need data 4rm a hard disk thts not bootin

[whitemause]

hey dudez.lemmie first of all start sayin tht this site rocks.Have learnt alot 4rm readin threads 4rm other guys.Now back 2 my problem.....I need data 4rm a h/d tht not bootin up.The hard disk is a maxtor 10GB and the PC is a compaq deskpro en 'ENS/p1.0'.I can get into setup but then it gives me a non system disk error when i try to boot.& wen i try to boot it up as a slave to another h/d its not being detected.Any ideas??

 

[Lekki_Sheep]

Don't want to offend you so don't take this personal if you think it's simple. Just covering all the bases.

Have you left a floppy in?
Have you changed the boot priorities in CMOS/BIOS?
Have you made sure the IDE and power connector are in correctly and are secure on the HDD and that the IDE is connected properly to the mainboard?
Does the HDD show up in the CMOS/BIOS?
Is there an OS (operating system) installed on the HDD?

Please post again if you've checked all these. If you haven't checked them all, please do so. Also, once again, please uderstand that I don't know what background you have in IT so I have to assume you might not have checked these things. If you have, please post details of what you've tried and the problems you've had with them.

 

[whitemause]

hey Lekki Sheep.U didnt offend me at all.Av checked all those basic stuff.The hard disk is not appearin on the BIOS setup.As far as I can tell the thing is dead,another thing I 4got 2 mention is tht its producin a weird sound like its tryin really hard 2 read something..u know like the sound u get wen a CDROM is tryin 2 read a CD.unless u can come up with another suggestion.....thnx anyway.

 

[N3051M]

You can attempt to attach the hdd as a slave on another pc, and grab your stuff from that. Otherwise, there are some bootable cds and live OSs that can be loaded from a cd etc. like BartPE or Knoppix for example...

have you had a power surge recently?

Other wise, there is some data recovery services but they aint cheap nor garunteed..

 

[Lekki_Sheep]

Yup, sounds bad. You can indeed slave it to another HDD, though if it's not being picked up in the BIOS, then it's likely very dead. Here's some more basic stuff to check:

Check the IDE cable for creases that go counter to the thread of the wires, or even dents. If there are any of these there's likely to be a slice through one of the wires inside and that's your problem.
Have a look at the IDE socket on the HDD and on the mainboard. If there are any pins out of place, GENTLY try and bend them back with a small flat head screwdriver.

If the HDDs making noises like an optical drive it's pretty dire, but then some HDDs can be real noisy. If you do manage to get it picked up in BIOS setup, then you should probably backup all the important data (if you have any) by slaving it as suggested to another HDD and simply copying it over. If stuff is missing you can download like PC Inspector File Recovery. I don't know a URL off the top of my head but that app works for us at work though it's not perfect, it is simple to use. There may be a restore package in the download section here in fact.

Hope you have some success.