am i able to take the hard drive out of the computer and back up files? or is the hard drive fried? i have no idea whats wrong with the computer, it wont even start in safe mode. i can't even get the (dell) ctrl f11 thing to restore my system to work... seems like the whole thing just died
basicly i just want to know if i can still get my files.. and if so.. how?
thanks :) happy new year
2007-12-31 18:43:55 · 5 answers · asked by i'm hungry 2 in Computers & Internet ➔ Hardware ➔ Desktops
how do i make it a "slave" ive never done anything like that before (like taking the harddrive and putting the files on a differnt one?)
2007-12-31 18:53:39 · update #1
Hard to say what's wrong with it without the error message ... but you should be able to "piggyback" the drive off another computer (or place it in an external enclosure) to retrieve your data ... unless of course the drive has terminally failed
2007-12-31 18:47:51 · answer #1 · answered by Jack K 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Generally, and you are right about all sorts of reasons for this, you will not have an irreparable problem. You say you got it when you booted your machine? Have you tried again? If it happens again, try booting in safe mode. When you switch the machine on, start hitting P8 and you should get some menu choices. Use the up and down keys to set the highlight on safe mode, I think it will be option 3, and enter. This starts your machine in safe mode which is a very stripped down version of the operating system. See if you can do this. I have found that often, just by starting in safe mode allows you to restart with the full operating system. But, if you can start in safe mode you can access your files and if you have a write device, you should be able to copy your files. EDIT - do you have a boot disk? If not, I have to suggest you try something like the computer MD or geek squad. They will have an alternative boot device as it sounds like you have a real problem. Even if you do have to junk the computer, you may still be able to recover files on your hard drive. The hard drive can be removed and attached to another machine as a secondary drive and the files copied from it. But you do need a techie to do that.
2016-05-28 08:30:43 · answer #2 · answered by ? 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
If you can't get into safe mode, it sounds more like your motherboard is toast. Your bios is not being read. The bios tells where to boot from and if you can't get that far, then it is probably the m/b. Take out your hard drive, and put it in another machine and see if it boots, or piggyback it and just see if you can read the files. I am willing to bet you can.
2007-12-31 18:59:44 · answer #3 · answered by bk 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
There may be corrupt files in your operating system so you are not able to start your computer. One possible way, booting from your system disk and try repair or restore but keep the data files. If this don't work, you can setup a new hard drive with the installation of operating system, then make your old hard drive as slave drive to retrieve your data files.
2007-12-31 18:50:45 · answer #4 · answered by Scott P 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
If the drive is fried your out of luck. That is if you don't have the bucks for some of the business out there that can recover that. but basically your out of luck. Unless you back it up on a another drive then no prob.
2007-12-31 18:49:14 · answer #5 · answered by rrxdeadman 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋