Internal Hard Drive - Need Tech Help

mick123 on 13/05/2009 - 08:47
Last edited 14/05/2009 - 11:31

Hi guys, was hoping someone here might be able to help me as you guys seem tech savvy (which I am definitely not). i've done a google search too and news doesnt look good.

i have a Toshiba laptop. It no longer can read the hard drive. When I boot up, it says either no hard drive installed or no bootable devices. I have taken out the hard drive and put in a dock and tried to read from another computer - no luck - it does not pick it up. I am not sure how this happened, as my computer just froze while it was on

I think my hard drive is dead - how do i know for sure?

My questions are:

  1. The data on the hard drive - is there any way this can be saved? Is my hard drive pretty much dead for sure?

  2. It is a 2.5" Western Digital hard drive (160GB) that came with the laptop. Will any 2.5" hard drive replace this (I have seen some good deals on this website - eg 320gb approx $100 I think?

Thanks for help guys :)

General Discussion

Comments

  • neil on 13/05/2009 - 10:45

    1. Try getting a copy of a hard disk recovery tool. Spinrite is a popular choice. http://www.grc.com/spinrite.htm
      If you really need the data, there are companies that can recover hard drives but you will be in for at least $200 depending on how much you need to recover but they can usually recover everything.

    2. Any 2.5" should be alright. Just make sure if your old drive is SATA/PATA then you will need to buy the same type (i.e. SATA/PATA)

    • mick123 on 13/05/2009 - 10:57

      thanks neil.

      i have tried migo recovery and GetDataBack and neither pick up the hard drive (which is connected to a dock). i might as well give spinrite a try, but i think it doesnt look good for me.

      1. I think it is SATA only. Never heard of SATA/PATA.

      Thanks

      • neil on 13/05/2009 - 11:01

        Sorry, By SATA/PATA, I meant it's either a SATA drive or an older style PATA (ATA) drive.

        I've had better results plugging a dead drive direct to the computer (not via dock) and loading up the software without starting up Windows.

        • ESEMCE on 15/05/2009 - 09:00

          a 2.5" drive wont plug into a Desktop PC directly.. you'll need an adapter cable.

          As a last resort, if hard drive recovery software can't get your data and it's valuable enough to you (you should definitely be backing up if it is) there are data recovery companies..

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