Thread: Hard disk failure - is all my data lost?

Sorry this is a little long but I just wanted to make sure I gave all the info I could.

A few days ago my computer wouldn't load up (just a black screen). I have since put a new hard drive in and installed windows on that.

When I put my old hard drive in as well (as a slave), there seems to be MAJOR problems. Some things are there but the majority of my files are not. In the folder where I keep my beloved documents, there are a few items but only up to 'anniversary' and in alphabetical order!

I have done a thorough scan with Avast and the files on the old hard drive could not be scanned. The reason given was either 'data error (cyclic redundancy check)' or 'drive cannot find sector requested'.

The computer also has trouble loading now and sometimes won't load at all with the hard drive making a terrible clicking noise.

I tried running the free version of Data Doctor Recovery. It took AGES (8 hours) to scan the drive then when I clicked on the button to recover files, it got to 99% complete then stopped. I left it overnight but still no progress however the program didn't seem to crash as I could use help and exit. I don't know if this is because it was the free version?

I just wondered what anyones advice was other than take the hard drive to a shop. Does anyone know of any good software which could possibly recover any files?

Please reply if you have any ideas - I am at the end of my tether!!!!!!

Hi,

Sorry for delay in getting back to you, first of all it sounds like your old hdd drive as a pyhsical fault judging by the cylinder errors, which means some of you files may be damaged.

I have had success using tools from http://www.ontrack.com/ , i think they offer a free/trial version