HELP! Save my hard drive!!!

[Young Salt]

I get home on 9/15 and turn on the computer. connect to the internet, and about 5 minutes later i get this blue error screen. Have to shut the computer off with the power button. I try-with almost no success to reboot the computer about 200 times over the next couple days.
I find this DOS based diagnostic that tells me i have a problem with the IDE drive.
I take it to a computer store, they tell me i need a new hard drive....will charge an extra $80 to pull my info from old drive to new....no problem - i figure, well worth it to get the info back and the computer running again. When i go to pick it up, the say they had trouble and couldn't get the info from the old hard drive.
he says stuff like - it runs, but i had trouble when i tried to copy - the info is still in there - sometimes it'll work and sometimes it won't - on a rainy day, maybe you can get the data from it - you can take it to a systems recovery specialist....for about $500!!! I get the feeling they didn't try TOO hard, they called around 11:00 and i picked it up at 4:00. they didn't charge me the $80.
Now i am S.O.L. i bring the computer back home, and find that i have to reinstall all my programs. All the shop did was put in the hard drive and reinstall windows XP. So i spend the next day or to reinstall programs, just yesterday was able to get internet working.
I have a lot of stuff that i didn't backup....i know i should've but, but hindsight is 20/20 and it's one of those things you don't think will happen to you. is there anyone (or anyone who knows someone) on this site that can help get the data back?

[Young Salt]

at least i still have my avatar

[likwid]

put the old drive in the machine as a slave drive and see if you can read all the old data.

[EricW]

HI,

Setting it up as a slave drive is a good suggestion. Another way you can do that is with a usb external drive enclosure. Compusa has good one for 39.00 store brand. When you are done seeing if you can get any data off of your drive, you can use the usb drive as a backup. All you have to do is buy a new HD when they are on sale. I just picked up a 120 gig for 39. after rebates. THere are a ton of easy backup programs out there or just do a simple file copy yourself every month or so. Anyway, If when you plug the drive in and it spins up, if you can hear it spin up and make some light tick tick tick tick tick tick you may be in good shape. If when it spins up you hear some clanky, or louder not rythmic clicks or clacks, you have a head problem and the only safe way to get data off of the drive is to send it to a recovery place. That will be anywhere from 500 to 1000.
Since you got the blue screen of death they way you described, in my experiences there may be some hope of hooking it up to another pc or usb. Some files that windows needed may have gotten corrupted.
There are a couple of last ditch and I mean last ditch methods. One is to put the drive in the freezer for a while and try to spin it up. Don't know why this works, but I have heard it can. Another one is to hold it firmly in one hand and smack it down on a table. CAUTION: do not try those unless you are ready to throw the drive away. They haven't worked for me, but you never know.

Good luck,

Eric

[EricW]

This page has 200 tips on hd revival. Good reference stuff.


http://techrepublic.com.com/5100-1035_11-5029761.html#

[bassmaster]

run raid 1