HDD Took A Crap......

[Impious 1,476]

Well, the other day my HDD took a crap on me. Here's the story;

I was home trying to play some Yahoo! Pool (I'm addicted to it), and then my PC started doing this thing where everytime I tried to access the 'net (via either IE or Mozilla), it would automatically reboot my PC and/or freeze up. Well, I finally got tired of dicking with it one time when it froze up, so I went to shut it off at the power strip. Only, when I went to shut it off, my hand slipped and I shut it off/on/off really fast (turned it back on before it had completely powered down, then shut it off before it completely powered back up).

And now when I try to use that harddrive, the PC will physically recognize it's there in the hardware list on the initial boot up screen, but is unable to read from or write to the drive (tells me something like "unable to locate drive C:, or unable to write to disk).

So, my only thought is that with the quick power off/on/off, the arms inside the HDD got off track. That sound like a reasonable assumption? Any way to fix that myself, or atleast determine if that is/isn't the problem? I'm not looking to fix it permanently as I went out and bought another HDD to get my PC up and running again. Mainly just want it working long enough that I can transfer the pictures and a program or two to the new HDD.

I'm really trying to avoid paying someone else to do it as 1) I'm cheap and don't want to pay them, and 2) there's personal info on it that I prefer someone else not have access to.

Thanks!!

[Chevy350TPI 12]

I'm computer retarded so I didn't read anything you said other than Yahoo! Pool - we'll have to play some time.

[Impious 1,476]

I'm computer retarded so I didn't read anything you said other than Yahoo! Pool - we'll have to play some time.

Absolutely, anytime. Just let me know when you're ready to lose What's your username on there?

[Nikuk 1]

I'm computer retarded so I didn't read anything you said other than Yahoo! Pool - we'll have to play some time.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

LMAO

Uhhh, go into BIOS and see if the mainboard is really recognizing the hardware (able to see head & sector count and whatnot). If so, You might be able to partition the drive. Just make a sliver of a partition (3%) then see if you can access across the "new" drive map. MAYBE

Soory.

[Impious 1,476]

Hmmm.....yeah, I'll check that out tonight.

[Chevy350TPI 12]

Absolutely, anytime.   Just let me know when you're ready to lose     What's your username on there?

chevy468ci

Yeah, I'll likely get my ass kicked.

[psycho72 1]

Never heard of the arm getting off track but it is possible your drive could have died. I would connect it as a slave on your new setup. Then see if maybe it will show up. If so you are set but if not there are programs that will get as much off the drive as possible but I don't have any names and they may cost money. I will see what I can find out but do the slave thing first.