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My parents HD (40gig Maxtor in a older Gateway) bit the dust. I ran a defrag and went about my business. My mom went to use it, and it said that Outlook Express wouldnt open and said it was missing. She rebooted, and it BSOD during Win2k loading.

I tried everything, wont boot, just BSOD. Threw it in my computer, the CHKDSK said the sectors are unreadable. I go through Explorer to look at it, and it asks if I want to format it. I have some information I need to get off here. Any ideas?

Its not making any odd noises, I can hear it spin up.

Alright, File Scavenger read MOST of the files. Question now, how do I get the OE address books from the identities on there?

C:\Documents and Settings\username\Application Data\Microsoft\Address Book\username.wab for the OE express address book

Many, alot of these sectors are unreadable Hope I can get most of it off..

good luck w/ it. if not, try ontract easy recovery pro as well

Damnit, File Scavenger wants me to buy it to recover files.

^lol..that sucks ill try searching for a free copy for you like a trial version of some sort or something that might be able to help you out


http://www.quetek.com/prod02.htm <----that site has a demo on there idk what you will be able to do with the demo version but you can always check it out...good luck with it though..

http://www.snapfiles.com/features/files ... 473248.php <----this place also has a free trial...once again good luck

Yea, with the trial version of File Scavenger, only files 64KB and under can be recovered

ahhh well sorry to hear that ..and sorry i cant help you out..as i dont know too much about file recoverying programs... good luck to u though,..

Loonatic wrote:Yea, with the trial version of File Scavenger, only files 64KB and under can be recovered

http://www.pcinspector.de/file_recovery/uk/welcome.htm

http://www.softwarepatch.com/software/filerecovery.html

I dont know how good they are though.

Should be some on the UBCDs too.

Can't hurt to try the old freezer trick overnight.

YeOldeStonecat wrote:Can't hurt to try the old freezer trick overnight.

I've actually had that work once. looong time ago.. One of those paper thin Maxtor cheapy drives that came in the old evo d300 towers.. Gave up on it.. threw it in the freezer, a few days later I pulled it out and gave it a shot, pulled off the .pst file and it crashed for good once I started browsing for other files to pull off. lol Prior to that, I thought it was a joke/myth. <<shrugs>>

i got file scavenger 3.0.1 registered,im not using it at all,i bought it for few bucks when they had promo and when i had probs with my HDD,i can give it to you and i will wipe it out from my HDD .pm your email i will send it to you,like i said you can keep it i have no use for it.

Thanks everyone, and thanks for the offer rivas.

I got the data off using a program from bestbuy that a client dropped off to me (what irony). Went and picked up a SEAGATE and looking forward to many years of service from that

koldchillah wrote: I've actually had that work once. looong time ago.. One of those paper thin Maxtor cheapy drives that came in the old evo d300 towers.. Gave up on it.. threw it in the freezer, a few days later I pulled it out and gave it a shot, pulled off the .pst file and it crashed for good once I started browsing for other files to pull off. lol Prior to that, I thought it was a joke/myth. <<shrugs>>

I've had it work 2 or 3 times...out of quite a few attempts. Yeah..not a myth. If the drive is hosed because of something more mechanical..like bearings or something with the armature...getting them very cold can shrink the metal components..freeing them up more.

YeOldeStonecat wrote:I've had it work 2 or 3 times...out of quite a few attempts. Yeah..not a myth. If the drive is hosed because of something more mechanical..like bearings or something with the armature...getting them very cold can shrink the metal components..freeing them up more.

Yup, that's an assembly technique in some cases in precision machining.

Common in real precision shops, they have these chillers that go down to like I dunno cuz it's not my area, -60 deg F. Maybe more, not sure. Chilled parts- handle w/ caution, can get bad burns from the really cold stuff. Sometimes you have to be quick to get the piece pressed in to the asembly. I've assembled a few things that were about -30 F ... bushings chilled to press fit. Temp depends on material, amount of shrinkage desired, etc...

Using nitrogen.

So yeah sure, with the hdd bearings & stuff, using a frezzer - no surprise you got results. Cool trick.

YeOldeStonecat wrote: getting them very cold can shrink the metal components..freeing them up more.

makes sense... I guess I just always figured a common household freezer would likely expose the drive to too much moisture, but it's definitely worth trying as a last resort.

koldchillah wrote:makes sense... I guess I just always figured a common household freezer would likely expose the drive to too much moisture, but it's definitely worth trying as a last resort.

Yeah you notice how wet it gets when you take it out? Condensation building up on it? Guess it's a case of "Oh well...it's pretty show anyways". You just hope it will run for 15 more minutes or so..until you can pull the data off.

YeOldeStonecat wrote:Yeah you notice how wet it gets when you take it out? Condensation building up on it? Guess it's a case of "Oh well...it's pretty show anyways". You just hope it will run for 15 more minutes or so..until you can pull the data off.

Would putting it in a zip lock bag help?

Stop air from moving, limit the amount of air that hits it and therefore less air is around to condense water.

purecomedy wrote:Would putting it in a zip lock bag help?

Stop air from moving, limit the amount of air that hits it and therefore less air is around to condense water.

was wondering same thing