Failing Hard Drive

[pgx]

I have a Dell Inspiron 8600 with an apparent failing hard drive.
Originally machine would halt partway through the boot with a lengthy
message apparently pointing to a bad drive. I have run Setage's
Seatools. The Long Test had approximately 550 errors, which it said
it repaired, and it now passes the test. However, Windows XP still
fails to boot, with apparently the same message.

I say apparently, because the message, probably 20 lines or more, is
only on the screen for a second and is gone. I have tried to
photograph it with no luck.

Any thoughts would be appreciated

Phil

 

[JFG]

If there is valuable data on the drive that you wish to
recover, either remove the drive and put it in another
system to copy that data off (being a notebook drive you
will need a 2.5" to 3.5" adapter unless it's an SATA drive
instead of PATA/EIDE., OR a USB adapter), or temporarily
unplug the drive, put a 2nd drive in the same system and
install windows to the 2nd drive, then reconnect the
questionable drive (having left it unconnected so if it is
progressively failing you retain what little life is left in
it) and copy off the data.

If there is no important data to recover you might try a
repair install of windows, or format the drive and do a
clean install, or a factory reimage if the system only came
with a restore disc instead of a full windows installation
CD.

However, I'd consider the drive unreliable at this point,
that it will probably have more problems and may need
replaced.

In addition to Kony's EXCELLENT advice, I'll add that there's at least one
more way to retrieve data from your drive. You could boot with a Linux Live
CD like PCLinuxOS or Mepis or Ubuntu, look for your hard drive and download
data onto a flash drive. Then when you're back up and running with XP you
can copy it back. If you can't get online to download the Linux Live CD,
you'll need to have a friend who can download an iso and burn it for you.
For other who are reading this I'll add that having a Linux Live CD on hand
is a good tool to have in case of crashes. HTH, JG

 

[JBJ]

Try a Windows XP repair install.


Switch your camera to video mode, and record the screen that way.

go the linux way as suggested and backup your data then replace the hdd and
copy your data back