Even with the advent of Windows 7, many businesses and organizations continue to use Windows XP, which has proved itself to be reliable and mostly stable. But it does occasionally crash, and a number of viruses that target the file system can make your hard drive inaccessible. When that happens, you can sometimes get your machine working and recover your data yourself. Other times, it takes an expert in data recovery, such as Field Data Recovery. If your computer hard drive is inaccessible due to a virus or other problem try these tips before calling in a data recovery specialist. Follow them in the order they’re listed for best results.
Check Your Hardware
Sometimes the issue is not the hard drive itself, but the power leading to the hard drive. Open your case and make sure that all of the ribbon cables and connectors are securely connected. Check to be sure that the CPU fan is working and that the hard drive is spinning up. If your hard drive is not spinning up after you’ve checked to make sure all of the cables are properly connected, you may have a problem for the data retrieval pros. But before you decide you have to call them in, swap out a few things to see if you can pinpoint the problem.
Start by replacing the ribbon cable that attaches your hard drive to the motherboard and try to boot up. Cables and ribbons are more likely to fail than any other part of your computer, and they’re a lot easier to replace. If you have access to another computer or hard drive, swap the drive for a known good drive. If the computer still doesn’t start up, the problem may not be your hard drive. And if your hard drive will boot up when it’s connected to another computer, your problem is not with the drive itself. You’ll easily be able to recover the data on your drive yourself as long it boots up on another machine.
If Your Computer Starts and Your Hard Drive Spins Up
Check for any error messages in the BIOS screen, and if the BIOS screen doesn’t appear, you should check to be sure that your monitor cable is properly attached. Then look for the MS Windows XP splash screen. If Windows XP fails to load or if you get an error message, the problem may be with the system boot record. You may need to use a special utility to correct the Master Boot Record, but first try reversing any changes you’ve made to your computer recently. Next, remove any new hardware that you connected to the computer previous to the system crash and try to start up normally. The problem might be with your new device or card.
If Your Computer Boots to XP But Crashes
Many problems can cause your computer to crash after it boots up, including a malfunctioning CPU fan or computer fan. If your fan isn’t working properly, don’t run the computer or you risk damaging the hard drive and your files.
Crashes may also be due to an error in a system file. If this happens, your machine will often name the missing or corrupted file in an error message. If this happens, you should copy the problem file from your Windows XP boot CD and then restart your system.
If Your Computer Boots to XP
Use System Recovery to restore your computer to a point before the hard drive started crashing.
If none of this helps or if your hard drive won’t spin up no matter what you do, contact a data recovery expert like Fields Data Recovery. Data recovery companies have software that is designed to access the files on a pancaked hard drive and recover them so that you can use them again.
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