(System: Dell Dimension 8100 Pentium 4)
Please bear with me on the very extensive description of the problem and attempted troubleshooting procedures. Thanks!
I am trying to recover data from a particularly uncooperative Deskstar 60GB 7200 RPM hard drive. The problem started rather suddenly one day while I was using my computer normally and running Microsoft Word. My computer produced a Blue-Screen-of-Death error stating it was unable to access the boot volume. I promptly shut my computer down and tried to start it up again. The BIOS, etc. loaded successfully, except that it did not detect my hard drive, but instead called it an "Unknown Device."
The BIOS then indicated that there was no boot device present, and failed to load. All other computer components were detected successfully.
In an attempt to test the computer I tried several different hard drives (all known to be working and functional with either Windows 98 or Windows 2000). These hard drives were recognized successfully by the BIOS, but ~5 seconds after initiating the Windows boot process, each produced a "Boot Volume" or similar type Blue-Screen error and failed to load.
I also tested the actual hard drive that failed on several computer systems ranging from K6-2 500 Mhz based to 1.1 Ghz Athlon to Pentium IIIs, etc. Each time, it was very clearly spinning (gyration, etc. was extremely evident in the drive). The drive was spinning great, but it failed to initialize any data transfers. The comforting purr when the hard drive first initializes with the BIOS was not present, only the soft whine as the drive spun up. The hard drive was not detected by any of the BIOSes that I tried it on, however.
In the mean time, I began to try a few other things in the Dimension 8100. I purchased a new 80 GB Western Digital 7200 RPM Hard Drive 8 MB Cache and a Promise ATA100 PCI Controller Card. I attached this equipment to my 8100 and I attempted to format my hard drive and load Windows. Attempt after attempt failed though the Promise BIOS easily recognized my card. It would always start formatting, etc. but freeze about 1/3 of the way through, and I left it for several hours at a time on a few occasions. FDISK operations went without any difficulty on the new drive, however.
Despite these repeated attempts, I was never able to successfully load an operating system or any major program on a hard drive using my 8100. I checked the voltages coming out of my power supply with my voltemeter and they were all quite stable +12V, +5V, etc. so I don't think there is any voltage problem with the system.
I have since determined that there is a serious motherboard/CPU problem, and I am no longer concerned with the machine itself. Now I would very much like to recover my data only.
So, back to my hard drive, I reasoned that since it spun so nicely, the data was probably in great shape, and the controller card was shot. I bought an EXACT copy of my Deskstar hard drive down the precise Dell Part Number, Circuit Chip Numbers, Circuit Chip Layout, etc. from another 60 GB Deskstar hard drive. The only thing that differed was the manufacturing data from May 2001 to June 2001. I easily replaced the controller card on the hard drive with a known working one and reasoned that this might correct my problems. This too, failed.
All in all, I am completely perplexed. I want to recover my data without resorting to very costly data recovery companies, and I also want to have a clue as to what happened to my computer. Any assistance or suggestions of things to do would be greatly appreciated. So, any ideas?
Please bear with me on the very extensive description of the problem and attempted troubleshooting procedures. Thanks!
I am trying to recover data from a particularly uncooperative Deskstar 60GB 7200 RPM hard drive. The problem started rather suddenly one day while I was using my computer normally and running Microsoft Word. My computer produced a Blue-Screen-of-Death error stating it was unable to access the boot volume. I promptly shut my computer down and tried to start it up again. The BIOS, etc. loaded successfully, except that it did not detect my hard drive, but instead called it an "Unknown Device."
The BIOS then indicated that there was no boot device present, and failed to load. All other computer components were detected successfully.
In an attempt to test the computer I tried several different hard drives (all known to be working and functional with either Windows 98 or Windows 2000). These hard drives were recognized successfully by the BIOS, but ~5 seconds after initiating the Windows boot process, each produced a "Boot Volume" or similar type Blue-Screen error and failed to load.
I also tested the actual hard drive that failed on several computer systems ranging from K6-2 500 Mhz based to 1.1 Ghz Athlon to Pentium IIIs, etc. Each time, it was very clearly spinning (gyration, etc. was extremely evident in the drive). The drive was spinning great, but it failed to initialize any data transfers. The comforting purr when the hard drive first initializes with the BIOS was not present, only the soft whine as the drive spun up. The hard drive was not detected by any of the BIOSes that I tried it on, however.
In the mean time, I began to try a few other things in the Dimension 8100. I purchased a new 80 GB Western Digital 7200 RPM Hard Drive 8 MB Cache and a Promise ATA100 PCI Controller Card. I attached this equipment to my 8100 and I attempted to format my hard drive and load Windows. Attempt after attempt failed though the Promise BIOS easily recognized my card. It would always start formatting, etc. but freeze about 1/3 of the way through, and I left it for several hours at a time on a few occasions. FDISK operations went without any difficulty on the new drive, however.
Despite these repeated attempts, I was never able to successfully load an operating system or any major program on a hard drive using my 8100. I checked the voltages coming out of my power supply with my voltemeter and they were all quite stable +12V, +5V, etc. so I don't think there is any voltage problem with the system.
I have since determined that there is a serious motherboard/CPU problem, and I am no longer concerned with the machine itself. Now I would very much like to recover my data only.
So, back to my hard drive, I reasoned that since it spun so nicely, the data was probably in great shape, and the controller card was shot. I bought an EXACT copy of my Deskstar hard drive down the precise Dell Part Number, Circuit Chip Numbers, Circuit Chip Layout, etc. from another 60 GB Deskstar hard drive. The only thing that differed was the manufacturing data from May 2001 to June 2001. I easily replaced the controller card on the hard drive with a known working one and reasoned that this might correct my problems. This too, failed.
All in all, I am completely perplexed. I want to recover my data without resorting to very costly data recovery companies, and I also want to have a clue as to what happened to my computer. Any assistance or suggestions of things to do would be greatly appreciated. So, any ideas?