Member Avatar for downpantera

I have a Dell Inspiron Laptop and my HDD just failed. I'll be very specific so you all can help. When booting (XP Pro) I got the blue Screen of Death: UNMOUNTABLE_BOOT_DRIVE
I ran a DST-Short Test and got:
Msg: Unit 0:Drive Self Test failed. Status byte = 79.

I then ran another diagnostic and got:
Error code 0F00:0244
Msg: Block 7900671: Uncorrectable data error or media is write protected.
I got another 30+ blocks before I quit the test.

I have tons of photos, my resume, and lots of other irreplaceable things on that drive that I'd like to recover. I bought a 2.5" enclosure, but when I hook it up to my desktop, it doesn't see it. The HDD I'm using is:
Hitachi Travelstar 5400RPM Sata
I also tried connecting the new HDD and it was not detected
Toshiba 5400RPM Sata

My questions are relating this...
1) Is there something in my desktop BIOS that is not detecting these drives?
2) What is the chance to recover these files?
3) Any advice or pointers are very welcome.

Cheers,
Mike

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Quick, practical plan before spending money: make a read‑only copy of the failing 2.5" drive to a good, equal-or-larger target and work from that image. Imaging first preserves whatever readable data remains and avoids making things worse by running repair tools on the original media. (gnu.org)

Use a Linux live USB, attach a healthy target drive, and run a read‑resilient imager such as GNU ddrescue. A common two‑step pattern is: do a fast pass that skips bad areas, then retry the bad spots. Example (replace devices and paths carefully):

# fast pass (no scraping)
ddrescue -f -n /dev/sdX /path/to/image.img /path/to/rescue.log

# retry bad areas (few retries)
ddrescue -d -r3 /dev/sdX /path/to/image.img /path/to/rescue.log

Always verify device names before running; ddrescue documentation explains mapfile use and safe workflow. (gnu.org)

If the drive was invisible in your cheap enclosure, common causes are power or adapter issues (older USB2 ports, Y‑cables, or underpowered ports) or rare SATA power incompatibilities on newer drives. Try: a direct internal SATA+power connection in a desktop, a powered USB‑SATA adapter (or a proper Y‑cable if the enclosure requires it), or a Molex->SATA power adapter to bypass the SATA 3.3 power‑disable pin if applicable. (en.wikipedia.org)

After you have an image, run tools like TestDisk or PhotoRec against the image to recover files or repair partitions; they operate safely on images without touching the original disk. If the drive is making mechanical noises (clicking, repeated spin attempts) stop further attempts and consult a professional clean‑room service — imaging a noisy drive can push it past recovery. (cgsecurity.org)

This extends 's live‑CD idea with a concrete, low‑cost imaging workflow and gives an alternative to immediate lab quotes noted by .

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All 6 Replies

Member Avatar for caperjack

2) What is the chance to recover these files?

Mike

slim to none !unless you want to pay a recover firm big bucks

Member Avatar for downpantera

slim to none !unless you want to pay a recover firm big bucks

How much are we talking here?

Member Avatar for caperjack

How much are we talking here?

could be in the thousanda of dollars ,or less ,do a www. google.com search for data recovery from dead drive ,'
this site is in canada ,you could request a quote to get an idea .

another one .
http://www.salvagedata.ca/
and another .

Member Avatar for cguan_77

I have a Dell Inspiron Laptop and my HDD just failed. I'll be very specific so you all can help. When booting (XP Pro) I got the blue Screen of Death: UNMOUNTABLE_BOOT_DRIVE
I ran a DST-Short Test and got:
Msg: Unit 0:Drive Self Test failed. Status byte = 79.

I then ran another diagnostic and got:
Error code 0F00:0244
Msg: Block 7900671: Uncorrectable data error or media is write protected.
I got another 30+ blocks before I quit the test.

I have tons of photos, my resume, and lots of other irreplaceable things on that drive that I'd like to recover. I bought a 2.5" enclosure, but when I hook it up to my desktop, it doesn't see it. The HDD I'm using is:
Hitachi Travelstar 5400RPM Sata
I also tried connecting the new HDD and it was not detected
Toshiba 5400RPM Sata

My questions are relating this...
1) Is there something in my desktop BIOS that is not detecting these drives?
2) What is the chance to recover these files?
3) Any advice or pointers are very welcome.

Cheers,
Mike

I bought a 2.5" enclosure, but when I hook it up to my desktop, it doesn't see it. The HDD I'm using is:
Hitachi Travelstar 5400RPM Sata
I also tried connecting the new HDD and it was not detected
Toshiba 5400RPM Sata

Hi, as far as I know when you plug-in an external USB drive it will not be detected by the BIOS...unless your BIOS support this features..
when you plug-in your hdd, did you check in Control Panel -> Administrative Tools -> Computer Management -> Disk Management whether your drive is there or not? if your using a new hdd and its working properly and your external casing is working also,..you can see your HDD as an "Unallocated Drive" in Disk Management...

However, if your old HDD is not deteceted by the BIOS when you plug in that directly to your laptop then..as what Caperjack said..your chances of recovering data is very Slim.. take this experience as a lesson..important files burn to DVD or CD..

Cheers!

Member Avatar for jermaghs07

He can't get to the OS, How is he supposed to check control panel? LOL

Have you tried running a linux live CD to try and acces the data on your Hard Drive?

You can load Knoppix into ram then use it to access your HDD and maybe put some of those files onto a harddrive or CD.

Member Avatar for baglady201

Bought a 2.5 enclosure to use the 10gb hdd from a broken Dell Inspiron

Edited by baglady201
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