Urgent computer help

[Seasonal]

Other day, I updated and download some programs, worked fine, but when i shutdown the computer and restart next day, started receiving strange messages, the security exe not identify, win exe not running etc. In final it was totally stopped. I did understand some virus.

I inserted the Master dvd to restore the system, the master dvd started normall, asking me regular questions of restore the system. And then the red screen appeared and stating:

"image not find

Qequence\besquir\

and it stopped here, my anxity is i restore system many time and master dvd restored the system in couple of hours. what kind of virus is this who control also master dvd.

Please do help me. thanks.

[Ethlred]

What strange messages? How far into the boot did you get? How old is your PC. How old the hard drive?

Give some specifics rather the generalities you gave.

However this looks more like a hardware problem then a virus. Its the failed attempt to reinstall that implies hardware. Unless you tried a repair instead of a complete reinstall.

A red screen sounds weird to me. Maybe its normal for non-US versions. BSODs aren't called Blue Screens of Death for having a startling red background.

[Seasonal]

Thanks for reply

My system is 3 years old, as i said before the updates and dl, it was running perfectly, never had this kind of problem before,
CPU Speed P4, Harddrive space is 300gb, RAM Memory: 1gb and
Operating System xp.

I am really unable to give you screen shoots, otherwise you would see all reboot issues.

[fredfillis]

Is the "recovery" disk a genuine windows disk or some OEM recovery disk?

If you have access to a real windows xp disk and another computer with internet access you could try making a universal boot CD for windows. Try here.

For what its worth, I found this information about "Red Screen of Death" which appears as though it applies only to beta versions of Vista.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Screen_of_Death

[Nelson37]

My guess would be a scratch on the Master disk. Additional info would be helpful.

You sure this is a DVD? What manufacturer? Did you remove the original partition and re-format?

No virus can infect the original DVD, either the hard drive was not blanked, or there is some kind of read problem.

[Seasonal]

Thanks guys.....

As you most of already figured out that was hardware problem, the hard-drive was gone. Yesterday i was able to replace the new hard drive, now i have Samsung 750gb. Today i just made particition and able to reinstall the window xp from Master Dvd. Now the system is running fine.

I have one question, How can i retrieve the data from previous harddisck. It is damn important files and documents depend on my 3 years of hard work and research.

I just figured about Stellar Phoenix which will help to retrieve the data, but i also heard that it might not be readable. Then what the benefits using Stellar Phoenix?

Please let me know what is the best and effective way to recover my precious data from old harddisk. Would be thankful forever.

Thanks in advance.

[Ethlred]

The first step is to install the drive. If you can see it on boot up and in the Disk Management then you have a chance to recover the data without sending it out to a specialist. If you can't see the drive then you will need help.

If you can see the drive in Disk Management (Start, Administrative Tools, Computer Management, then click on the Disk Management ) then you have a chance to do it yourself. DO NOT REFORMAT DO NOT REPARTITION. That will just make things harder at best.

Tools I know off:

Search and Recover by Iolo - cheapest. Probably not the best.

R-Studio from R-tools Technology - Very geeky $80 There is a demo version available on download.com

http://www.download.com/R-Studio-Data-Recovery/3000-2094_4-10061966.html

Gee I forgot about this and I am supposed to sell it.
Migo Digital Rescue Premium

Reviews at Top Ten where I was reminded about Migo:
http://data-recovery-software-review.toptenreviews.com/

That should be more useful than anything I can say. The reviews do seem to be aimed at recovering deleted files rather than more serious problems. It does review Stellar Phoenix.

If you can't see the drive that means there is a serious hardware problem of course. Might be the board. If its then using a board from the same model of drive will enable you to read it. Thats what a recovery company would do anyway. Thats about it for things all but very geekiest can try at home. I did read a book that showed a way to fake a clean room. Don't recommend it and neither did the author. If the drive has to be opened that requires a clean room and a lot of money. $500 and up last I heard.

Good luck. Please post your results.

[fredfillis]

A quick thought before you get into spending more money.

Some so called "recovery" programs such as Norton GoBack mess with your boot sectors on your drive. This happened to my wife a few months ago. What seemed like a bad drive with no prospect for recovery was perfectly fine once goback was removed.

So, did you have any kind of "recovery" applications on you old drive before it failed? If you did, it may make recovery via another application almost impossible.



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GoBack

[DarrellS]

I recovered a drive with a program called GetDataBack. Windows could see the drive but it could not see anything on it. It said it was formatted as Raw. This happened after I tried installing an Ide Controller card. It killed two storage drives. One I had a tech try and fix but he said he couldn't get any data and reformatted the drive. The second drive, I took a chance with this software because I'd already lost over 400GB of data and didn't want to lose another 450GB of data if I could help it. To my surprise and joy, the software saw everything on the drive and recovered it for me.

[handyguy]

Often it's not the HD but the HD cable. Try that HD in another computer.

[Bjs]

I use Active@ Partition Recovery, if it cannot recover the data, then nothing else will.

[ranchhand]

As long as your hard drive has not mechanically failed, you can use UBCD or Knoppix (both free for download) to enter your drive and retrieve your data. I have done this even with damaged partitions, as long as the drive mechanically functions. If the drive has totally failed and will not spin up, you must take it to a professional company that will retrieve your data for Big $$.

[fredfillis]

If the drive has totally failed and will not spin up, you must take it to a professional company that will retrieve your data for Big $$.

In the vicinity of $US1,000. However, you only pay the BIG bucks if they can recover some / all your data. No data, no BIG bucks, just a relatively small fee.

[Seasonal]

I did try to install the drive (old/broken) in the system (at office with the help of IT), one was clone and the other system was dell. Dell did not recognise at all, but the clone recognise it. It shown the drive but did not data.

I have no idea what to do, reading above some posts if the bios or system recoginse the drive, than it is possible to retrieve the data.

But how? shall i continue working on Clone?

Thanks alot for all your support.

Regards

[handyguy]

You could try Partition Magic on it & see if it can read it. Or put it in an external USB case set as master & see if you can read it that way.

Just cause the computer can see it doesn't mean you can get your data from it.

[DarrellS]

Or put it in an external USB case set as master & see if you can read it that way.

This is a good idea also. I bought an external hard drive enclosure and it has been invaluable to me for backing up data and moving data from one PC to another.

Just cause the computer can see it doesn't mean you can get your data from it.

I realize that there are no guarantees but this program (getdataback) says it can and did for me...

http://www.runtime.org/data-recovery-software.htm

There's a free demo that will let you see all the recoverable files but you'll need to buy the key to move the recovered files to a different drive.

http://www.runtime.org/data-recovery-downloads.htm

[Seasonal]

Hi

Thanks for your inputs, i really appreciate. You said i have to buy the key to move the recovered files, i have a question, can i use the key over and over again?

And you said, you did recovered the files with this program (getdataback), you are best source of information. Please respond me soon, i have dl the program and sitting to proceed with it.

Thanks.

[DarrellS]

Thanks for your inputs, i really appreciate. You said i have to buy the key to move the recovered files, i have a question, can i use the key over and over again?

Yes. You'll want to put the download and the key on a CD for future use.

And you said, you did recovered the files with this program (getdataback), you are best source of information. Please respond me soon, i have dl the program and sitting to proceed with it.

Yes, it worked for me. just follow the instructions on the page I linked you to. You probably want to make sure you can see the files before you buy the key.

[Nelson37]

Just a second vote for GetDataBack, I have used this program several times and has worked flawlessly every time.

Rule #1 is to NOT attempt to write to or change the damaged drive in any way, and this program observes that rule.

You will need a working, bootable drive to which you can write all recovered files.

The prog comes in NTFS and FAT32 versions.

The demo will show if it can read files on the drive with no cost to you. This program is well worth the minimal cost of less than $100.00, I made that back on the first usage.

It has in fact recovered drives that were not recognized by Windows at all, though the drives were seen in BIOS.

Works great, and unlike most other progs of this type, absolutely will not make things worse.

[Seasonal]

GUYS I done it !!!

It took me 6 hours (it is 3:50 AM here right now). This program is indeed great.

I dl the demo version, run it, it indeed show me the files, i checked and than I bought it, and i can see all my files safe in my new HD.

Excellent man excellent.


Thanks alot all of you your time and inputs, you all people are great just great.

Be blessed

[Seasonal]

How can i safe this thread?

Will this thread can be safe for long time?

[AlanHK]

How can i safe this thread?

Will this thread can be safe for long time?

Just bookmark it.
This site has been around for a while, it's pretty stable. You can find threads several years old.

You could copy and paste the text into a text file if you wanted to keep a record.

[DarrellS]

How can i safe this thread?

To find your old threads, click on the "videohelp.com forum" link at the top of the page and then click "view your posts" at the top right of that page and it will show all your old posts. Posts that people have replied to that you have not viewed will have an arrow and a page next to the thread title.

[fredfillis]

Glad to hear you were successful.

I hope you are not planning on needing this thread again?

Drive space is cheap, get another one for backups!

[Seasonal]

Thanks for advice.