can you restore or fix internal harddisk?

[Sakuya_Hime]

can you restore or fix internal harddisk? sempai? bscause there a lot memories in there I wonder if it is possible or it is broken forever plz sempai help me with my dilema please.

if yes how much will cost me.... I live in ph.

[SeijiSensei]

http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/TestDisk

[Sakuya_Hime]

Originally Posted by SeijiSensei

http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/TestDisk

sempai I have a question when I turn my computer the hdd doesnt blink like it usually does, is my internal hdd is broken I cant use my computer for past 4 weeks so please can my hdd can be repaired or is it broken forever also it doesnt have partition.

[SeijiSensei]

If you have a bad drive, and it's the only one in the machine, then you cannot diagnose it if you cannot boot it. You need to burn a CD/DVD with a live operating system and boot from that. That's what the Testdisk software is designed for. Find another computer with a DVD writer, download Testdisk, and burn it to a disc. Put that disc in the dead computer and boot. Follow the advice from the site above.

This method costs you nothing since the software is freely distributed. If you cannot do this yourself, you'll need to pay someone to look at your computer.

Testdisk comes with Photorec, a tool that does its best to find files on broken drives and put them back together. If you get it to see the disk, you might be able to recover a reasonable amount of stuff.

I take it you don't do nightly backups? Might I suggest starting to do so after you get all this resolved? I use a small USB drive for this purpose.

[Renegade334]

The internal HDD blinks? It has a LED visible from the outside? (do you have a laptop or a desktop PC?)

Or do you mean that the light on your computer tower does not work when you push the power button? Because in that case, it could either point to a RAM or motherboard problem (in which case you might have to replace the said component, depending on the type of failure).

Or, can you actually turn your PC on, but suddenly the screen displays an error message indicating that no viable storage (no operating system) was found? In that case, the motherboard is still viable, and the HDD indeed might have a problem.

Also, do you occasionally open your computer case to manipulate the components? I myself have three Western Digital HDDs mounted inside my tower, for pure storage (I now have a Samsung SSD that serves as home for my Windows partition, but prior to that upgrade, my C:\ partition was located on one of those HDDs) and I sometimes swapped stuff around. Problem is, I sometimes accidentally moved some of the internal power cables with my fingers or wrists, dislodging them from their sockets (either the Power Supply Unit or the HDD itself), which caused my motherboard to no longer find the said HDDs whenever I tried to start my PC.

[Sakuya_Hime]

Originally Posted by Renegade334

The internal HDD blinks? It has a LED visible from the outside? (do you have a laptop or a desktop PC?)

Or do you mean that the light on your computer tower does not work when you push the power button? Because in that case, it could either point to a RAM or motherboard problem (in which case you might have to replace the said component, depending on the type of failure).

Or, can you actually turn your PC on, but suddenly the screen displays an error message indicating that no viable storage (no operating system) was found? In that case, the motherboard is still viable, and the HDD indeed might have a problem.

Also, do you occasionally open your computer case to manipulate the components? I myself have three Western Digital HDDs mounted inside my tower, for pure storage (I now have a Samsung SSD that serves as home for my Windows partition, but prior to that upgrade, my C:\ partition was located on one of those HDDs) and I sometimes swapped stuff around. Problem is, I sometimes accidentally moved some of the internal power cables with my fingers or wrists, dislodging them from their sockets (either the Power Supply Unit or the HDD itself), which caused my motherboard to no longer find the said HDDs whenever I tried to start my PC.

desktop sempai, so my hdd isnt broken?

when i boot up i only see black screen and I look at cpu the mini led doesnt blink.....

[Renegade334]

If it's a desktop PC, then the light is for motherboard/CPU activity, not HDD activity.

Provided your screen isn't malfunctioning (test it on someone else's PC if you are unsure), are you certain you don't see any text (BIOS information) on screen before the PC starts to boot the operating system? If so, then it's possible it's the motherboard the problem and the HDD might therefore be salvageable, but you'll have to replace the MB.

[SeijiSensei]

Look up your computer's make and model online and see how to get into its BIOS. You should see entries for all the disks on your machine in plain text. is the drive listed in the BIOS? If not, can you change the settings to force the BIOS to see the drive?

Here's an example of the disk section from a BIOS display: https://sites.google.com/site/softvaina/BIOS.Main.jpg. You won't necessarily have this page but certainly one like it.

If the BIOS doesn't see the drive at all, you're pretty much out of luck. I'd say the odds are better that the drive is defunct than the motherboard. I've had a lot of drives die on me over the years; I've never lost a motherboard.

[Sakuya_Hime]

Originally Posted by Renegade334

If it's a desktop PC, then the light is for motherboard/CPU activity, not HDD activity.

Provided your screen isn't malfunctioning (test it on someone else's PC if you are unsure), are you certain you don't see any text (BIOS information) on screen before the PC starts to boot the operating system? If so, then it's possible it's the motherboard the problem and the HDD might therefore be salvageable, but you'll have to replace the MB.

thank you I will try it so sempai what is best item to buy to upgrade my pc to gaming pc.

my motherboard is amd.....

sempai thank you so my hdd isnt broken.


what sempai my hdd broken.... so all my memories cannnot be save....

senji sensei can I least get all memories by sending to professional technician after that I use it as a slave drive......

[SeijiSensei]

Did the BIOS see the drive? Without that it's hard to go forward.

It's possible that a professional data recovery house can get stuff off your drive even if it doesn't show up in the BIOS. I wouldn't use it as a "slave" drive or anything else if it's wonky.

Please start backing up your stuff if you do not do so regularly now. USB pendrives are pretty cheap these days. I bought four 16 GB devices for $16 at NewEgg recently. I don't know what they would cost in PH, but it has to be less than professional data recovery services.

[Sakuya_Hime]

Originally Posted by SeijiSensei

Did the BIOS see the drive? Without that it's hard to go forward.

It's possible that a professional data recovery house can get stuff off your drive even if it doesn't show up in the BIOS. I wouldn't use it as a "slave" drive or anything else if it's wonky.

Please start backing up your stuff if you do not do so regularly now. USB pendrives are pretty cheap these days. I bought four 16 GB devices for $16 at NewEgg recently. I don't know what they would cost in PH, but it has to be less than professional data recovery services.

the problem is I have 450gb of memories..... plus all the freelance movie that I create so that is my head is gonna explode because all my works from my job will be erase...... so I ask if I can get them at least I am sorry sempai I am crying due to that.

to be honest I cant see bios only black screen of death.

[Renegade334]

@SeijiSensei: a professional recovery house would need a sterile room if they need to cut the HDD enclosure to get to the magnetic platters (a couple years ago, I had a WD HDD break down on me - I suspect the platter motor was the culprit behind - and that's the problem I ran into when asking my manufacturer for data recovery options: when an HDD has mechanical issues (as opposed to magnetic issues), it really needs serious hardware and facilities to extract the data, and don't even get me started on the possible costs). I don't know if the Philippines have even one such shop available. Maybe in (Metro) Manila, I don't know.


@Sakuya_Hime: if you REALLY don't see any text on the screen when you boot up, there are three-four possibilities that come to mind, then.


1. Your screen might have a problem, but that doesn't explain the inactive LED light. I count that as unlikely.

2. Your motherboard has a problem. It would explain why nothing gets shown on screen. Even if your HDD was dead, it'd still display the BIOS information before announcing it cannot find a storage point and a valid operating system to boot from.

3. RAM dead. Usually the motherboard would be able to detect that and would beep in response (the number of beeps depends on the MB/BIOS manufacturer, BTW). Does your PC make a beep when you press the power button? (aside from the Power-On Self-Test [POST] beep, of course)

4. Your Power Supply Unit (PSU) is dead and therefore no longer carries electricity to both the motherboard and the hard drive. Also probable, I had a PSU die on me a decade ago or so, after a series of MB malfunctions overstressed the PSU box.


Here's what you can do:


Case 1: link your screen to a different PC, see whether it is displays something. Again, I don't think it's the root of the problem.

Case 2: remove the HDD from your PC and ask a friend or colleague whether you can test your HDD on his/her computer. There are also SATA-to-USB adapters, but it's to cheaper to just ask a friend if you can slip your HDD into his computer for just a couple minutes. Just boot into HIS/HER operating system (not your HDD's!) and use Windows Explorer to explore your HDD and confirm it's still working. If the HDD is okay, then the motherboard might be the problem and you'll have to replace it (with the same model, preferably). Problem: replacing it could cost something between $100-$300 and it might force you to reactivate Windows (Windows checks, every time it boots, the motherboard's serial number, to make sure you haven't installed your copy of Windows on more PCs than what your license allows you to).

Case 3: test the RAM sticks one at a time. Remove one, try to boot up, then swap it with the other stick (RAM usually come in pairs) and test again. If any of the sticks prove to be bad, you'll need to replace the faulty pair (yes, both of them).

Case 4: when you push the power button, try to see if the cooling fans turn on. If they don't, it could be a sign the PSU needs to be replaced. If you have to remove the PSU, make sure you have your PC completely unplugged from the wall's power socket so that accidents won't happen.

[Sakuya_Hime]

Originally Posted by Renegade334

@SeijiSensei: a professional recovery house would need a sterile room if they need to cut the HDD enclosure to get to the magnetic platters (a couple years ago, I had a WD HDD break down on me - I suspect the platter motor was the culprit behind - and that's the problem I ran into when asking my manufacturer for data recovery options: when an HDD has mechanical issues (as opposed to magnetic issues), it really needs serious hardware and facilities to extract the data, and don't even get me started on the possible costs). I don't know if the Philippines have even one such shop available. Maybe in (Metro) Manila, I don't know.


@Sakuya_Hime: if you REALLY don't see any text on the screen when you boot up, there are three-four possibilities that come to mind, then.


1. Your screen might have a problem, but that doesn't explain the inactive LED light. I count that as unlikely.

2. Your motherboard has a problem. It would explain why nothing gets shown on screen. Even if your HDD was dead, it'd still display the BIOS information before announcing it cannot find a storage point and a valid operating system to boot from.

3. RAM dead. Usually the motherboard would be able to detect that and would beep in response (the number of beeps depends on the MB/BIOS manufacturer, BTW). Does your PC make a beep when you press the power button? (aside from the Power-On Self-Test [POST] beep, of course)

4. Your Power Supply Unit (PSU) is dead and therefore no longer carries electricity to both the motherboard and the hard drive. Also probable, I had a PSU die on me a decade ago or so, after a series of MB malfunctions overstressed the PSU box.


Here's what you can do:


Case 1: link your screen to a different PC, see whether it is displays something. Again, I don't think it's the root of the problem.

Case 2: remove the HDD from your PC and ask a friend or colleague whether you can test your HDD on his/her computer. There are also SATA-to-USB adapters, but it's to cheaper to just ask a friend if you can slip your HDD into his computer for just a couple minutes. Just boot into HIS/HER operating system (not your HDD's!) and use Windows Explorer to explore your HDD and confirm it's still working. If the HDD is okay, then the motherboard might be the problem and you'll have to replace it (with the same model, preferably). Problem: replacing it could cost something between $100-$300 and it might force you to reactivate Windows (Windows checks, every time it boots, the motherboard's serial number, to make sure you haven't installed your copy of Windows on more PCs than what your license allows you to).

Case 3: test the RAM sticks one at a time. Remove one, try to boot up, then swap it with the other stick (RAM usually come in pairs) and test again. If any of the sticks prove to be bad, you'll need to replace the faulty pair (yes, both of them).

Case 4: when you push the power button, try to see if the cooling fans turn on. If they don't, it could be a sign the PSU needs to be replaced. If you have to remove the PSU, make sure you have your PC completely unplugged from the wall's power socket so that accidents won't happen.

thank you sempai I will try everything I gonna chere here first before professional, I hope I can retrieve all my memories and work related files.

[Cosmic Eagle]

IMO.....if you cannot even see the BIOS startup, it's most likely a dead mobo. May be PSU also (Don't try to remove the existing PSU to test though.....this is apparently dangerous, but you can tell by seeing if your tower goes active on hitting the power button, lights fans, etc)

Your comp won't boot at all also if the CPU is dead but.....I don't think that's common. CPU is supposed to be quite tough. You can buy a new CPU along with a new mobo though since both go hand in hand and if you intend to upgrade anyway, then why not?


As for how to mitigate HD failure.....get several internal and external HDs and make multiple redundant copies of your stuff