HP desktop hard drive died

billd766 · October 9, 2016

Last week the 2Tb hard drive died in my HP Envy desktop PC.

I spent about 3 hours on Wednsday afternoon and a couple more on Thursday morning trying to breathe some life into it but not even the kiss of life worked.

So Thursday I took it up to the Adice computer shop 15 km away and asked them to fix it. They called me an hour later, apologised that they didn't have a hard drive of 2Tb but they would order it and call me back when it was done. That was done by yesterday after noon so I brought it home to put everything back on it.

I had carefully followed MS instructions and made a mirror image of the PC believing that IF there was a problem I could just plug in the external hard drive, copy the mirror image and job done.

Actually the job is not done. It has copied the program files etc which were in the original C: drive but all of my personal data, files, photos, folders etc going back some 5 years or so didn't get copied and are I assume safe and well on my Seagate external drive. If they are, then how do I extract them to load onto my new hard disk?

Help me please if you can.

Chicog · October 9, 2016

Are you sure this was an Image backup?

Because if it was, you'd have to go out of your way to cherry pick what to recover.

Sounds to me like you backed up with MS Backup, which is not an Image Backup. It would have required you to select folders and files.

If you can post a link to the "MS instructions" you followed, we can take it from there.

chrisinth · October 9, 2016

Bill, if it is just replacing saved data files it is simply drag & drop or copy & paste from your external to your new drive to the location they were saved from. If you have been using an email POP account (Outlook, Thunderbird, etc) and have saved that, then returning the .pst (or whatever other format it may be in) becomes a bit more complicated but completely doable.

It is actually a good time to sort out what you need on the new hard drive and what can be safely left on the external. However, that said, if your data is only in one place, then it is not backed up (hard drive or backup external)....................

JetsetBkk · October 9, 2016

Just something I posted elsewhere recently:

On Friday, October 07, 2016 at 10:59 PM, JetsetBkk said:

I hope you've tried restoring your backups - some people never do until they've lost something and then they find out the backup didn't work.

Not trying to criticise, it's just something that most people rarely do.

As Chicog said, tells us exactly how you made the backup. I always use Acronis True Image (booted from a USB thumb drive or CD) to make system images. My data files - pictures, etc - are simply copied regularly to external USB drives for backup purposes.

Edited October 9, 2016 by JetsetBkk

billd766 · October 9, 2016

2 hours ago, chrisinth said:

Bill, if it is just replacing saved data files it is simply drag & drop or copy & paste from your external to your new drive to the location they were saved from. If you have been using an email POP account (Outlook, Thunderbird, etc) and have saved that, then returning the .pst (or whatever other format it may be in) becomes a bit more complicated but completely doable.

It is actually a good time to sort out what you need on the new hard drive and what can be safely left on the external. However, that said, if your data is only in one place, then it is not backed up (hard drive or backup external)....................

Two or more unfortunates are the problem.

What I did was create a system image using Windows 10 > Control panel > System and Security > Backup and Restore and it worked when my hard drive stopped about 3 weeks ago. Following that there was no problem for a while so I did another system image at the end of September, again to the external hard drive.

I had planned to back up my personal files on a different external hard drive this weekend but I was overtaken by events beyond my control.

The sad thing is that there are around 5 years worth of data and some photos that are irreplacable on it.

If I can manage to get the data back I WILL back it up in at least 2 external hard drives and probably on Drop Box as well.

27 minutes ago, JetsetBkk said:

Just something I posted elsewhere recently:

Not trying to criticise, it's just something that most people rarely do.

As Chicog said, tells us exactly how you made the backup. I always use Acronis True Image (booted from a USB thumb drive or CD) to make system images. My data files - pictures, etc - are simply copied regularly to external USB drives for backup purposes.

Too late he cried, in anguish.

JetsetBkk · October 9, 2016

56 minutes ago, billd766 said:

I had planned to back up my personal files on a different external hard drive this weekend but I was overtaken by events beyond my control.

The sad thing is that there are around 5 years worth of data and some photos that are irreplacable on it.

Seems like you were pretty unlucky - your intentions were good, but overtaken by events.

If you were in Phuket, I would recommend a data recovery guy I know - will even remove platters from disks to try to recover the data: Phuket Data Wizards

In fact, he's a member here! @Gregory Morozov - where are you?

billd766 · October 9, 2016

5 minutes ago, JetsetBkk said:

Seems like you were pretty unlucky - your intentions were good, but overtaken by events.

If you were in Phuket, I would recommend a data recovery guy I know - will even remove platters from disks to try to recover the data: Phuket Data Wizards

In fact, he's a member here! @Gregory Morozov - where are you?

I am about 400 km northwest of Bangkok in deepest darkest rural Kampaeng Phet.

JetsetBkk · October 9, 2016

Just now, billd766 said:

I am about 400 km northwest of Bangkok in deepest darkest rural Kampaeng Phet.

If you pack the disk in plenty of bubble wrap and send it to Gregory, he may be able to help.

Chicog · October 9, 2016

1 hour ago, billd766 said:

What I did was create a system image using Windows 10 > Control panel > System and Security > Backup and Restore and it worked when my hard drive stopped about 3 weeks ago. Following that there was no problem for a while so I did another system image at the end of September, again to the external hard drive.

What I don't get is that if you did a System Image backup, why it hasn't all restored.

Did you have stuff on a separate partition?

billd766 · October 9, 2016

13 minutes ago, Chicog said:

What I don't get is that if you did a System Image backup, why it hasn't all restored.

Did you have stuff on a separate partition?

That is what I thought should have happened too but it didn't.

I had the old drive partitioned as

C: programs

D: as some data

E: was basically empty

F: was the drive with all my personal stuff, folders, files, photos etc going back a few years.

The new one is partitioned as C: D: and E:

billd766 · October 9, 2016

36 minutes ago, JetsetBkk said:

If you pack the disk in plenty of bubble wrap and send it to Gregory, he may be able to help.

I have just sent you a PM

Gary A · October 9, 2016

I am certainly no techie and cannot understand why people partition hard drives. When a hard drive dies, the partitions die with it. I have had several hard drives die over the years. I have replaced my desktop and laptop drives with SSD's. I copy anything I want to keep, like pictures, music, texts and various other things on an external hard drive. I also do the MS backups on that hard drive. I don't fully trust full backups so that's why I copy directories in addition to the backups. I have no problems reinstalling my programs if I have problems with the full backups.

JetsetBkk · October 9, 2016

6 hours ago, Gary A said:

I am certainly no techie and cannot understand why people partition hard drives. When a hard drive dies, the partitions die with it. I have had several hard drives die over the years. I have replaced my desktop and laptop drives with SSD's. I copy anything I want to keep, like pictures, music, texts and various other things on an external hard drive. I also do the MS backups on that hard drive.

I think it was all the rage about 15 years ago - different partitions for different purposes

Of course, if you are dual booting, you need separate partitions. (Edit: I wonder if you can dual boot from systems on separate physical drives? Never thought of that before.)

All my drives apart from the system SSD drive are single partitions. And the only reason I have an additional partition on the SSD is because the Outlook Express email "Message store" is on a different partition:

Quote

It is quite easy to move your store folder to a more convenient location, rather than buried in the Windows folder. First open Windows Explorer and create a folder you want OE to use for the new store, preferably on a separate local drive or partition.

http://www.insideoe.com/files/store.htm

I think that was the reason I made the extra partition about a decade ago and haven't done anything about it since

6 hours ago, Gary A said:

I don't fully trust full backups so that's why I copy directories in addition to the backups. I have no problems reinstalling my programs if I have problems with the full backups.

I, on the other hand, trust only full backups, i.e. complete system images. So that's why I keep my system disk solely for Windows and programs - all my data files are on other physical drives which are backed up, i.e. copied, to other external drives.

Edited October 9, 2016 by JetsetBkk

brianinbangkok · October 9, 2016

So bild766.
What did the shop say about your old drive?
If you still have it buy/put it in an external HD usb box you can buy. I have had some luck getting old data of "dead" drives. By sticking the old disk in the fridge in a zip bag [emoji5]
Reasoning was cold "unstuck" the crashed drive long enough to get the data of it.

billd766 · October 10, 2016

9 hours ago, brianinbangkok said:

So bild766.
What did the shop say about your old drive?
If you still have it buy/put it in an external HD usb box you can buy. I have had some luck getting old data of "dead" drives. By sticking the old disk in the fridge in a zip bag
Reasoning was cold "unstuck" the crashed drive long enough to get the data of it.

I would probably have to go online to find an external HD USB box a s I live in deepest darkest rural Khampaeng Phet where nothing much ever happens. Nakhon Nowhere is only about 5 km down the road.

KittenKong · October 11, 2016

On 09/10/2016 at 5:15 PM, billd766 said:

The sad thing is that there are around 5 years worth of data and some photos that are irreplacable on it.

If I can manage to get the data back I WILL back it up in at least 2 external hard drives and probably on Drop Box as well.

If the old drive spins up then it may be readable with Testdisk: http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/TestDisk

If it doesnt spin up at all then it is probably not recoverable at less than huge expense.

For backups, always favour a USB stick or an SSD drive as all mechanical drives are bound to fail sooner or later. Always have at least two different backups of irreplaceable personal data.

Gary A · October 11, 2016

Years ago I learned the value of backups. I had a hard drive crash with no warning and lost my VERY valuable pictures. At least the photos were valuable to me. I haven't made that mistake again. In addition to my backups, I also have my valuable items on a laptop.

JetsetBkk · October 11, 2016

8 hours ago, KittenKong said:

If the old drive spins up then it may be readable with Testdisk: http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/TestDisk

If it doesnt spin up at all then it is probably not recoverable at less than huge expense.

For backups, always favour a USB stick or an SSD drive as all mechanical drives are bound to fail sooner or later. Always have at least two different backups of irreplaceable personal data.

Phuket Data Wizards (in whom I have no financial interests ) will replace the circuit board with a working one to get it to spin up or simply remove the platters and put them in a working disk.

It's a good idea to have 2 backups of extremely important data - my "Password Safe" database is one of such and I even keep a copy on my keyring USB.

JetsetBkk · October 11, 2016

On Monday, October 10, 2016 at 0:08 PM, billd766 said:

I would probably have to go online to find an external HD USB box a s I live in deepest darkest rural Khampaeng Phet where nothing much ever happens. Nakhon Nowhere is only about 5 km down the road.

Have you got $20?: https://www.aliexpress.com/wholesale?catId=0&SearchText=external+usb+3.5"+disk+enclosure

billd766 · October 11, 2016

3 hours ago, JetsetBkk said:

Phuket Data Wizards (in whom I have no financial interests ) will replace the circuit board with a working one to get it to spin up or simply remove the platters and put them in a working disk.

It's a good idea to have 2 backups of extremely important data - my "Password Safe" database is one of such and I even keep a copy on my keyring USB.

Unfortunately over the years I got careless and didn't think to back up the data. I sent the old drive and my external hard drive off to a guy this morning who can hopefully recover the data for me. If he can do it, I will be a happy bunny, if not I will be

billd766 · October 11, 2016

3 hours ago, JetsetBkk said:

Have you got $20?: https://www.aliexpress.com/wholesale?catId=0&SearchText=external+usb+3.5"+disk+enclosure

The problem is not in the money but in my skill set. I don't know how to do something like that and TBH, I would rather let somebody who has a fair idea of what to do try to fix it rather than try to fix it myself and screw it up completely.

Gary A · October 11, 2016

15 minutes ago, billd766 said:

The problem is not in the money but in my skill set. I don't know how to do something like that and TBH, I would rather let somebody who has a fair idea of what to do try to fix it rather than try to fix it myself and screw it up completely.

If you buy an external hard drive, you just plug it into a USB port and you are in business. Choose a USB three, it will be faster. I have a 2 1/2 inch 500 GB Seagate for my regular backups. It doesn't need a power supply. I have a TB full size that I store several backups and store movies. The little hard drive is very handy and not that expensive. The TB full size does need a power supply. It is just extra insurance but not near as handy.

http://www.lazada.co.th/shop-external-hard-drives/?boost=1

billd766 · October 11, 2016

8 minutes ago, Gary A said:

If you buy an external hard drive, you just plug it into a USB port and you are in business. Choose a USB three, it will be faster. I have a 2 1/2 inch 500 GB Seagate for my regular backups. It doesn't need a power supply. I have a TB full size that I store several backups and store movies. The little hard drive is very handy and not that expensive. The TB full size does need a power supply. It is just extra insurance but not near as handy.

http://www.lazada.co.th/shop-external-hard-drives/?boost=1

I have a 1Tb and a 2Tb and the 2Tb is the one I used to back up and create a mirror image with. When I got my PC back I tried go download the mirror image from the external HD but the MS POS program wouldn't let me.

I had so much stuff there I had planned to buy a second internal HD and separate my data from the normal program files running the machine, but events overtook me.

Now of course having a virtually empty internal HD if I ever get my personal data back I will have plenty of space left.

Edited October 11, 2016 by billd766
Added extra text

JetsetBkk · October 11, 2016

3 hours ago, billd766 said:

7 hours ago, JetsetBkk said:

Phuket Data Wizards (in whom I have no financial interests ) will replace the circuit board with a working one to get it to spin up or simply remove the platters and put them in a working disk.

It's a good idea to have 2 backups of extremely important data - my "Password Safe" database is one of such and I even keep a copy on my keyring USB.

Unfortunately over the years I got careless and didn't think to back up the data. I sent the old drive and my external hard drive off to a guy this morning who can hopefully recover the data for me. If he can do it, I will be a happy bunny, if not I will be

If your man can't recover the data, you could still try the people in my post as they are supposed to be real experts. Hopefully, your man doesn't test your drive to destruction!

JetsetBkk · October 11, 2016

3 hours ago, billd766 said:

6 hours ago, JetsetBkk said:

Have you got $20?: https://www.aliexpress.com/wholesale?catId=0&SearchText=external+usb+3.5"+disk+enclosure

The problem is not in the money but in my skill set. I don't know how to do something like that and TBH, I would rather let somebody who has a fair idea of what to do try to fix it rather than try to fix it myself and screw it up completely.

The suggestion was simply to install your drive in the enclosure to see if Windows would recognise it that way. I wasn't suggesting you do anything more than that. The enclosure itself could be useful in the future even if your bad drive didn't work in it.

It's a pity you're not further south (a long long way south) as I'm sure we could do something for you down here in Phuket.

Fingers crossed your guy comes up trumps. (Small "T")

Gary A · October 12, 2016

11 hours ago, billd766 said:

I have a 1Tb and a 2Tb and the 2Tb is the one I used to back up and create a mirror image with. When I got my PC back I tried go download the mirror image from the external HD but the MS POS program wouldn't let me.

I had so much stuff there I had planned to buy a second internal HD and separate my data from the normal program files running the machine, but events overtook me.

Now of course having a virtually empty internal HD if I ever get my personal data back I will have plenty of space left.

I like external hard drives because I can transfer things back and forth between my desktop and my laptop. I was using a paid for backup program and it let me down when I changed to an SSD. I was very happy to have various folders simply saved in my external drives. In my documents folder, I have my collection of Kindle books, PDF and text. I have a music folder and a pictures folder. It's pretty simple to copy and drop them into the external drives. Maybe it's because I'm not smart enough to use the normally complicated backup programs. When my fancy backup program failed, I was actually pleased to re-install my various programs. Everything was fresh and faster.

My desktop SSD is 480 GB and the one in my laptop is only 120 GB. I'm not even close to filling up the 120 GB laptop drive. I do have a lot of movies but they are all on an external drive.

billd766 · October 28, 2016

On 12/10/2016 at 0:09 AM, JetsetBkk said:

If your man can't recover the data, you could still try the people in my post as they are supposed to be real experts. Hopefully, your man doesn't test your drive to destruction!

I sent the damaged internal hard drive to Phuket recovery services but sadly the head has died and he cannot repair it.

The guy I sent the external hard dive to has managed to recover the date from that but unfortunately my PC skills are not good enough to recover it from the external hard drive which he sent back to me. I am extremely grateful for that and now I have to get it from that HDD onto my new PC HDD without, if possible, doing an image recovery from windows 10.

I have seen some information about Macrium Recovery and I have downloaded the program to my PC but I am a little hesitant at this point to set it up to recover the files only without Windows 10.

Can anyone give me some advice on what to do.

Would I be better to but another external HDD, load the data on to that along with Macrium and try to recover it that way? If that works I can always use the external drive as a backup afterwards.

I have so many photos, memories, Ebooks, important information that I would be unhappy to lose and some of the stuff like photos are irreplaceable.

Cheers

Bill

brianinbangkok · October 29, 2016

I sent the damaged internal hard drive to Phuket recovery services but sadly the head has died and he cannot repair it.

The guy I sent the external hard dive to has managed to recover the date from that but unfortunately my PC skills are not good enough to recover it from the external hard drive which he sent back to me. I am extremely grateful for that and now I have to get it from that HDD onto my new PC HDD without, if possible, doing an image recovery from windows 10.

I have seen some information about Macrium Recovery and I have downloaded the program to my PC but I am a little hesitant at this point to set it up to recover the files only without Windows 10.

Can anyone give me some advice on what to do.

Would I be better to but another external HDD, load the data on to that along with Macrium and try to recover it that way? If that works I can always use the external drive as a backup afterwards.

I have so many photos, memories, Ebooks, important information that I would be unhappy to lose and some of the stuff like photos are irreplaceable.

Cheers

Bill

Bill,

So you sent your external HD to a guy and he recovered the data from it and put it on another external HD ?

It would be pointless to just copy the backup image to your new drive so I think he restored the backup image to his test PC and then copied the data "your files" to the new external drive.

Right ?

If correct you should be able to just connect that second hard drive to your new PC and this should then show up as a new hard drive letter F or so. The new one that was not there before you plugged it in.

Now you should be able to use Windows explorer to open that drive and look into the folders to find your files. Just select and the copy it to your new drive.

billd766 · October 30, 2016

11 hours ago, brianinbangkok said:

Bill,

So you sent your external HD to a guy and he recovered the data from it and put it on another external HD ?

It would be pointless to just copy the backup image to your new drive so I think he restored the backup image to his test PC and then copied the data "your files" to the new external drive.

Right ?

If correct you should be able to just connect that second hard drive to your new PC and this should then show up as a new hard drive letter F or so. The new one that was not there before you plugged it in.

Now you should be able to use Windows explorer to open that drive and look into the folders to find your files. Just select and the copy it to your new drive.

I did that but the data is not in the normal format and I don't want to open the stuff on my desktop in case it screws that up.

I will get hold of another external HDD in the next few days, copy the data to that and then try to do a windows image recovery on that HDD.

chrisinth · October 30, 2016

Bill, dependant on the type of recovery your guy did (and transferred to a seperate external), when you plug the external into your computer you should see folders such as .trash, .recovered, root, etc. Expand root and you should see something like Local disk 1, Local disk 2 (this will depend on what sort of backup you did and how many partitions were backed up).

Expand these folders and you should see your recovered files.

Edit: On the recovered external there may be a folder titled with just numbers; explore this as well. You won't break anything by just looking.

If you can, could you make a snapshot of the recovered external and post it here?

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