My computer officially died today

Today my computer officially died.

When I came home from work today, my computer had an error and would not reboot into windows and I was forced to call tech support. After sitting on hold for the guy named "Sam" from India for 45 minutes, we then exhausted another 30 minutes trying to diagnose the problem which was far beyond my control.

When the techs tell you that you ned to take it to the Geek Squad, you know that its not going to be a pretty sight. Now I have to use my girlfriends computer and it feels like I am cheating...

I found out that all 180 gigs and 7 years of media might be as good as a paper weight unless I want to fork over ridiculous amounts of cash to get it back, and thats not even a guarantee.

Basically I feel like I just gave up heroin going cold turkey. The feeling of disconnect that I have at this point is almost similar to losing a pet or something. All the cool stuff I had bookmarked, to all of my pictures and papers I had written, along with a vast, heaping mound of the best hip hop and underground rap that one could have amassed in that amount of time...and all because I was too cheap to go but an external drive and back everything up.

I guess I feel so connected to this machine since it has been in my posession for the last 6 years at all times, and I have used it so mindlessly in the past that going without it is just odd. There was so much of me on that machine. It has served me well but all good things must come to an end right.

Listen to me...Go back up anything that is of any personal value to you on your PC, because as I found out today, you dont know when or if your car is going to breakdown, but it can happen just like that. Same goes for your computer.

I'm going to go and sulk myself to sleep. Sorry for the rant...

All may not be lost.

If you have access to another PC, go get an external drive enclosure (EDE).

Then take the HD out of your old machine and plug it into the EDE.

Make sure you get the right size enclosure for the thicker old drive types or the slimmer new ones.

You probably will be able to access your HD at least once or twice. I got about four accesses on my old C: drive when this happened and got everything off of it.

They're not expensive. See Circuit City. I got the Mad Dog brand.

Good Luck!

All I can say is that "I hear ya brother. I hear your pain."

It was only a few months ago that my computer had a major meltdown and I was sans internet for a while. Oh the pain. Luckily, I was able to remedy that situation but not without totally wiping the pc, reinstalling windows and starting from scratch. God that hurt.

Then, earlier this week, I had another scare. Thankfully, it was remedied easily enough by the "system restore" feature on XP. But let me tell you, I was really frightened.


All I can do is offer you words of encouragement. This will be behind you someday. Just be tough. I'm praying for you.:w:

reply to post by Don Wahn


Everyone else is correct. You should be able to connect it to another PC to get the data off it.

If you need help, I believe I am even in the same city as you and could help some weekend if you need it. U2U me if you want to fix it cheaper than what Geek Squad will do. I saved one of my friends $200.

Throw it out the window and buy a Mac.

Don't panic yet......

I fried my last computer beyond the point of repair, but all was not lost.
I pulled the hard drive and set the jumpers to slave, then popped it into another machine on the spare cables in there. After that I was able to safely recover all the data that was important except a few corrupted files.

Hard drives can survive fires, floods, and electrical surges if care is taken to properly recover the stuff that's important to you.

Originally posted by Don Wahn
After sitting on hold for the guy named "Sam" from India for 45 minutes, we then exhausted another 30 minutes trying to diagnose the problem which was far beyond my control.

Muthusamy Kairupan!

Losing a HDD is painful, it's happened to me so I can feel your pain. But it might not be the end. Both Badge01 and anxietydisorder's suggestions might actually work. If you describe to us what the problem is, we might be able to pin-point what the problem is.

Originally posted by djohnsto77
Throw it out the window and buy a Mac.

Never trust a computer you can't throw out a window - Steve Wozniak

Computers suck!!!

Hey Don, did you call the Geek Squad?

Peace

[edit on 19-9-2007 by Dr Love]

Originally posted by djohnsto77
Throw it out the window and buy a Mac.

Apple is commie arrogant trash.

I would be very interested in any error messages you received, or what happened over the boot sequence. This would give us a better idea of what the cause of the crash was.

Windows may have failed, but the hard drive is OK, or the hard drive may have failed sectored that can be by-passed to get at your important data.

After data recovery you may be able to scan disc the drive and format it, then be able to use it in the future.

Don't let those Apple enthusiasts put you off, they have hardware problems too.


Another suggestion would be to have the drive cloned at your local tech for the price of a similar drive and the persons time. I'd do it for you but it could get costly with shipping and handling, and no guarantee that I could recover all your data.

Good luck, let us know how it turns out.

Thanks a lot for the tips and the moral support everyone. Good to have some people on my side lookin out for a brotha.

Originally posted by benevolent tyrant
All I can do is offer you words of encouragement. This will be behind you someday. Just be tough. I'm praying for you.:w:

I promised myself I wasnt going to cry...

It sounds like if I try some of the tips mentioned in the responses I might just be able to salvage some semblance of data that is still good on my drive. I actually have a second drive that stopped working about 3 weeks before my PC died so I could give both a try as well, maybe as a tester.

My guess is that something pretty bad happened to both of my drives because the geeks told me that they couldnt even read it on multiple computers. And when they say that it was making a "loud grinding noise", nine times out of ten that is a bad sign.

Originally posted by anxietydisorder
I would be very interested in any error messages you received, or what happened over the boot sequence. This would give us a better idea of what the cause of the crash was.

When I came home, I tried to reboot the computer and it booted through the normal dell screen, but after it told me that it recognized my first drive (not my second though), and then it wouldnt get past that screen. Just a blinking cursor. A couple of times it said keyboard error but then it just went back to the blinking cursor. Ctl+Alt+Del restarted the computer immediately and Presing the off button once turned it off as well. My non technical prognosis wasnt good but you guys have given me much positive reinforcement.

My only problem now is that I dont know if I am skilled enough to figure out all of the right stuff to do now, in order to salvage my data. I know that hard drives can withstand a lot of abuse and still be recovered somehow. If the government can do it then I should be able to as well, right? Just so long as they arent using any kind of secret black technology in the process.

Originally posted by anxietydisorderWindows may have failed, but the hard drive is OK, or the hard drive may have failed sectored that can be by-passed to get at your important data.

The first part sounded like English to me, but the last part sounded like Chinese. Failed sectored sounds bad and I dont even know what it means.

Basically, I'm not a n00b with computers but I feel like I might F things up. In that case...

Originally posted by secret titan

If you need help, I believe I am even in the same city as you and could help some weekend if you need it.

...5280? If so, you are a fine man for offering to help a brotha out

Originally posted by anxietydisorder
Don't let those Apple enthusiasts put you off, they have hardware problems too.

No worries. Not even close to wanting to buy a mac. I'm far from a pinko Apple fanboy

My non technical prognosis wasnt good but you guys have given me much positive reinforcement.

Stay tuned...and cross your fingers.

Without knowing what you're doing, do nothing.

Don't boot, don't Scan Disc, don't defrag...........
Just pull the drive and turn it over to someone that knows how to deal with it.

It may be the only way to save your data.

Depending on what happened, the information "MAY" be recoverable.

Everyone else is correct, remove the harddrrive and place it in another computer.

From there it can be scanned for virus/worm... and defragged.

Once that is done, it can be search like an extra data drive.

If you are not experienced with that, 'PLEASE" have someone who IS experienced do the "data recovery" for you.
Your data can be placed on dvd's/thumbdrives or an extra hard drive depending on how much data you have.

Once this is done, do a complete low level format before reloading your Os/programs and recovered data.

I know this is the wrong time to bring this up, but, Back up important data and changes to that data every day or at least once a week.

And lastly, I do feel your pain, best of luck.

sorry man...
i would be in a rage if i lost all my data...
i have a HUGE zappa collection in the way of like 60 gis plus other stuff.
i have about 1/3 of it backed up and now, i am paranoid...

even though it will take a long time to transfer, i am going to go out and buy one of those external HD's...they are pretty cheap now...like a 300 gig one...plug it in, transfer all my media over, then unplug it and tuck it away till time to transfer more data.....

maybe you should look into something like that when you get your data back...

I bought a 320 G external that I use to back up all the computers in the house.
The price in Canada was about $140.00 with tax and everything.

If there was ever a fire in the house, or I had to evacuate, I'd grab that external drive and run, it has everything I need.

The best advice you can give anyone is:
Backup, Backup, Backup.................


Anything really important, burn to disk and keep it off site like a safe deposit box or a friends house.

Originally posted by anxietydisorder
If there was ever a fire in the house, or I had to evacuate, I'd grab that external drive and run, it has everything I need.

Good advice anx.

That's my plan too.

sanc

reply to post by Boondock78


Yeah I bought a 320 gig external for $100 in case the Geeks can salvage anything. I am hoping that some of my 120 gigs of sweet hip hop and rap make it out unscathed.

As for the backup issue. You better believe that I am going to be a backup nazi in the future. I dont know about keeping my tunes in a safe deposity box, but if I have uber important docs, that seems like a great plan.

Thanks again to everyone for the moral support and tips of the trade. Despite the grip condidions, I feel good that I will be able to get some of my data back.

Keep the fingers crossed.

Originally posted by Don Wahn

...5280? If so, you are a fine man for offering to help a brotha out

That's it. Took me a moment to figure that one out(not a native). If you do need some help, or chill at some bar , just send me a U2U or something.

Just thought that I would post an update as to my PC situation.

I received a phonecall last night from the squadron of geeks and they informed me that...All but 787mb of my 120gb could be recovered.

I cant explain how freakin happy I was to hear that. Soon enough I will be able to listen to my vast archive of hippity hop at will. It really sucks coming home from work and not being able to throw on a favorite set of tunes to unwind to.

My girlfriends collection of Emo garbage just doesnt do it for me.

So all in all, while my computer is dead, I will still be able to take solace in the fact that almost all of my data was saved. I still might holler at ST for help though for my other 60gb.

On another note, does anyone have any suggestions on a good new PC to buy? I have about 1k that I can blow on a new system. All I ask for is tech support. Anyone?

Thanks to ATS for keepin a brothers spirits high.

It's good to hear that you got your tunes back, I go into a state of shock when I crash a drive. I'll be honest, I've wept over the loss of data.

As far as a new machine goes, look towards a HP laptop with a large hard drive, but use your external drive to back everything up to. I love the portability of a laptop, and external drives can provide all the space you could possibly use.
But don't forget to write important stuff to DVD discs as data files for safe keeping.


Repeat this mantra after me, and follow it:

I will backup my files........ I will backup my files........

If you live by this it will save you a world of grief.