Lap tophas Crashed - Hard Drive recovery?

Question

I have only had the lap top 6months. When I went to turn it on yesterday, a message appeared similar to the one below:
"windows was unable to start-up this could be due to newly installed software or hardware"
It then gives the options to
1) restart at a previous back-up point that was know to be good
2)restart again normally
3)safe mode
I ahve tried all thee options to no avail, and no new software/hardware has been installed for months.

I took the laptop back to PC world, who told me I need to do a system recovery but this would involve losing all of my data. There are pictures on the computer which are extremely important, and the man at PC world told me to get these recovered would cost £70! that is £70 that i do not have.

Has any one got any suggestion
1) what is wrong with the lap top
2) can it be fixed without system recovery
3) can i recover the data myself using an external hard drive cover?
4) how do i go about this?

Thank you in advance

xxx

Answer 1

This is no small task, but you can buy an adapter for the laptop drive, so it can be plugged in to a desktop as a secondary drive then the files can be extracted......

The adapter in the link below is the type you need, IDE, you dont want a usb adapter.....

http://www.mcbworld.com/mcbworld/notebook-laptop-drive-desktop-adapter-p-2.html?osCsid=97

Answer 2

I had the same thing happen to mine. I have done so MANY system recoveries, that I was tired of loosing all my data, pictures, and other important things. I was also sick of having to reinstall all my software.
When you go into system recovery, it tellls you about the system restore, and their rollback capabilities, click on that. Just follow the instructions. Remember that you will be doing a non destructive system restore. As long as you remember that, just keep going. If at anytime you feel that you are not doing the system restore, stop.
It will do the same things as a systerm recovery. It will then start everything over in your computer, and once you have gotten all the way to your desktop, it will ask you to start your system restore from a earlier date.
good luck

Answer 3

One possibility that has not been mentioned is to get a Linux live CD. You can obtain one from a guy called Linuxman who advertises in Micro Mart Magazine. get a USB hard drive and attach it. You then boot up with the CD in your drive and it will run Linux. Note this does not affect your hard drive in any way. You can then copy all your essential files music photos etc to the external hard drive. When you have done a complete reinstall you can copy your files back. The external drive will then be useful for backing up your work. Back up your files at least once a week, as you have found a hard drive can go belly up without warning. Good luck.

Answer 4

Step one....never ever go to PC World.

Step two... restore to a previous point and pick the nearest one.

If that fails, go to safe mode, uninstall whatever you installed using ADD/REMOVE PROGRAMS and then try starting in normal mode.

If all that fails, you can REPAIR using your Windows XP CD-ROM which will repair the system files on your Hard Disk.

All of this should maintain all your data (pics, movies etc).

If you try all this and still fail ask someone that knows to fix it, but not PC world, they don't know anything.

Good luck

Answer 5

I have used the Spinrite software before, www.grc.com/spinrite.htm, it will often recover data. It also has an option to refresh data.

If Windows still doesn't boot, if your laptop HD is IDE, buy a 2.5" to 3.5" IDE adapter - so you can connect it to your desktop PC and back-up your files. (Haven't seen 2.5" SATA HD's, don't know if different than 3.5")

Don't forget to back-up data often! I fortunately have the habit of tweaking Windows until it self-destructs, forcing me to back-up and reinstall everything.

Answer 6

You should be able to start it in safe mode and recover your pictures.