy the partition. Is there anyway around this or am I doomed?

[richardchrist]

Just to clarify, the partition I'm trying to copy looks like this:

*:OS. NFTS. 149.01 GB (capacity). 80.63 GB (used). 68.38 GB (unused)

[gerbil]

Hmmm, well, that obv does not leave you with enough space - you need another 15GB or so. You either must find another way to manage that, or switch to another method. If slaving it to another Windows pc [or installing another temporary Windows OS] does not work [explorer has to see the files], then utilising a Linux bootable cd might, but I cannot help you with Linux. Plenty here can, though.