crashed computer...

[RobM]

so my computer crashed... Is there a straight foward way to recover files? It wont start in safe mode, it starts to boot up and then keeps cycling, windows never starts. Is all lost?

[thedugan]

No the drive can be plugged into a caddie and then read from another computer.
What os were you running?
I like using Apricorn's stuff
http://www.apricorn.com/product_deta...e=family&id=39

[EFI69Cam]

No the drive can be plugged into a caddie and then read from another computer.
What os were you running?
I like using Apricorn's stuff
http://www.apricorn.com/product_deta...e=family&id=39

Thats a cool product.

[RobM]

so do these devices come with a tutorial? or are there any good how too sorces or manuals? I think I can handle doing this my self, do you?

[thedugan]

Well A you have to take the HD out of your current machine. Thats the hardest part of the job.
If its a desktop hopefully the pins are on autoselect.

If you use the adapter above plug it in your harddrive to the adapter then give it power and plug it into the usb adapter on your machine.

it will show up as like the e drive or f drive and then you just browse the drive for the documents and settings directory and then your logon account. go to the my documents folder and you should see your stuff.

let me know if you need help.

[Rhino]

The usb adapter makes a lot of sense if you have access to a second machine. If you don't, I would suggest simply adding a second hard drive to your computer and doing a fresh windows install onto it, prior to migrating all your data.

Easiest (but most risky) thing to do would be to reinstall windows over the top of the current install. Most of the time it's simply software problems rather than hardware. I've been seeing this exact same behavior lately. In the past 2 weeks I've gotten 4 calls about it. My current thought is a nasty virus gone haywire.
As long as you select to keep the file system intact you will not lose any files. You will, however, need to perform a significant amount of cleanup and reinstall your applications.

[RobM]

Thanks for the advice every one... getting my current crashed lap top working isnt the main concern right now its recovering my files. so it seems like that device would do the trick. Thanks again and ill keep you posted with my results

[RobM]

ok here's the update... I finally bought the hard drive case, I have the hard drive in the case and reading. Now when I try to open a file it tells me I dont have permission or ownership. I figured out how to take possesion of the files but its looking like I need to get permission for every single file I have, and that includes opening the folders to see them... Is there some way around this? I have somthing like 5000 music files I need to recover... I have found them and they are right infront of me but I cant get them on my new machine.

[derekf]

Take ownership of the root of the drive, and make sure the checkbox for "apply to all subfolders and files" is checked.

Then do the same to granting Everyone "Full Control", with that same checkbox checked.

[RobM]

is there any way to scan the hard drive for viruses.. I dont want to infect my new machine. The new machine has norton 360 is there any chance (always a chance but I mean a good chance) somthing could sneek in?

[Vegas69]

Same thing happened to me last week!

[derekf]

Don't run anything from the other drive and don't boot from it. As you're copying everything over, I would expect Norton to be checking as the copy goes. Make sure the virus definitions are up to date.

[slowcamaro]

What operating system? Keeps cycling, how so?

[RobM]

xp... it just doesnt start up. It goes to the screen with the safe mode option and then it trys to open windows and then it goes back to the same screen. this will keep cycling over and over even if i try to start in safe mode

[Vegas69]

I just found out today that my hard drive is toast. You probably lost it all. I backed mine up 10 months ago. Good luck man.

[slowcamaro]

Well Ive had a few weird issues as of late with my computers maybe some of these solutions will be helpful...

Does the black screen with the list of drivers come up on the screen at all when you try to boot in safe mode?

My issue was slightly different, I could boot in safe mode but the computer would just reboot continuously if I tried to boot normally. I had to go into the recovery console and disable the driver that was causing windows to hang.

Oddly enough this only occured after SP2 or higher was installed, works flawlessly on SP1. Have You done any windows updates lately? You may want to try to uninstall them if you can get in.

A google search for "continuous reboot" along with your other symptoms may provide you with other solutions.