I'd like to take this moment...to cry

[DigitalfreakNYC]

So last night...I turned on my desktop PC to do a favor for a friend.

Guess what?

Dead.

I either get a flashing curser or a note that says "bootable disc not found."



I went inside the computer and I don't hear any problems with the drive. it's spinning up. I'm not hearing any clicking. But I'm guessing something went wrong somewhere.

The only thing I can figure out is that I had a usb card reader plugged in when I turned it on, although I don't know how that would affect it.

Anyway, I'm going to buy a hard drive reader to turn this thing into an external in the hopes that I'll be able to get the important things off of it.

I guess I'm just in denial and, if I'm not able to get those things off of it, THEN I'll cry.

*sigh*

Anyone else have this issue ever? How did you get through it?

[quirkmanly]

Originally Posted by DigitalfreakNYC

The only thing I can figure out is that I had a usb card reader plugged in when I turned it on, although I don't know how that would affect it.

This could well be your problem. Periodically my PC will have a similar issue if I boot with a compact flash card in my reader. For whatever reason it changes the boot order of my drives in the bios and I have to manually switch it back to my HD.

What type of PC do you have?

[DigitalfreakNYC]

Originally Posted by quirkmanly

This could well be your problem. Periodically my PC will have a similar issue if I boot with a compact flash card in my reader. For whatever reason it changes the boot order of my drives in the bios and I have to manually switch it back to my HD.

What type of PC do you have?

I went into my bios and it says "no hard drive detected."

It's a custom built PC. The head of our IT department in our company built the last two for me. I called him last night and he told me it looks like it's dead.

I've done a little bit of research on the net and some people say it's dead or it could be that my OS is corrupted. I don't know how a card reader could possibly do that but I also don't claim to know everything about computers.

The crappy thing is that I had just used the computer about an hour beforehand and shut it down instead of leaving it on.

[quirkmanly]

Originally Posted by DigitalfreakNYC

I went into my bios and it says "no hard drive detected."

It's a custom built PC. The head of our IT department in our company built the last two for me. I called him last night and he told me it looks like it's dead.

I've done a little bit of research on the net and some people say it's dead or it could be that my OS is corrupted. I don't know how a card reader could possibly do that but I also don't claim to know everything about computers.

The crappy thing is that I had just used the computer about an hour beforehand and shut it down instead of leaving it on.

The card reader is probably a simple coincidence then. Based upon what you found in the bios, the prognosis is looking a little grim

[brettallica]

Originally Posted by quirkmanly

The card reader is probably a simple coincidence then. Based upon what you found in the bios, the prognosis is looking a little grim

Indeed it is. Hopefully the drive didn't go corrupt and you're still able to recover your files. I've had hard drives go out on me and lose tons of data, so I know what that's all about. I hope you don't have to go through that!

[Batman1980]

My first PC broke at the end of 2006, my rage was quite substantial. At least this one has been pretty reliable for the most part and I hope your own situation turns out well.

[MCT]

I bit the bullet and bought a new HP last week. I still have my old one that crashed on me (in the exact same manner yours did). Its just sitting there, and I have a ton of MP3 files in there that I'd like to extract. Dont know if its possible though. Sucks. Good luck, man.

[Uniquely]

Jesus and Satan were having a computer coding contest and about half way through, the power went out and everything was lost. Do you know who won the constest?

Jesus of course.... because Jesus Saves!


Always back up your data... I have two externals for dual back ups. Yeah... it's like a belt and suspenders.... but you never know... you could lose your main and a back up at the same time.

I hope you are able to recover your data though.

[Chordata]

I've had nothing but bad luck with computers.

My laptop in law school crashed 3 times, 2 of which were as I was studying for finals. Had to re-do everything. Lost lots.

Then my desktop has done it twice in the last year. Fortunately, this last time, I'd purchased a Western Digital HD and backed up all the family pictures, music, documents, favorites, etc. etc.

So starting again from scratch wasn't AS BIG of a loss. Still takes a lot of f'ing time to re-do everything.

Good luck.

[phlydude]

once you get the new drive installed and everything set up, get the old drive, change the jumpers to slave mode and then hook it up...you might just be able to recover a good portion of what is on it...happened to me at home and work and fortunately, both times that the bad sector was in the Windows boot area - all other data was able to be transferred out and saved

[SpoonMaN]

Originally Posted by phlydude

once you get the new drive installed and everything set up, get the old drive, change the jumpers to slave mode and then hook it up...you might just be able to recover a good portion of what is on it...happened to me at home and work and fortunately, both times that the bad sector was in the Windows boot area - all other data was able to be transferred out and saved

this is overall good advice, but there are no jumpers to change any longer so you can skip that part.

[phlydude]

if he has an older IDE drive (most likely since it died), it will still have jumpers

[atomik kinder]

Originally Posted by robinandtami

Jesus and Satan were having a computer coding contest and about half way through, the power went out and everything was lost. Do you know who won the constest?

Jesus of course.... because Jesus Saves!


Always back up your data... I have two externals for dual back ups. Yeah... it's like a belt and suspenders.... but you never know... you could lose your main and a back up at the same time.

I hope you are able to recover your data though.

You have to learn the hard way. Most people think they don't have to back things up and then the unthinkable happens. My sister lost a bunch of digital photos that way. She never printed them or backed them up onto another disc.

[brettallica]

Fortunately I've been in this long enough to know that you have to back up everything, all the time. It's the only way to protect yourself. The thing I cherish most on my computer(s) is my personal family photos and videos. It would be a travesty if those were lost.

It's kind of crazy that we're all so tied down by computers these days, especially when it comes to things like this. In the old days, it took something dramatic to ruin your "important" things, like your house burning down or a flood or something ruining your documents and photos. Now all it takes is a power surge or a hard drive failure, and decades' worth of memories can be erased in a flash.

[jadedeath]

Originally Posted by brettallica

Fortunately I've been in this long enough to know that you have to back up everything, all the time. It's the only way to protect yourself. The thing I cherish most on my computer(s) is my personal family photos and videos. It would be a travesty if those were lost.

It's kind of crazy that we're all so tied down by computers these days, especially when it comes to things like this. In the old days, it took something dramatic to ruin your "important" things, like your house burning down or a flood or something ruining your documents and photos. Now all it takes is a power surge or a hard drive failure, and decades' worth of memories can be erased in a flash.

And this ladies and gentlemen, is why the concept of having your entire movie collection on your computer is kinda crazy.

Logan

[Batman1980]

Exactly, it's just not practical to put a whole bunch of stuff onto a drive and expect that to be enough. I do wish I could practically back up my entire collection but that's just not feasible yet. I'd had a computer that crashed permanently too, there are few things in life that pissed me off like that did.

[jadedeath]

Originally Posted by Wolverine1980

Exactly, it's just not practical to put a whole bunch of stuff onto a drive and expect that to be enough. I do wish I could practically back up my entire collection but that's just not feasible yet. I'd had a computer that crashed permanently too, there are few things in life that pissed me off like that did.

I'm thinking about picking up another TB backup drive soon, so I can have my info in 3 places. {Backup drive, backup-backup drive and Blu-Ray}

Logan

[Batman1980]

I have 2 EHDs for a reason, one of them is almost full so I'll be getting another EHD myself, probably next year when I get a new computer since I don't plan to buy blu-rays like a crazy person next year. Starting to hit the wall pretty hard and there aren't a lot of catalog titles left(released or un-released) on blu-ray that I want. Next year is basically going to be me catching up on a lot of stuff -
Credit card bills
New computer
New EHD
New TV
TV seasons that I need to get more of or top off
Blu-ray buying just won't happen as much.

[Uniquely]

Originally Posted by jadedeath

And this ladies and gentlemen, is why the concept of having your entire movie collection on your computer is kinda crazy.

Logan

It's not crazy when you still have the original discs.

[DigitalfreakNYC]

Originally Posted by phlydude

if he has an older IDE drive (most likely since it died), it will still have jumpers

Nope. It's a SATA drive. This computer ain't that old, folks. Less than 2 years.

I tried plugging in an external hard drive reader and nada. I hear it spin up as it should. No clicking or anything.

Next step is to go to a recovery place and spend hundreds of $$$.

Question: my itunes library was on this computer with all my songs. Is there a way to just have my ipod sync up to my new computer once I get it loaded up this weekend? Or will I really have to load all songs into it again?