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    Recovering data from a damaged HD

    Discussion in 'Hardware Components and Aftermarket Upgrades' started by darthc0da, Aug 28, 2007.

  1. darthc0da

    darthc0da Notebook Consultant

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    My laptop was recently thrown around (don't ask) and it no longer starts up. I've removed the hard drives and am wondering if it's possible to recover the data. Any ideas?
     
    darthc0da, Aug 28, 2007
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  2. grateful

    grateful Notebook Evangelist

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    grateful, Aug 28, 2007
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  3. BenArcher

    BenArcher Notebook Consultant

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    It may or may not be possible to recover the data. But it most probably is.

    If the laptop was off when it was thrown around then there may be no damage to the drive at all becasue they are rated to 300G's or something quite high.

    The 1st thing to do would be to identify is the drive is sata or IDE. an IDE drive has list of pins over 40 and a SATA one will have none or very few. After you know what kind of drive it is get the apropriot external case for teh drive or a desktop to laptop converter and either way attach teh drive to either another computer. If there is nothing wrong with the drive it should install teh drive and you will be able to see the files. However if there is something wrong with the drive it may install but might not show your data or come up in some strange format. But there are lots of tools around that should be able to get your info back. If the drive will not install at all then your going to have problems and the circuit board on teh hard drive is probably damaged and you would need to replace that to get your data off but thats quite complicated.
     
    BenArcher, Aug 28, 2007
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  4. Commander Wolf

    Commander Wolf can i haz broadwell?

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    I'd second that as your first line of defense. Get an enclosure and just try to copy your files off the thing.
     
    Commander Wolf, Aug 28, 2007
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