Disk boot failure, insert system disk and press enter

[Brinnie]

issue resolved- see post #3

Hello,

I have a damaged hard drive (WD 250GB) that I pulled from my external enclosure.
I'm trying to do data recovery on it, so i connected it to the slave IDE cable (middle one right?).

Now when I start up my PC, it gives me that error message, but my Primary boot disk (Seagate 80GB) works fine when th Slave isn't plugged in. (I'm guessing it's a BIOS or a jumper setting that's telling it to look at the Slave as the Boot disk???)

I thought I had the BIOS configured correctly to the best of my ability, but now it's beyond me. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[raybay]

Put the drive into a powered USB enclosure. It must have its own power adapter. You have a good chance of recovery there.
If you must put it inside a case, you must change the jumpers, assuming you are using PATA or EIDE. The main drive to which you are copying, must be jumpered as Master, and the failed drive must be jumpered as slave. USE EIDE 80 conductor 40 connector cables.
You will not have good luck depending on the EIDE cable alone, or while using Cable Select. That puts you at risk of losing even more data.
Once you start this recovery, do not stop until done, as it is possible the drive will never again power up, depending on its condition. Keep that drive spinning.

Once your drives are properly jumpered, you should have good luck in your data rescue, as long as the bearings are not failing. The other main cause of trouble is the magnetic media bubbling up and pealing off. That usually starts at the outer edge. The centrifugal force of the drive plates will cause the bubbled parts to be destroyed and blow off due to the force of the rapdily moving air.

 

[Brinnie]

I just changed the boot disk sequence and it started up, but now that we've moved on to data recovery: Isn't it faster to install the drive inside the machine rather than use a USB enclosure?

 

[raybay]

If everything is working perfectly, and the temperaturs are not putting anything at risk, using the drive inside the case, jumpered as slave, with the master also jumpered as Master, you have a more secure system. USB enclosures are more fragile, and at risk of accidental lateral impact while you are working.

But what you desribed before was a different scenario.

What you don't want, is anything that makes for more difficult work, because, as always, IF ANYTHING CAN GO WRONG, IT WILL.

WHAT YOU WANT IS THE MOST SECURE ENVIRONMENT, with temperatures, and cables that do not complicate the process.

We don't know what caused the problem with this now "defective" drive, but you want to do all this recovery when you have time to do it, so you don't have to shut down in the middle and risk the damaged drive not starting up later.