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Thread: 80GB Hard Drive Crashed

  1. #1
    Member Angeejay's Avatar
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    80GB Hard Drive Crashed

    My 80Gig hard drive crashed. There was no operating system on it. The OS was on my 20Gig.....But all my data files were on the 80Gig. How can I retrieve those files....Does anyone know of any Free programs out there I can use for data recovery. I tried booting from another computer sometimes the drive will show and sometimes it won't. I was once told by someone if I put the Hard Drive in the freezer and let it get cold it may let me retrieve my files.....Help!!

  2. #2
    Administrator Steve R Jones's Avatar
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    You have to be able to access the drive for a recovery program to work...And in theory, if you can access the drive you should be able to copy the files off of it. But you can give the following a try.

    Recuva (pronounced "recover") is a freeware Windows utility to restore files that have been accidentally deleted from your computer. This includes files emptied from the Recycle bin as well as images and other files that have been deleted by user error from digital camera memory cards or MP3 players. It will even bring back files that have been deleted by bugs, crashes and viruses!
    http://www.recuva.com/
    "Vegetarians live up to nine years longer than the rest of us...Nine horrible, worthless, baconless years."

  3. #3
    Member Angeejay's Avatar
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    Thanks...I'll definitely try RECUCA...

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    Stark Raving MOD Midknyte's Avatar
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    Best of Data Storage has many recovery tools, but you need to at least be able to see the drive in the bios.

    The freezing trick is an old wives' tale.
    Hard Disk Drive Myths Debunked! Myth #26 :If your hard drive dies, freeze it and it will buy you enough time to retrieve its data.

  5. #5
    Extreme Member! BipolarBill's Avatar
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    Angie, it's time to do proper backups. You need a bigger main drive and a similar or larger backup drive. The only thing that should go on the backup drive is backups. Keep all valuable data on one drive and back that drive up regularly.

    http://www.paragon-software.com/home/db-express/

    It's free.
    MS MCP, MCSE

  6. #6
    Member Angeejay's Avatar
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    Oh goodness...I have got to get this info off this drive and I am not seeing the HD even in the BIOS


    Quote Originally Posted by Midknyte View Post
    Best of Data Storage has many recovery tools, but you need to at least be able to see the drive in the bios.

    The freezing trick is an old wives' tale.
    Hard Disk Drive Myths Debunked! Myth #26 :If your hard drive dies, freeze it and it will buy you enough time to retrieve its data.

  7. #7
    Stark Raving MOD Midknyte's Avatar
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    You can try the freezer trick if you want. Desperate times and all.

    Like BPB said, you need to do backups. We keep pounding that idea into Sysopters' heads. I guess we didn't pound hard enough.

  8. #8
    Ultimate Member G Ray88's Avatar
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    Only use the freezer trick as your last hope. If your data is important Google data recovery and see what you can find in your area, it will be $$$$ to have your data recovered.
    Like BPB said, you need to do backups. In the past I have the same problem and most of my data that was on my HD was lost. I now have it backup twice just to be safe.
    The freezer trick will work sometimes on some drives, but as soon as the drive would warm up which is very fast, I was still able to recover some information but not all of it.
    If your information is important I would look into a data recover service first.
    Good Luck
    Last edited by G Ray88; 05-17-2009 at 11:46 PM. Reason: spelling

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