Why can't I see the data?

[Guest]

Hi I do some work on computers sometimes I back up data for people. I do this
by taking the hard drive out of their computer then adding it to mine then I
copy the whole hard drive. My problem is that I've noticed a couple of times
when doing so that my computer (Windows Xp Pro) can't find the data on the
hard drive. This last time a person was having problems trying to boot in to
XP Pro (The Computer keeps coming up to the safe mode option if you choose
any option it starts to load then goes to a blue screen flashes for a second
can't even do a pause to see what it says. Then reboots and does the same
thing over and over again) So I know that the hard drive still has some data
on it (i.e. It still try's to boot) but when the hard drive is hooked up to
my computer. It makes my computer run slow. I did a virus scan nothing. I
tried looking for data on the hard drive but it wouldn't let me access
it.(i.e. like it was not formatted) when I right clicked on the hard drive
and went to properties it said the there was no data.

Any ideas why I can't see this data?

Thank you for your Time and Help!
Josh

P.S The Last the last thing the customer did to their computer was unpluged
a USB scanner. That's when the looping of boot-up started.

 

[Doug Kanter]

I hope nobody pays you for this service.

1) You give them a false sense of security. If data's important enough to
back up, it should be done VERY often, which means daily for some people,
weekly for others. Or, to simplify things, it should be done as often as any
new work is done on the machine. How often do you take out peoples' hard
disks?

2) Hard disks are rugged, but still susceptible to damage from static
electricity. Every time you remove one, you are putting someone's data and
hardware at risk. That's stupid.

 

[Guest]

Sorry for my poor wording. I'm only trying to back up the data this way
because the user didn't back up the data themselves before they started
having the problem.

 

[Lanwench [MVP - Exchange]]

Sorry for my poor wording. I'm only trying to back up the data this
way because the user didn't back up the data themselves before they
started having the problem.

I think it's also a punctuation issue
"Hi I do some work on computers sometimes I back up data for people" should
be
"Hi, I do some work on computers - sometimes I back up data for people..."

Pretend you're writing for a very strict English teacher when you post

That said - I suspect the disk has gone belly up in some way. Can you run
chkdsk against it? Does it even show up in a command prompt?

 

[Doug Kanter]

Even more to the point: If the hard disk is reinstalled in the original
machine, does it work as it did before?


"Lanwench [MVP - Exchange]"

 

[Lanwench [MVP - Exchange]]

Even more to the point: If the hard disk is reinstalled in the
original machine, does it work as it did before?

Well, I don't know. I don't have the hard disk. In fact, all I have is a
laptop. Perhaps you meant to reply to the OP?

"Lanwench [MVP - Exchange]"

I think it's also a punctuation issue
"Hi I do some work on computers sometimes I back up data for people"
should
be
"Hi, I do some work on computers - sometimes I back up data for
people..."

Pretend you're writing for a very strict English teacher when you
post

That said - I suspect the disk has gone belly up in some way. Can
you run chkdsk against it? Does it even show up in a command prompt?

 

[Doug Kanter]

"Lanwench [MVP - Exchange]"

Well, I don't know. I don't have the hard disk. In fact, all I have is a
laptop. Perhaps you meant to reply to the OP?

I was just adding something to your comment. If that confuses the OP, he has
no business removing hard disks from computers, or even taking the butter
dish out of the refrigerator.

 

[Lanwench [MVP - Exchange]]

"Lanwench [MVP - Exchange]"

Well, I don't know. I don't have the hard disk. In fact, all I have
is a laptop. Perhaps you meant to reply to the OP?

I was just adding something to your comment. If that confuses the OP,
he has no business removing hard disks from computers, or even taking
the butter dish out of the refrigerator.

Just teasing and being a bit of a pedant.

 

[David Candy]

Well time is critical. The data will disappear with time.

You have one or more bad sectors in a critical area. One of more of these bad sectors can still be read sometimes (why the drive is slow - the computer is making multiple attempts to read the data and sometimes suceeding so its slow rather than an error).

Usually the drive is about to become totally useless. Get the data off now and put up with the slowness. Even if the data can't be found this second it may be found on a second attempt.

In Dos one held down the R key (retry the read) and for CDRom in 9x one held down Enter (it would retry and eventually suceed and on to the next sector - for CDrom a coffee cup on the enter key and walk away worked well)