[Hidden-tech] hard drive issue

[Jan Werner]

Your chances of recovery depend entirely on the reason for the failure, 
and there can be any number of reasons, ranging from a bad Master Boot 
Record to physical destruction of the disk surface.  It can even be 
something other than the drive itself, such as a bad cable or connector.

If the drive is actually working but just not bootable, your chances are 
pretty good.  There are plenty of docks and adapters to connect a drive 
to a PC through a USB port – what you need depends on the drive (IDE or 
SATA, 3.5” or 2.5”), but the first thing I would try is booting from a 
recovery CD or USB drive and seeing if the drive is recognized as being 
present.

Jan Werner
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Mark Kurber wrote:
>
>
>
>
>
> Hi folks,
>
> I have a 6 year old Dell running Windows XP Pro.  I'm not able to get
> past the start-up screen (Dell logo, press F2 or F12 and nothing
> happens).  I have stuff on that hard drive I need.  I've built computers
> in the past so I've played around to a degree inside the guts of various
> machines.  My question: can I unplug that hard drive and somehow house
> it in an external box, or the like, then access the files I need through
> a USB cable connection?  Is there a simple solution I'm missing or, in
> fact, do I have a more serious dilemma to address?
>
> Thanks, in advance.  I'm a quasi-geek at best.
>
> Best regards, /*Mark H. Kurber*/
> c: 413-441-5101
> e: mkurber22 at gmail.com <mailto:mkurber22 at gmail.com>
> --------------------------------------------
>
>
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