Blue screen of death then ...it died for real
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Blue screen of death then ...it died for real
The other evening I closed my laptop down as usual ...decided I needed to send one more email and when I booted it back up there was a blue screen giving "unmountable boot sector".I re inserted the windows disc to hopefully repair it and when it did it appears to have reinstalled the OS and my computer now thinks it is brand new with no files on it. Anyone any idea how I can roll it back to retrieve the files? Family pictures are the most important thing I need. Thanks in advance
EW (under house arrest from Mrs EW
)
EW (under house arrest from Mrs EW
)
Join Date: Aug 2006
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And there wnet the tale of the Data Back-up did it not. 
Not all lost though as you might still be able to recover some of the precious data from the HHD, this link, and yes you will have to purchase it's registration number, will allow you too recover files from the laptop hard drive, you will need another working computer and possible a caddy for the laptops HDD as well to do it.
http://www.runtime.org/datarecovery.htm
There are also a number of free and shareware utilities available on the net but this one actually works and I use it on a regualr basis.
Walkthrough tutorials are included on the web page.
Oh when you next go to the store, buy a pack of C/D RW to back up what you recover. Just a thought to keep Mrs off ya case.
Not all lost though as you might still be able to recover some of the precious data from the HHD, this link, and yes you will have to purchase it's registration number, will allow you too recover files from the laptop hard drive, you will need another working computer and possible a caddy for the laptops HDD as well to do it.
http://www.runtime.org/datarecovery.htm
There are also a number of free and shareware utilities available on the net but this one actually works and I use it on a regualr basis.
Walkthrough tutorials are included on the web page.
Oh when you next go to the store, buy a pack of C/D RW to back up what you recover. Just a thought to keep Mrs off ya case.
Join Date: Sep 2000
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Other, more knowledgeable people will be along shortly, but just to let you know that I did the same thing some years ago.
Firstly, do not switch on the affected machine, as this could overwrite files on your disk that you want to recover. Its probably preferable to remove the disk and put it in to another machine, either inside the case as a slave or in a hard disk caddy connected by usb. Ensure you dont boot from the affected disk!
Get some disk recovery software (I got restorer 2000) and then run it on the affected disk. It will recover as many files as it can, and you can then copy them somewhere safe.
Doing this I managed to recover the vast majority of my files. Your chances of success are greater, the larger original size of the disk, as the operating system has less of a chance to overwrite your old files.
With restorer 2000, you can run a free version, which will allow you to recover small files, just to see that it works. (It will show you all the filenames that it finds, just that only the paid for version will recover the larger sizes. I did have some 200Mb video files which wouldn't open though, presumably because some small part was correuptred.)
Best of luck - and whilst your're waiting for otehr answers to come along, work out your new backup procedures so you're not stuck like this again!
Firstly, do not switch on the affected machine, as this could overwrite files on your disk that you want to recover. Its probably preferable to remove the disk and put it in to another machine, either inside the case as a slave or in a hard disk caddy connected by usb. Ensure you dont boot from the affected disk!
Get some disk recovery software (I got restorer 2000) and then run it on the affected disk. It will recover as many files as it can, and you can then copy them somewhere safe.
Doing this I managed to recover the vast majority of my files. Your chances of success are greater, the larger original size of the disk, as the operating system has less of a chance to overwrite your old files.
With restorer 2000, you can run a free version, which will allow you to recover small files, just to see that it works. (It will show you all the filenames that it finds, just that only the paid for version will recover the larger sizes. I did have some 200Mb video files which wouldn't open though, presumably because some small part was correuptred.)
Best of luck - and whilst your're waiting for otehr answers to come along, work out your new backup procedures so you're not stuck like this again!
Last edited by curmudgeon; 14th Apr 2007 at 11:53. Reason: cross posted with Cypherus nice to see we're both saying roughly the same thing!
